RAM DISK

[Mellowed]

Data Ram Ram Disk
I'm (Note, I'm Very GREEN) about ready to set up the TEMP and TMP
variables into Ram Disk. I am concerned about screwing up the system.
Ram space is 4GB.

1. What happens when the Ram Disk is full? Does the oldest data just
get pushed out the end keeping the newest data?
2. What happens to the system operation when the disk gets full?
3. Are there any maintenance requirements to the RAM Disk?

Environmental Variables
1. The current TEMP value is %userprofile%\appdata\local\temp. What do I
change it to? i.e. x:\???.
2. Is a TEMP folder created on X: automatically?

If I should wish to go back to a standard configuration, must I manually
type in the original TEMP value in the Variables?

 

[Andy Burns]

Data Ram Ram Disk
I'm (Note, I'm Very GREEN) about ready to set up the TEMP and TMP
variables into Ram Disk. I am concerned about screwing up the system.
Ram space is 4GB.

1. What happens when the Ram Disk is full? Does the oldest data just
get pushed out the end keeping the newest data?

No, apps will fail to create temp files, just as if you had your TEMP
folder on hard disc, and that filled up

2. What happens to the system operation when the disk gets full?

You'll start to get errors from apps needing temp files, you might lose
work in progress.

3. Are there any maintenance requirements to the RAM Disk?

Depends how many temp files get written to it, it should start empty
each time you reboot.

 

[Mellowed]

No, apps will fail to create temp files, just as if you had your TEMP
folder on hard disc, and that filled up


You'll start to get errors from apps needing temp files, you might lose
work in progress.


Depends how many temp files get written to it, it should start empty
each time you reboot.

Thanks Andy. It looks like I should reconsider using a Ram Disk.

 

[Ed Cryer]

Data Ram Ram Disk
I'm (Note, I'm Very GREEN) about ready to set up the TEMP and TMP
variables into Ram Disk. I am concerned about screwing up the system.
Ram space is 4GB.

1. What happens when the Ram Disk is full? Does the oldest data just
get pushed out the end keeping the newest data?
2. What happens to the system operation when the disk gets full?
3. Are there any maintenance requirements to the RAM Disk?

Environmental Variables
1. The current TEMP value is %userprofile%\appdata\local\temp. What do I
change it to? i.e. x:\???.
2. Is a TEMP folder created on X: automatically?

If I should wish to go back to a standard configuration, must I manually
type in the original TEMP value in the Variables?

The best use for a RAM disk is with working files for graphic and video
conversion.
I use ConvertXtoDVD quite a lot and you specify the working folder in
the options. If it doesn't exist then it will create it. This is an
ideal usage for RAM, and you'd just set it as X:\ConvXtoDVDworkfolder.
There must be lots of other programs wherein that simple formula will apply.

As to what happens when it fills up, well, I should think standard Win7
disk maintenance routines will handle that. Don't worry until it happens.

Nothing will be created automatically on the disk. You might like to set
"show hidden system files" to yes and see if it's got a Recycling folder
or SysVolInfo.

Your best bet is to simply try it. If I had time I'd create a 2GB one
and try a video conversion program.

Ed

 

[Fokke Nauta]

Data Ram Ram Disk
I'm (Note, I'm Very GREEN) about ready to set up the TEMP and TMP
variables into Ram Disk. I am concerned about screwing up the system.
Ram space is 4GB.

That's not enough when you use it for tmp and temp folders.
4GB is something you can only use for scrach files of applications, such
as Photoshop or Neat image. And then it's still very limited.

1. What happens when the Ram Disk is full? Does the oldest data just
get pushed out the end keeping the newest data?

No. New data simply won't be copied onto the RAM disk. It will say it's
full.

2. What happens to the system operation when the disk gets full?

Applications will stop working. They may possibly crash.

3. Are there any maintenance requirements to the RAM Disk?
No

Environmental Variables
1. The current TEMP value is %userprofile%\appdata\local\temp. What do I
change it to? i.e. x:\???.

Simply to X:
The same for the TMP variable.

2. Is a TEMP folder created on X: automatically?

Only in case an application creates a TEMP folder.

If I should wish to go back to a standard configuration, must I manually
type in the original TEMP value in the Variables?

Yes. Remember what it says there before you change the path. You could
copy the path in a text file (notepad) so you would be able to copy it
back when that's needed.

Fokke

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Thanks Andy. It looks like I should reconsider using a Ram Disk.

I'm not a big fan of ramdisks of any kind. Plus the temp folder doesn't
really fill up that quickly, but they do accumulate over time, without
constant maintenance. It's better to just let Windows use that RAM space
on its own rather than preoccupying it with the ramdisk.

If you're really worried about reducing the amount of load on your hard
disks, one thing you can do is to relocate your temp folder to secondary
hard disk. Usually the system boot disk (i.e. C: drive), is the busiest
and most used disk on the system, but splitting the task up into
multiple drives may reduce the load on any one particular disk. You
won't know if your system disk is overloaded until you start monitoring
it yourself with proper tools, such as the Windows 7 Resource Monitor,
which comes with Windows 7 (just type "resmon"), and check out its disk
section.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Rodney Pont]

Data Ram Ram Disk
I'm (Note, I'm Very GREEN) about ready to set up the TEMP and TMP
variables into Ram Disk. I am concerned about screwing up the system.
Ram space is 4GB.

I thought that Win 7 uses any spare ram as disk cache. Has anyone
actually compared performance with and without a ram disk running?

 

[Mellowed]

I'm not a big fan of ramdisks of any kind. Plus the temp folder doesn't
really fill up that quickly, but they do accumulate over time, without
constant maintenance. It's better to just let Windows use that RAM space
on its own rather than preoccupying it with the ramdisk.

If you're really worried about reducing the amount of load on your hard
disks, one thing you can do is to relocate your temp folder to secondary
hard disk. Usually the system boot disk (i.e. C: drive), is the busiest
and most used disk on the system, but splitting the task up into
multiple drives may reduce the load on any one particular disk. You
won't know if your system disk is overloaded until you start monitoring
it yourself with proper tools, such as the Windows 7 Resource Monitor,
which comes with Windows 7 (just type "resmon"), and check out its disk
section.

Yousuf Khan

I was only trying to increase the system speed a little. I'm not
concerned about the load on the hard disk. I think the best thing for
me is just go back to a normal system. Thanks for your input.

 

[Mellowed]

That's not enough when you use it for tmp and temp folders.
4GB is something you can only use for scrach files of applications, such
as Photoshop or Neat image. And then it's still very limited.


No. New data simply won't be copied onto the RAM disk. It will say it's
full.


Applications will stop working. They may possibly crash.


Simply to X:
The same for the TMP variable.


Only in case an application creates a TEMP folder.


Yes. Remember what it says there before you change the path. You could
copy the path in a text file (notepad) so you would be able to copy it
back when that's needed.

Fokke

Thanks Fokke. For me I think I should just go back to a normal system.
I was just looking for a little more speed, but any mods must be
transparent over time.

 

[Yousuf Khan]

I was only trying to increase the system speed a little. I'm not
concerned about the load on the hard disk. I think the best thing for me
is just go back to a normal system. Thanks for your input.

The temp folder isn't that important for system performance. However,
one thing that does get used quite often is the system pagefile. If you
have the option of moving that off to another drive, it's not a bad idea
to do so.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Mellowed]

The temp folder isn't that important for system performance. However,
one thing that does get used quite often is the system pagefile. If you
have the option of moving that off to another drive, it's not a bad idea
to do so.

Yousuf Khan

I've got 16GB of RAM. Don't have much activity on the Pagefile.

 

[Fokke Nauta]

The temp folder isn't that important for system performance. However,
one thing that does get used quite often is the system pagefile. If you
have the option of moving that off to another drive, it's not a bad idea
to do so.

Yousuf Khan

It's always better to locate the temp folder and pagefile on another
physical disk then the system disk.

Fokke

 

[Ken Blake]

I was only trying to increase the system speed a little.

I'm with Yousuf Khan entirely. Unless you have significant amount of
extra RAM that never gets used, using a RAM disk will *decrease* the
system speed, not increase it.

 

[Fokke Nauta]

I thought that Win 7 uses any spare ram as disk cache. Has anyone
actually compared performance with and without a ram disk running?

I have used a RAM disk for some time now, and located the tmp and temp
variables on it, as well as the scratch disk for Photoshop and the
likes. My RAM disk has a size of 8Gb which is enough in most occations.
To my opinion things have speeded up. It feels like Photoshop works
faster, ZIP archives extract faster, and an application (Neat image) I
use for denoising pictures works faster as well. Or perhaps it's just an
idea, but to me it feels faster.

Fokke

 

[Ken Blake]

The temp folder isn't that important for system performance. However,
one thing that does get used quite often is the system pagefile. If you
have the option of moving that off to another drive, it's not a bad idea
to do so.

*If* that other drive is a physically separate drive, not a second
partition on your only drive. And of that other drive is a RAM disk,
only if you have enough RAM to give it give it the RAM disk without
making Windows run of RAM that it needs and therefore using the page
file more.

A good rule of thumb is that the page file should be on the most-used
partition of the least-used physical drive. For most people, that's
C:.

 

[Fokke Nauta]

*If* that other drive is a physically separate drive, not a second
partition on your only drive. And of that other drive is a RAM disk,
only if you have enough RAM to give it give it the RAM disk without
making Windows run of RAM that it needs and therefore using the page
file more.

A good rule of thumb is that the page file should be on the most-used
partition of the least-used physical drive. For most people, that's
C:.

It's no use placing the page file on a RAM disk.
And yo my opinion is better to put the page file on a different physical
disk then the system disk. And as in most cases the system disk will be
C:, that won't be the C: drive.

Fokke

 

[Andy Burns]

The temp folder isn't that important for system performance. However,
one thing that does get used quite often is the system pagefile. If you
have the option of moving that off to another drive, it's not a bad idea
to do so.

Surely if you leave the extra memory for the system to use normally,
instead of dedicating it as a RAM disk, it'll hardly need to touch the
pagefile? Depends on workload of course, I run this 4GB netbook and my
work 8GB laptop without pagefiles at all.

 

[Ken Blake]

It's no use placing the page file on a RAM disk.

That's essentially what I said, since almost nobody has enough RAM
that some of it is unused.

And yo my opinion is better to put the page file on a different physical
disk then the system disk.

And that's also what I said: " *If* that other drive is a physically
separate drive, not a second partition on your only drive."

And as in most cases the system disk will be
C:, that won't be the C: drive.

Since in most cases, people have only a single drive with a single
partition on it (C, it *will* be C:

 

[Ed Cryer]

The best use for a RAM disk is with working files for graphic and video
conversion.
I use ConvertXtoDVD quite a lot and you specify the working folder in
the options. If it doesn't exist then it will create it. This is an
ideal usage for RAM, and you'd just set it as X:\ConvXtoDVDworkfolder.
There must be lots of other programs wherein that simple formula will
apply.

As to what happens when it fills up, well, I should think standard Win7
disk maintenance routines will handle that. Don't worry until it happens.

Nothing will be created automatically on the disk. You might like to set
"show hidden system files" to yes and see if it's got a Recycling folder
or SysVolInfo.

Your best bet is to simply try it. If I had time I'd create a 2GB one
and try a video conversion program.

Ed

I tried it. I installed Dataram's RAMDisk; set up a 2GB disk (I only
have 6GB RAM installed), loaded ConvertXtoDVD, changed the work folder
to be on the RAMdisk, started it on converting a DivX file; and got an
immediate error, "not enough space - you need at least 4.8GB".

Hhhhmmm! The rest of the computer seems to be working ok as normally.

That's the end of my trial. I'm not buying more RAM just for the dubious
pleasure of whatever minute benefit I might get.

I'll be uninstalling it shortly.

Ed

 

[Paul in Houston TX]

Data Ram Ram Disk
I'm (Note, I'm Very GREEN) about ready to set up the TEMP and TMP
variables into Ram Disk. I am concerned about screwing up the system.
Ram space is 4GB.

1. What happens when the Ram Disk is full? Does the oldest data just
get pushed out the end keeping the newest data?
2. What happens to the system operation when the disk gets full?
3. Are there any maintenance requirements to the RAM Disk?

Environmental Variables
1. The current TEMP value is %userprofile%\appdata\local\temp. What do I
change it to? i.e. x:\???.
2. Is a TEMP folder created on X: automatically?

If I should wish to go back to a standard configuration, must I manually
type in the original TEMP value in the Variables?

Size needed depends on what sort of computing you do.
I sometimes edit sound files. Uncompress a 2G mp3 and it becomes
anywhere from 20G to 60G temp.
A couple of my online games use close to 4G temp.
If you need cache speed, I suggest getting a suitable sized SSHD
and using that for tmp/temp cache.