[GUIDE] Using ImDisk to set up RAM disk(s) in Windows with no limit on disk size - Page 7

k1net1cs · 02-06-2012, 03:31 | posts: 3,364

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnye_pt

That is why i use compressed NTFS, it's better that exFAT in terms of usable space, ...

Ah, right, forgot we could use /C to enable compression when formatting to NTFS.
I'll give that a try and might update the guide later, along with an additional how-to on the awealloc thing I mentioned earlier.

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnye_pt

Mine is an Acer Aspire 1680, it was originally a Pentium M 735 1.7Ghz, 512MB Ram, 80GB HDD, 2200BG. I upgraded all this, plus 4400mAh battery up to 4h, ...

Daym, up to 4 hours?
Nice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnye_pt

internal BT 2.0 EDR, TP-Link Wireless N, Lightscribe DVD burner, ...

How did you install the internal BT?

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnye_pt

and PCMCIA 2x USB 2.0 (yes, sometimes I use all 5 USB ports

).

Mine is 4xUSB 2.0 (for a total of 6), and sometimes I still find myself looking for another to plug into.

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnye_pt

It didn't support HDDs over 128GB but luckily i found a modded BIOS, and added SLIC 2.1 just for fun. Yes, Windows 7 aero DOES work with ATi Radeon 9700 64MB RAM!

Is it a Phoenix BIOS?

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnye_pt

Oh, and i replaced my touchpad with a barely used one, added a plastic cover to the touchpad (cut from a CD/DVD transparent sleeve and placed between the touchpad and the case), the touchpad works normal through the plastic, it looks shiny and cool, and will NEVER have that ugly used look in the middle ever again

Mine still hasn't look worn at all, but that's probably due to me using a mouse more often.
To be honest, without a mouse, I still prefer that old TrackPoint a.k.a. 'nipple mouse' found on ThinkPads over touchpads for moving the mouse cursor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnye_pt

I'm still using XP, mostly because Windows 7 is more memory hungry and probably there will be no room for ramdisk with only 2GB.

Well, if it doesn't break...

But I dual-boot with Bodhi Linux on that old laptop, though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TruMutton_200Hz

The same thing goes for Primo Ramdisk versus ImDisk and besides, command prompts are not exactly very user-friendly to begin with IMO.

ImDisk has a GUI included which can be accessed on Control Panel, if you've actually read the guide.
The CLI I mainly use in the guide is to automate the processes when Windows starts up or shuts down, in which the GUI doesn't support.

Besides, ImDisk is more wallet-friendly. =b

Mineria · 02-06-2012, 06:58 | posts: 2,897 | Location: Denmark

Quote:

Originally Posted by TruMutton_200Hz

^ The very reason why I am using Process Lasso is not to have alot of processes hogging up the CPU. Instead, it is the exact opposite.

Link Shell Extension offers rich features which the MKLINK command does not. The same thing goes for Primo Ramdisk versus ImDisk and besides, command prompts are not exactly very user-friendly to begin with IMO.

Both MKLINK and imdisk can do all you need, imdisk has a gui too.
Link Shell Extension is a mklink gui?

Just tried something with a game.
I created a 2GB imdisk and linked to a big file that this game uses a lot.
Difference between fancycache and imdisk was zero to none.
Huge difference running without either thou.

TruMutton_200Hz · 02-07-2012, 17:19 | posts: 2,756 | Location: Belgium

Quote:

Originally Posted by k1net1cs

ImDisk has a GUI included which can be accessed on Control Panel, if you've actually read the guide.

I was mainly referring to Link Shell Extension.

Quote:

Originally Posted by k1net1cs

Besides, ImDisk is more wallet-friendly. =b

Unless you require DMM.

TruMutton_200Hz · 02-07-2012, 18:03 | posts: 2,756 | Location: Belgium

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mineria

Link Shell Extension is a mklink gui?

Not exactly. As its name tries to suggest, it doesn't even use its own GUI but a number of Windows context menu extensions with a few extremely helpful options you won't find in the MKLINK command's syntax, including a simple but nevertheless handy icon overlay tweak.

Properly managed shell extensions are the best thing since sliced bread. In fact, watching Windows without 'em is like listening to The Doors with no perception. lol
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html

k1net1cs · 02-08-2012, 02:27 | posts: 3,364

Quote:

Originally Posted by TruMutton_200Hz

I was mainly referring to Link Shell Extension.

Then don't clump the statement together with the Primo - ImDisk comparison; everyone else's common sense would kick in too soon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TruMutton_200Hz

Unless you require DMM.

Is DMM something that can (automatically) make a RAM disk grows when, for example, set initially to 100MB but I need to put 200MB worth of things in it, and then able to shrink the volume to 50MB when I have nothing in it?

Mineria · 02-08-2012, 19:22 | posts: 2,897 | Location: Denmark

Just checked up to make sure, imdisk has no hidden memory support, so you would need to use vsuite, primo or superspeed to make it work on a 32bit Windows desktop edition.

TruMutton_200Hz · 02-09-2012, 03:22 | posts: 2,756 | Location: Belgium

Quote:

Originally Posted by k1net1cs

Then don't clump the statement together with the Primo - ImDisk comparison; everyone else's common sense would kick in too soon.

Yeah well, the fact I was mainly referring to Link Shell Extension doesn't also mean I wasn't referring to ImDisk at all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by k1net1cs

Is DMM something that can (automatically) make a RAM disk grows when, for example, set initially to 100MB but I need to put 200MB worth of things in it, and then able to shrink the volume to 50MB when I have nothing in it?

No, it's even better than that because the size of the Ramdisk itself doesn't change. The only thing that does change nicely is just the amount of RAM it uses.

http://www.romexsoftware.com/en-us/p...anagement.html

This and the fact I already pointed out before, you can use Link Shell Extension combined with TeraCopy to conveniently decide for yourself which individual program files, rather than which entire apps, you want stored on the Ramdisk. Or stored on the SSD, or on both.

On both means you gain the option to any time delete the copy that's stored on the Ramdisk and then, also optionally, re-create it again any time afterwards (using TeraCopy). And if you also throw a harddisk based volume (or several of them) into the equation then you can of course apply the same approach to the Ramdisk and the harddisk based volume. And unless you throw the SSD back out of the equation, you can even apply the same approach to the SSD and the harddisk based volume.

So basically, having a RAID 0 array of harddisks is not half bad. That's because the files you'e going to copy from it to the Ramdisk or the SSD or both, can be TeraCopy'd fast (I-FAAST).

simonlove · **On RAM Disks.... -** 02-24-2012, 18:33 | posts: 1

Great thread! i've just starting thinking about trying out creation of a RAM Disk drive with IMDisk.

Bit nervous though, as once i've created a new drive (letter F: ) within windows explorer, the drive wants to be formatted before i can dump any photoshop files onto it.

This is a silly question, but i wanted to ask here before i went ahead and did it myself and baked my old dell -

By formatting the new virtual RAM drive, would i just be creating a temporary drive within the memory on my machine? Which is going to return to actual random access memory after i've finished using it and dismounted or deleted it?

The reason i ask is, i don't want to fry the old girl. I'd always assumed that creating a RAM disk or drive would just generate a virtual space within Windows that i could dump an oversized file on to work with. I hadn't realised i would need to format this virtual drive, which leads me to ask if this is in fact going to create a virtual drive out of my 1.5Gb of remaining physical memory or if it is going to do something else, possibly corrupting my windows installation in some way due to my inexperience with the software.

Apologies for ignorance, but having made catastrophically expensive mistakes with hardware in the past, i like to ask folks in the know first

Pill Monster · 02-25-2012, 12:19 | posts: 20,851 | Location: NZ

^As soon as your PC is turned off the virtual drive will disappear....and you'll have all your memory back again....

k1net1cs · 02-25-2012, 13:26 | posts: 3,364

Quote:

Originally Posted by simonlove

Bit nervous though, as once i've created a new drive (letter F: ) within windows explorer, the drive wants to be formatted before i can dump any photoshop files onto it.

If you created the volume using the Control Panel applet, then yes, it'd be in a RAW state (like a new harddisk without any partition in it) and needs to be formatted first before it can be used.

Quote:

Originally Posted by simonlove

By formatting the new virtual RAM drive, would i just be creating a temporary drive within the memory on my machine?

Yes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by simonlove

Which is going to return to actual random access memory after i've finished using it and dismounted or deleted it?

Yes.

The basic concept with a RAM disk is that it simply uses a portion of the currently available RAM in order to create what Windows sees as a disk.
So if you're creating a 256MB RAM disk, then you'll be taking 256MB from the currently available RAM in your system.
If you decided to dismount (a.k.a. 'delete') the volume, then the RAM disk driver will release the 256MB it has used to create the 256MB RAM disk.
It acts just like any other application; if the application is closed, then it'll release whatever amount of RAM it had used.

Quote:

Originally Posted by simonlove

I'd always assumed that creating a RAM disk or drive would just generate a virtual space within Windows that i could dump an oversized file on to work with.

To be more exact, as I've explained above, it's creating the virtual space within the RAM that's recognized by Windows as a disk, therefore you can treat it like with any other HDD, SSD, or thumb drives.

Quote:

Originally Posted by simonlove

I hadn't realised i would need to format this virtual drive, which leads me to ask if this is in fact going to create a virtual drive out of my 1.5Gb of remaining physical memory ...

With ImDisk, or any other RAM disk software in general, you have to specify how big your RAM disk will be; it doesn't use all of the available RAM automatically.
You have to tell ImDisk to use 200MB, 500MB, 1GB, or any arbitrary amount of RAM, as long as it does not exceed the currently available RAM.

Quote:

Originally Posted by simonlove

... or if it is going to do something else, possibly corrupting my windows installation in some way due to my inexperience with the software.

I doubt it'd be able to corrupt your Windows installation as long as you still have paging file turned on.
What ImDisk (and any other RAM disk software) uses is the unused part of RAM, and it doesn't use and/or modify any critical system files.
ImDisk simply installs a signed driver, which allows Windows to recognize the space ImDisk creates in your RAM as a disk; nothing more, nothing less.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pill Monster

^As soon as your PC is turned off the virtual drive will disappear....and you'll have all your memory back again....

No, you don't need to turn off the PC in order to dismount/delete the RAM disk(s).
And if that reply is an attempt to clown around, please don't do that to an uninformed user.

Pill Monster · 02-25-2012, 15:39 | posts: 20,851 | Location: NZ

Quote:

Originally Posted by k1net1cs

I
No, you don't need to turn off the PC in order to dismount/delete the RAM disk(s).
And if that reply is an attempt to clown around, please don't do that to an uninformed user.

Actually I'm completely serious, I don't know why you'd think otherwise..

Mineria · 02-25-2012, 16:21 | posts: 2,897 | Location: Denmark

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pill Monster

Actually I'm completely serious, I don't know why you'd think otherwise..

Maybe because you can unmount a disk volume programmatically like on Linux?

That is why most of us would think that your joking when your write about doing a reboot of the system.

Pill Monster · 02-25-2012, 16:40 | posts: 20,851 | Location: NZ

^Oh right... lol

I was trying to explain that how any data in ram doesn't stay on there forever, only until the power is turned off .......

Quote:

Originally Posted by simonlove

Which is going to return to actual random access memory after i've finished using it and dismounted or deleted it?

Mineria · 03-05-2012, 08:10 | posts: 2,897 | Location: Denmark

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pill Monster

^Oh right... lol

I was trying to explain that how any data in ram doesn't stay on there forever, only until the power is turned off .......

Ah ok

Was kinda thinking wtf, why is Pill writing that.

Vondreth · 04-14-2012, 19:18 | posts: 1 | Location: Netherlands

For some reason my system doesn't come further than the first 1-2 lines when using the taskmanager as described on the 1st page.
-
Content of the imdisk-start.cmd file:

imdisk -a -s 10G -m W: -p "/fs:ntfs /q /y"
swapadd W:\pagefile.sys 10G 10G
imdisk -a -s 1G -m Y: -p "/fs:ntfs /q /y"
imdisk -a -s 32G -m X: -p "/fs:ntfs /q /y"
md Y:\Temp

-
It doesn't matter where i put the lines. Only the first two lines will be read/executed.
When i run it manualy though everything works as intended. ie. full imdisk-start.cmd file will be executed.
Even tried to split all 3 into separate .cmd files. Still only the 1st .cmd file will be executed.

Anyone suggestions?

k1net1cs · 04-16-2012, 09:53 | posts: 3,364

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vondreth

For some reason my system doesn't come further than the first 1-2 lines when using the taskmanager as described on the 1st page.

I suppose you meant Task Scheduler?
Could you take a look at the task you created and see its 'Last Run Result'?
A properly executed task should show (0x0).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vondreth

Anyone suggestions?

I believe it's because you tried to fit a 10GB page file into an NTFS-formatted 10GB of space.
Keep in mind that NTFS has a quite big overhead, and that 10GB of space when formatted with NTFS will have lesser actual usable space.

My suggestion is to look at the actual usable space of that 10GB, then adjust the swapadd parameter accordingly.
In my case, I've set 1024MB to be formatted in exFAT, but in reality the formatted space will have less than that.
My command lines are thus like this :

imdisk -a -s 1024M -m Z: -p "/fs:exfat /q /y"
swapadd Z:\pagefile.sys 1023M 1023M

Notice that in the swapadd parameter I have lesser-sized page file compared to what I've allocated to ImDisk.

Sorry for the late reply.
Never thought people'd still read this thread.

HTH.

JustJohn · 05-23-2012, 07:10 | posts: 2

Followed directions to the letter as far as I can tell. Cmds seem to work when I run manually but when I restart sometimes I get a ram drive on boot and sometimes I do not. Ideas? Help?

k1net1cs · 05-23-2012, 17:43 | posts: 3,364

'Seem to work' is not enough.
Copy paste the command lines that you used over here (between [CODE] tags), and we'll go error hunting from there.

JustJohn · 05-24-2012, 00:52 | posts: 2

Thanks. I've got something like 8 restarts in a row now without the drive disappearing so hopefully it's working okay now but here are my .cmd files:

Code:

rawcopy -mld \\.\R: "C:\Imdisk\R.img"

Code:

imdisk -a -t vm -f "C:\Imdisk\R.img" -m R:

RAM disk 2GB at R:

I'm sure I'll be back crying for help if it starts disappearing again.

k1net1cs · 05-24-2012, 13:50 | posts: 3,364

I see that you're using an image file from a previously made RAM disk.

There are two possible problems using this method.
The first problem to happen is actually during shutdown.
If you're automating the process using Task Scheduler, make sure you have turned off this option : 'If the running task does not end when requested, force it to stop'.
By default that option is ticked whenever you create a new task.

The second one would be during startup, after a supposedly successful image creating process at a previous shutdown.
If the image creation was somehow interrupted, it'll make a half-finished image that ImDisk can't load.
If the image creation was successful, then you probably need to wait for some time until it loads.

Loading a 2GB file can take awhile on HDDs if it's quite fragmented, considering that ImDisk need to read it during Windows startup where Windows itself is also loading up its services and other user-set startup application(s).

pascalbidouille · **disks not visible -** 10-06-2012, 10:29 | posts: 4

Hello,

I have set up 3 vritual disks as defined in the guide.
My command file is :

Code:

imdisk -a -s 1G -m X: -p "/fs:ntfs /q /y"
imdisk -a -s 300M -m W: -p "/fs:ntfs /q /y"
imdisk -a -t vm -f "L:\cache\chromecache.img" -m Y:

But only first disk X: is visible in windows 7 explorer.
W: and Y: do not appear.

How ever when I check in "DOS" cmd I can access them.

Any idea why ?

Thanks

k1net1cs · 10-06-2012, 14:25 | posts: 3,364

Holy hell, 30k views?!
I can has this stickied pl0x?

Well, anyhoo...

@pascalbidouille
If you can access them via command prompt then they should've been there in explorer.
Have you tried pressing F5 on explorer, just in case the window didn't refresh properly to show the RAM disks?
And you did have the chromecache.img file created before, right?

Pill Monster · 10-06-2012, 14:41 | posts: 20,851 | Location: NZ

Quote:

Originally Posted by k1net1cs

Holy hell, 30k views?!
I can has this stickied pl0x?

Send Finch a pm.

pascalbidouille · 10-06-2012, 15:13 | posts: 4

Hello,

I tried refresh explorer : no change.
After a few reboot I noticed that sometimes they show sometimes not (mostly not)
I have no clue why.
Yes, chromecache.img file was created before.

Also, one question, I want to put windows temp and tmp directory in these ramdisks. Hows much memory whould you think is necessary ?

k1net1cs · 10-06-2012, 15:27 | posts: 3,364

Quote:

Originally Posted by pascalbidouille

I tried refresh explorer : no change.
After a few reboot I noticed that sometimes they show sometimes not (mostly not)
I have no clue why.
Yes, chromecache.img file was created before.

Where is this L: drive located?
Is it on an internal HDD or external HDD?

Quote:

Originally Posted by pascalbidouille

Also, one question, I want to put windows temp and tmp directory in these ramdisks. Hows much memory whould you think is necessary ?

It is not advisable to make Windows temp and tmp folders on RAM disks.

If it's not a persistent RAM disk (resets on every system restart), you'll most likely mess up your system faster before you can say "WTF" whenever you install/uninstall something that requires a restart.
If it's a persistent RAM disk using disk images, there's a chance that a process tries to read something from the temp folder on startup but couldn't find anything because the RAM disk image hasn't finished loading, thus leading to an error or two.