List of RAM drive software

Last updated

RAM drive software allows part of a computer's RAM (memory) to be seen as if it were a disk drive, with volume name and, if supported by the operating system, drive letter. A RAM drive has much faster read and write access than a hard drive with rotating platters, and is volatile, being destroyed with its contents when a computer is shut down or crashes [1] —volatility is an advantage if security requires sensitive data to not be stored permanently, and to prevent accumulation of obsolete temporary data, but disadvantageous where a drive is used for faster processing of needed data. Data can be copied between conventional mass storage and a RAM drive to preserve it on power-down and load it on start-up.

Contents

Overview

Features

Features that vary from one package to another:

FreeBSD

md – memory disk

This driver provides support for four kinds of memory backed virtual disks: malloc, preload, vnode, swap. Disks may be created with the next command line tools: mdconfig and mdmfs. An example of how to use these programs follows. [3]

To create and mount memory disk with mdmfs:

# mdmfs -F newimage -s 5m md0 /mnt

To create and mount memory disk with mdconfig: 

# mdconfig -a -t swap -s 5m -u 0
# newfs -U md0
# mount /dev/md0 /mnt

To destroy previously created disk:

# umount /mnt
# mdconfig -d -u 0

Linux

shm

Modern Linux systems come pre-installed with a user-accessible ramdisk mounted at /dev/shm.

RapidDisk

RapidDisk is a free and open source project containing a Linux kernel module and administration utility that functions similar to the Ramdiskadm of the Solaris (operating system). With the rxadm utility, the user is capable of dynamically attaching, removing, and resizing RAM disk volumes and treat them like any other block device. [4]

RAMDisk

Free and open-source utility that allows using RAM as a folder. [5]

tmpfs and ramfs

An example of how to use tmpfs and ramfs in a Linux environment is as follows:

$ mkdir /var/ramdisk

Once the mount point is identified the mount command can be used to mount a tmpfs and ramfs file system on top of that mount point:

$ mount -t tmpfs none /var/ramdisk -o size=28m

Now each time /var/ramdisk is accessed all reads and writes will be coming directly from memory. [6]

There are 2 differences between tmpfs and ramfs. [7]
1) the mounted space of ramfs is theorically infinite, as ramfs will grow if needed, which can easily cause system lockup or crash for using up all available memory, or start heavy swapping to free up more memory for the ramfs. For this reason limiting the size of a ramfs area can be recommendable.
2) tmpfs is backed by the computer's swap space

There are also many "wrappers" for the RAM disks for Linux as Profile-sync-daemon (psd) and many others allowing users to utilize RAM disk for desktop application speedup moving intensive IO for caches into RAM.

Microsoft Windows

Non-proprietary

ImDisk

ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver is a disk image emulator created by Olof Lagerkvist. It is free and open-source software, and is available in 32- and 64-bit variants. It is digitally signed, which makes it compatible with 64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows without having to be run in Test mode. The 64-bit version has no practical limit to the size of RAM disk that may be created. It is perfect for putting files onto Dolphin Emulator's emulated SD Card. [8]

ImDisk Toolkit is a third-party, free and open-source software that embeds the ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver and adds several features. [9]

ERAM

ERAM is an open source driver that supports making a drive that is up to 4 GB of the total amount of RAM, uses paged/ non-paged memory and supports backing up the drive to an image. It works on Windows XP/ NT/ 2000/ 7/ 10 (32 and 64-bit). Its driver and source code can be found by going to https://github.com/Zero3K/ERAM.

Proprietary

AMD Radeon RAMDisk

AMD Radeon RAMDisk is available in free versions (RAM drive up to 4 GB, or 6 GB with AMD memory), and commercial versions for drives up to 64 GB. The free version is 'advertising supported'. Creates only a single drive (does not support multiple RAM drives). Can be backed up periodically to hard drive, and automatically loaded when the computer is started. AMD Radeon RAMDisk is a rebranded version of Dataram RAMDisk. [10]

Dataram RAMDisk

Dataram's RAMDisk is freeware (up to 1 GB (reduced from 4 to 1GB - per October 2015 site visit) disk size) and was originally developed and marketed by John Lajoie [11] through his private consulting company until 2001, when he sold his rights to Cenatek, before being acquired by Dataram. RAM disks larger than 4 GB require registration and a USD  $18.99 single-user license. When purchasing physical RAM from Dataram, the RAMDisk license is provided free of charge. (Per DATARAM Government Sales on 4/25/2014, this is no longer the case.) Compatible with all 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2003. [12]

Dimmdrive RAMDisk

A RAMdisk built specifically for gamers which features real-time file-synchronization, Steam integration, "USB3 Turbo Mode". The interface was designed to support both technical and non-technical game enthusiasts. Cost is $29 at Dimmdrive.com and $30 on Steam. ($14.99 on Steam as of 2018) [13]

Gavotte RamDisk

Can use Physical Address Extension to create a virtual disk in memory normally inaccessible to 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows (both memory above the 4 GB point, and memory in the PCI hole). [14] There is also an open source plugin that replaces the RAM drive on Bart's PE Builder with one based on Gavotte's rramdisk.sys. [15]

Gilisoft RAMDisk

RAMDisk software for Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista/Windows 7 (x32 & x64)/Windows 10 with simple setup, permits mounting-and-unmounting of RAMDisk images to/from drive-image-files, along with automated/convenient startup/shutdown features, $25[ citation needed ].

Gizmo Central

Gizmo Central is a freeware program that can create and mount virtual disk files. It also has the ability to create a RAM disk up to 4GB in size as Gizmo is a 32 bit program. [16]

Passmark OSFMount

Passmark's OSFMount supports the creation of RAM disks, and also allows you to mount local disk image files (bit-for-bit copies of a disk partition) in Windows with a drive letter. OSFMount is a free utility designed for use with PassMark OSForensics. [17]

Primo Ramdisk

Romex Software Providing a fancy interface which is working with all windows environments from (XP to windows 10) and all windows servers editions from (2003 to 2019 currently) supports up to 128 Disks up to 32GB for Pro Version and 1TB for Ultimate and Server editions, supports to use invisible Memory in 32bit versions of windows, with saving at shut down or hibernate, Paid and trial versions available [18]

SoftPerfect RAM Disk

Available for Windows 7 to 11, or Windows Server from 2008 R2 to 2022; 32/64-bit x86 or 64-bit ARM. SoftPerfect RAM Disk can access memory available to Windows, i.e. on 32-bit systems it is limited to the same 4 GB as the 32-bit Windows itself, otherwise for physical memory beyond 4 GB it must be installed on 64-bit Windows. Multiple RAM disks can be created, and these can optionally be made persistent by automatically saving contents to and restoring from a disk image file. [19] Version 3.4.8 and earlier didn't require a license for home (non-commercial) users. [20]

StarWind Software Virtual RAM Drive Emulator

StarWind Software makes a freeware RAM disk software for mounting memory as actual drives within Windows. Both x86 and x64 versions exist.

Ultra RamDisk

RAMDisk software which can also mount various CD images formats, like iso, ooo, cue, ccd, nrg, mds, img. [21] The application has two versions, paid and free where the latter allows to create a single ram disk up to 2GB in size. [22]

VSuite Ramdisk

The Free Edition (limited to Windows 32-bit Win2000 / XP / 2003) is able to use 'invisible' RAM in the 3.25 to 4 GB 'gap' (if your motherboard has i946 or above chipset) & is also capable of 'saving to hard disk on power down' (so, in theory, allows you to use the RAM disk for Windows XP swap file and survive over a 'Hibernate'). Whilst the free edition allows multiple RAM disk drives to be set up, the total of all drives is limited to 4096 MB. The current version, VSuite Ramdisk II, has been rebranded as 'Primo Ramdisk', all versions of which are chargeable. [23]

WinRamTech (QSoft) Ramdisk Enterprise

An affordable RAM Disk compatible with all Windows Workstation and Server OS versions (32- and 64-bit) starting from Windows 2000. The content of the RAM Disk can be made 'persisted' i.e. saved to an image file on the hard disk at regular times and/or at shutdown, and restored from the same image file at boot time. Because of the built-in disk format routines and the built-in load of the image file, the ram disk drive is already fully accessible at the boot stage where Services and automatically started programs are launched. Concurrent running benchmarks of two ram disks at the same time reveal that this ram disk is almost the fastest. Although the development of this ram disk has ended in 2017, version 5.3.2.15 runs on Windows 10/11 and by this, may still be purchased. The free 64bit 256 MB restricted evaluation version never expires. The company provides OEM personalized 64-bit 5.3.2.15 versions for Windows 10/11 ( unlimited site license ) [24]

Microsoft source code

Ramdisk.sys sample driver for Windows 2000

Microsoft Windows offers a 'demonstration' RAM disk for Windows 2000 as part of the Windows Driver Kit. Limited to using the same physical RAM as the operating system. It is available as free download with source code. [25]

RAMDisk sample for Windows 7/8

Microsoft provides source code for a RAM disk driver for Windows 7 and 8 [26]

Native

Windows also has a rough analog to tmpfs in the form of "temporary files". Files created with both FILE_ATTRIBUTE_TEMPORARY and FILE_FLAG_DELETE_ON_CLOSE are held in memory and only written to disk if the system experiences high memory pressure. [27] In this way they behave like tmpfs, except the files are written to the specified path during low memory situations, rather than to swap space. This technique is often used by servers along with TransmitFile to render content to a buffer before sending to the client.

Solaris

Ramdiskadm

Ramdiskadm is a utility found in the Solaris (operating system) to dynamically add and destroy ramdisk volumes of any user defined sizes. An example of how to use ramdiskadm to add a new RAM disk in a Solaris environment is as follows:

$ ramdiskadm -a ramdisk1 100m

To destroy the RAM disk:

$ ramdiskadm -d ramdisk1

All created RAM disks can be accessed from the /dev/ramdisk directory path and treated like any other block device; that is, accessed like a physical block device, labeled with a file system and mounted, to even be used in a ZFS pool. [28]

DOS

Related Research Articles

A RAM drive is a block of random-access memory that a computer's software is treating as if the memory were a disk drive. RAM drives provide high-performance temporary storage for demanding tasks and protect non-volatile storage devices from wearing down, since RAM is not prone to wear from writing, unlike non-volatile flash memory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows Server 2003</span> Server operating system by Microsoft released in 2003

Windows Server 2003, codenamed "Whistler Server", is the sixth version of Windows Server operating system produced by Microsoft. It is part of the Windows NT family of operating systems and was released to manufacturing on March 28, 2003 and generally available on April 24, 2003. Windows Server 2003 is the successor to the Server editions of Windows 2000 and the predecessor to Windows Server 2008. An updated version, Windows Server 2003 R2, was released to manufacturing on December 6, 2005. Windows Server 2003 is based on the consumer operating system, Windows XP.

x86-64 Type of instruction set which is a 64-bit version of the x86 instruction set

x86-64 is a 64-bit version of the x86 instruction set, first released in 1999. It introduced two new modes of operation, 64-bit mode and compatibility mode, along with a new 4-level paging mode.

In computer operating systems, memory paging is a memory management scheme by which a computer stores and retrieves data from secondary storage for use in main memory. In this scheme, the operating system retrieves data from secondary storage in same-size blocks called pages. Paging is an important part of virtual memory implementations in modern operating systems, using secondary storage to let programs exceed the size of available physical memory.

Radeon is a brand of computer products, including graphics processing units, random-access memory, RAM disk software, and solid-state drives, produced by Radeon Technologies Group, a division of AMD. The brand was launched in 2000 by ATI Technologies, which was acquired by AMD in 2006 for US$5.4 billion.

tmpfs is a temporary file storage paradigm implemented in many Unix-like operating systems. It is intended to appear as a mounted file system, but data is stored in volatile memory instead of a persistent storage device. A similar construction is a RAM disk, which appears as a virtual disk drive and hosts a disk file system.

In computing, Physical Address Extension (PAE), sometimes referred to as Page Address Extension, is a memory management feature for the x86 architecture. PAE was first introduced by Intel in the Pentium Pro, and later by AMD in the Athlon processor. It defines a page table hierarchy of three levels (instead of two), with table entries of 64 bits each instead of 32, allowing these CPUs to directly access a physical address space larger than 4 gigabytes (232 bytes).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows 9x</span> Series of Microsoft Windows computer operating systems

Windows 9x is a generic term referring to a series of Microsoft Windows computer operating systems produced from 1995 to 2000, which were based on the Windows 95 kernel and its underlying foundation of MS-DOS, both of which were updated in subsequent versions. The first version in the 9x series was Windows 95, which was succeeded by Windows 98 and then Windows Me, which was the third and last version of Windows on the 9x line, until the series was superseded by Windows XP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows XP Professional x64 Edition</span> Microsoft Windows operating system released in 2005

Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, released on April 25, 2005, is an edition of Windows XP for x86-64 personal computers. It is designed to use the expanded 64-bit memory address space provided by the x86-64 architecture.

Virtual DOS machines (VDM) refer to a technology that allows running 16-bit/32-bit DOS and 16-bit Windows programs when there is already another operating system running and controlling the hardware.

This article details versions of MS-DOS, IBM PC DOS, and at least partially compatible disk operating systems. It does not include the many other operating systems called "DOS" which are unrelated to IBM PC compatibles.

Microsoft Virtual Server was a virtualization solution that facilitated the creation of virtual machines on the Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003 operating systems. Originally developed by Connectix, it was acquired by Microsoft prior to release. Virtual PC is Microsoft's related desktop virtualization software package.

Hibernation in computing is powering down a computer while retaining its state. When hibernation begins, the computer saves the contents of its random access memory (RAM) to a hard disk or other non-volatile storage. When the computer is turned on the RAM is restored and the computer is exactly as it was before entering hibernation. Hibernation was first implemented in 1992 and patented by Compaq Computer Corporation in Houston, Texas. As of 2020, Microsoft's Windows 10 employs a type of hibernation by default when shutting down.

The booting process of Windows NT includes Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. In Windows Vista and later, this process has changed significantly; see Windows NT 6 startup process for information about what has changed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ultra-mobile PC</span> Obsolete type of handheld computer

An ultra-mobile PC, or ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), is a miniature version of a pen computer, a class of laptop whose specifications were launched by Microsoft and Intel in Spring 2006. Sony had already made a first attempt in this direction in 2004 with its Vaio U series, which was only sold in Asia. UMPCs are generally smaller than subnotebooks, have a TFT display measuring (diagonally) about 12.7 to 17.8 centimetres, are operated like tablet PCs using a touchscreen or a stylus, and can also have a physical keyboard. There is no clear boundary between subnotebooks and ultra-mobile PCs, but UMPCs commonly have major features not found in the common clamshell laptop design, such as small keys on either side of the screen, or a slide-out keyboard.

SmartDrive is a disk caching program shipped with MS-DOS versions 4.01 through 6.22 and Windows 3.0 through Windows 3.11. It improves data transfer rates by storing frequently accessed data in random-access memory (RAM).

Windows XP, which is the next version of Windows NT after Windows 2000 and the successor to the consumer-oriented Windows Me, has been released in several editions since its original release in 2001.

In computing on Microsoft platforms, WoW64 is a subsystem of the Windows operating system capable of running 32-bit applications on 64-bit Windows. It is included in all 64-bit versions of Windows—including Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, IA-64 and x64 versions of Windows Server 2003, as well as x64 versions of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, and Windows 11, as well as ARM64 versions of Windows 10, Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022, except in Windows Server Server Core where it is an optional component, and Windows Nano Server where it is not included. WoW64 aims to take care of many of the differences between 32-bit Windows and 64-bit Windows, particularly involving structural changes to Windows itself.

MuvizuPlay is an animation software package based on the Unreal Engine 3 developed by the UK-based company Digimania, whose earlier work includes the virtual newsreader Ananova.

In computing, the term 3 GB barrier refers to a limitation of some 32-bit operating systems running on x86 microprocessors. It prevents the operating systems from using all of 4 GiB (4 × 10243 bytes) of main memory. The exact barrier varies by motherboard and I/O device configuration, particularly the size of video RAM; it may be in the range of 2.75 GB to 3.5 GB. The barrier is not present with a 64-bit processor and 64-bit operating system, or with certain x86 hardware and an operating system such as Linux or certain versions of Windows Server and macOS that allow use of Physical Address Extension (PAE) mode on x86 to access more than 4 GiB of RAM.

References

  1. ↑ "AMD Radeon RAMDisk: How it works". Radeonmemory.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-12. Retrieved 2013-11-17. – invalid link !
  2. 1 2 3 "AMD Radeon RAMDisk FAQ: "Q: Can RAMDisk use memory not available or seen by 32-bit Windows? A: RAMDisk cannot make use of memory that is not available in 32-bit Windows systems between 3 and 4 GB. [Commercial] RAMDisk can use memory not "seen" by 32-bit Windows ABOVE 4 GB". Radeonmemory.com. Retrieved 2013-11-17.
  3. ↑ "17.9. Memory Disks". www.freebsd.org. Retrieved 2016-06-24.
  4. ↑ "RapidDisk Project Website".
  5. ↑ "RAMDisk Project Website". github.io.
  6. ↑ "Creating a RAM disk with Linux". Prefetch.net blog. January 2, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Overview of ramfs and tmpfs on Linux". Thegeekstuff.com. November 1, 2013.
  8. ↑ "ImDisk VDD website". Ltr-data.se. Retrieved 2013-11-17.
  9. ↑ "ImDisk Toolkit website" . Retrieved 2017-09-08.
  10. ↑ "AMD Radeon RAMdisk Web page". Radeonmemory.com. Retrieved 2013-11-17.
  11. ↑ JLC, Inc. (January 1, 2001). "John Lajoie Consulting".
  12. ↑ "Official Dataram RAMDisk webpage". Memory.dataram.com. Retrieved 2013-11-17.
  13. ↑ "Official Dimmdrive webpage". Dimmdrive.com. Archived from the original on 2013-11-12. Retrieved 2013-11-17.
  14. ↑ Homepage of Jens Scheffler (2012-06-30). "How to use full 4 GB RAM in Windows 7 32 Bit (Gavotte RAMDisk in Windows 7)". Jensscheffler.de. Retrieved 2013-11-17.
  15. ↑ "Sourceforge: Ramdisk plugin for Bart's PE Builder". Rramdisk.sourceforge.net. 2008-01-04. Retrieved 2013-11-17.
  16. ↑ "Arainia Solutions website". Arainia.com. Retrieved 2013-11-17.
  17. ↑ "OSFMount". osforensics.com. Retrieved 2013-12-30.
  18. ↑ Romexsoftware. "Primo RamDisk".
  19. ↑ "SoftPerfect RAM Disk". SoftPerfect.com.
  20. ↑ Change Log; SoftPerfect.com
  21. ↑ "Ultra RAMDisk - About". ultraramdisk.com. Retrieved 2020-01-14.
  22. ↑ "Ultra RAMDisk - FAQ - Pro / Lite Edition What is the difference?". ultraramdisk.com. Retrieved 2020-01-14.
  23. ↑ "Romex Software - High-Performance Storage Solutions & Computer Speed-Up Solutions".
  24. ↑ QSoft RAMDisk becomes. "WinRamTech".
  25. ↑ "ramdisk.sys". support.microsoft.com. January 2, 2012.
  26. ↑ "RAMDisk Storage Driver Sample". support.microsoft.com. April 2, 2014.
  27. ↑ "CreateFile Function". MSDN. October 15, 2010.
  28. ↑ "Playing with RAM disks on Solaris 11.2". Open Storage & Virtualization Magazine. February 14, 2015. Archived from the original on April 3, 2015.
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