Create a Ram Disk in Windows XP/2000 to speed up graphics creation/Internet access

Published on September 9, 2003 By IPlural In WinCustomize Talk

I ran across this at one of the Tech sites I visit and thought it would be some use to people here for speeding up graphics creation and such.

Actually purchasing a 3rd party Ram Disk application would help more because of expanded size, but this is free and it will make a difference in graphics creation used as the first swap disk. It will also help those that just want to put their Internet CACHE on it so that IE finds info at ram speeds instead of disk read speed or conversly writes also.

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TO CREATE A RAM DRIVE ON WINDOWS XP/2000

Download this: http://download.microsoft.com/download/win2000ddk/sample01/1/NT5/EN-US/Ramdisk.exe

Extract it. (Note the location of which you extracted the files)

Go to Control Panel -> Add Hardware -> Choose From a List -> Other Devices -> Have Disk.
The disk, is the location of which you extracted the files

*Windows XP does not have Certifications for this.

Your RAM drive is installed, however you will only get 1MB on it.

*To Adjust RAMDRIVE SIZE:

Start Regedit in your :\windows\regedit

Go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Ramdisk\Parameters

"DriveLetter" is set to Z: *You may change this.

Change "DiskSize" to 1f00000

This should give you about 30MB.

NOTE:
If you want a larger RAM-drive, you will need to buy it from here.
http://www.cenatek.com/product_ramdisk.cfm

Glad to finally give a conclusion to the question BTW, this is pretested, it's working on my system right now.

Little tip, you can change the location of your cache files for Internet Explorer. If they go to the RAM Drive, it will help process web pages faster, and all you have to do is shut down the computer to clear the cache.

Comments (Page 2)

crissy14

on Nov 16, 2003

Ramdisk creates a virtual drive (fake drive), and uses that drive to store info. In short, gives your system (hopefully) a little more power, and more space to store data

digital_trucker

on Nov 16, 2003

Fine, fine. Now how does one go about configuring it to be the first swap drive...for PSP, for example.

Zodiaq~

on Nov 16, 2003

Ok...I really like the idea of having a ramdisk or scratch disk setup for Photoshop.

This sounds cool but on the Microsoft website for the Ramdisk app it said this:

*(Generally, the Windows(r) 2000 cache manager does a much better job of optimizing memory usage than Ramdisk does.)

So which is it? What is going to be the most efficient? Would it be best to set up a smaller hard drive as a scratch disk?

Thanks for all the info IPlural

Weaksid

on Nov 16, 2003

I thought Windows 2K/XP already had something like this installed within the system?

I have 640mb of Ram, Too bad I couldn't use half for the drive

Keith Perry

on Nov 16, 2003

ok, Z drive is set up, Only problem is when I go to change the cache folder to Z it says I have to set the cache volume between 1-0. ???? well those are the only two numbers I can select. What is wrong? I set the Disk Size to 1f00000

joetheblow

on Nov 16, 2003

oh man IPlural is going to have allot of question to answer in the morning.

FiascoAtLarge

on Nov 16, 2003

Here's another free RamDrive http://www.codeguru.com/system/RAMDisk.html

hashonboat

on Nov 16, 2003

To change the location of the 'temporary internet files" folder. Open IE> goto tools> internet options> click the settings button on temporary internet files section and > click the move folder button...change it to Z: or whatever your new ram-drive is. XP will ask to log you off to move files and your done...

Weaksid

on Nov 16, 2003

Would it automatically make Photoshop or a 3D program faster or do you have to configure some settings in them to use that drive? Plus if it used that drive, 30mb would definally not be enough. I just want to understand this graphics creation thing. I understand the IE part.

I.R. Brainiac

on Nov 16, 2003

I use a ram-drive now for PS.I gave it 99 mb.In your options config for PS set the first scratch disc to the ram drive letter and the second one to another partition on your HD.(if you have multiple partitions).Any drive with empty space will do.A separate partition of 1 gig just for a PS scratch disc as your second would be ideal.

Weaksid

on Nov 16, 2003

You know anything about Bryce?

It takes forever to render something I need to export. O' just to give you a hint on what I run so you can understand more. On load, I normally run 40 processes. Then if I start doing other stuff, it goes up to about 55 processes. I'm a multi tasker. I'm running a AMD Athlon 700mhz with 640mb of SDram PC133. I have 4 HDs Total of 200Gigs total of 9 partitions. Most of my partitions are almost full. I need to clean them out. VM Paging size 1160MB using a 40Gig HD that half works. I need to buy a new drive. So 40gigs of that 200gigs is blank since it's a bad hard-drive. So I decided to use part of the good section of it as paging instead.

Currently in progress of getting hardware. Monday I'll be getting a hold of a AMD 2000+ MP processor. I just need a board and DDR ram to complete that then I can shove it in my computer. I know that will definitely improve my graphics. I was also thinking about creating a separate computer with this motherboard and ram when I upgrade what I already have. Then use the other computer as my graphic machine. It would be stripped to the basics and used to render and design my stuff. But I'm just throwing around Ideas right now. But for now I just want to see how I can tweak this to accomplish what I need it for.

Weaksid

on Nov 16, 2003

How did you get 99mb for your ram drive IRB?

Weaksid

on Nov 16, 2003

Is that in the memory usage for ram? Max % used by photoshop?
[Message Edited]

Weaksid

on Nov 16, 2003

Dang, NM, I found it.

I.R. Brainiac

on Nov 16, 2003

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