ramdisk xp

[hough]

im new to the forum so if this is a repost i apoligize i did search but didnt find quite what i was looking for.

i have 2 questions.

i want to run my os from a ramdisk for performance purposes. i would even settle going back to windows 98 to get a decent size install. i am looking for a way to at boot-up have the os copy to ramdisk and run from there. i have only found one hardware solution and it is more money than i would ever dream of spending so i am looking for a way to do it through software. i play dark age of camelot mainly along with just a few other utility tasks on my pc so performance for me is priority.

if i there really is no feasable ram disk solution i would like to go with a raid setup. the problem is as far as i know you have to have the drive established before the install. is there a way during install that you can set up a striped drive with the drives that list in windows setup when you start. i know they have controllers on motherboards for this sn scsi raid but i want to mix scsi and ide. the only way i can do this now is to install xp then make the mixed stripe drive: but then i cant run the os from it.

i appreciate all the help.

edited: there is so much information on this board it will take me a few days to get through it so i again apoligize but do appreciate the help.

[azagahl]

You are worried about performance? What are your PC's stats?

CPU speed? Memory?

Using a RAM disk will consume memory, meaning there will be less memory available for caching or paging. This will probably decrease performance.

One thing that might help is to turn off as many features and services in XP as you can. I believe there is a program discussed here called nLite that is designed to do this.

Make sure your PC isn't infested with spyware and viruses. In the Software forum you will find a lot of recommendations. For spyware try CWShredder and SpyBot S&D 1.4RC1. For viruses, I like AVG Free Edition.

Also, defrag your hard disk. Give yourself a large fixed page file, at least 1 GB. Ideally it should be located at the beginning of your disk, on the first partition on your disk, and even on a second disk if you have one.

FWIW I have an Athlon 3400+ 1 GB RAM and I love using Win 98 SE due to its decreased bloat and increased responsiveness. If you really want to try 98 I recommend using 98 SE specifically. Also, there are a lot of expert 9x users on the forums here. They've made some great upgrades for 98 SE such as the Unofficial 98 SE SP 2.0. Also, if you have a Windows ME disk, you can install the 98SE2ME upgrade.

i again apoligize but do appreciate the help

No need to apologize, we are all here to help & be helped. Welcome to the forums!

[tarquel]

I agree with azagahl.

I don't know of any "RAMdisk" software solutions and I highly doubt of what good they would be really - performance or otherwise.

Just follow azagahl's suggestions is your best bet, although if you do try out nlite, be careful with what services your removing otherwise I could make windows (and you) not very happy Be sure to post in the nlite section of the MSFN forums tho for nlite related things.

I don't know if your aware that certain motherboards allow you to boot from a USB Flash drive. Maybe a 1GB/2GB version with a minimal install of 98SE could be a possible solution, although I've never tried it but its bound to be better than any software you could find.

Admitedly, you're not gonna get that much room to play with so is it really worth it tho? I imagine Windows would boot extremely quickly tho lol and I'd love to see that

Also, I've heard of motherboards that have SD / Compact Flash sockets on them directly which you could do the same sort of thing. Alot of motherboars have brackets for a card reader bay, so its quite possible you could one of those too, although I doubt the system would know to boot from a card reader, etc. - only dedicated socket ones perhaps but it's one to research.

Let us know if you find anything please and also tell us more info & how its coming along as I'm sure others will be interested.

Regards & good luck,

N.

[hough]

i found this and this is basically what im looking for. i was just trying to do it with system ram and a small os install. 800.00 was a little steep for me that is why i am looking for alternatives.

The HyperDrive III is quite simply a Hard Disk made out of DRAM. It therefore connects and performs like an impossibly fast Hard Disk. Here are the technical specs:

CDROM drive form factor. Fits into a standard 5.25" CD bay.

Connects just like a Hard Disk or a CDROM.

Unlike the HyperDrive II which only took on board RAM. The HyperDirve III provides 6 DIMM slots, each of which can take DIMMs up to 1GB(2GB) in capacity (no on board RAM). So max capacity is now 6GB(12GB).

Retains data when the PC is restarted or shutdown by having an independent power supply connected to the main PC power lead through a PCI slot blanking plate.

Integral 160 minute 7.2v battery back up to cover electricity board power outages (1250 milliamp hours - on board trickle charge unit takes 48 hours to fully charge).

Quick backup possible with HyperOs 2004 or HyperOs OneClick and an integral 160 minute 7.2v battery back up to cover electricity board power outages. Also compatible with all UPS's.

Bootable IDE device.

Can be destructively reformatted (The HyperDrive III can perform a full format almost instantly).

Far more reliable than a Hard Disk (no head crashes and no moving parts).

Gramophone free design - no mechanics, pure silicon!

Silent!

A good hard disk can do around 40,000 stops and starts at 40 degrees centigrade (Hitachi/IBM Deskstar 180GXP). The HyperDrive III doesn't mind how many stops and starts it does because it has no moving parts.

The fastest hard disks today with ATA133 Buses provide a sustained data rate between 20 and 55 MB per second depending where the data is on the mechanical rotating platter. This figure is 93 MB per second for the HyperDrive III with an ATA100 Bus. The seek time for the HyperDrive III is at the silicon level (less than 100 microseconds) rather than the mechanical magnetic level (8 milliseconds). So the read and write times for the HyperDrive III are over 80x faster than a Hard Disk. This translates into the following real world benefits:

20,000+ inputs and outputs per second

XP installs on a HyperDrive III in around 4 minutes, rather than the 40 minutes that it takes to install on a Hard Disk.

'Instant' Desktop.

'Instant' on, after the BIOS and Hardware checks.

Vast performance increases for IO intensive applications such a Graphics, Games, Audio processing, Video processing, large Databases, and large Spreadsheets etc. (You can run Windows, your applications and your data all on the HyperDrive III or use the HyperDrive III as an extremely fast scratch disk).

The HyperDrive III comes with a 3-year manufacturers warranty.

[dman]

You could try qsoft ramdisk. doubt you will get the os to run from it, but the game maybe. do install of game to drive b:, then zip it up and unzip to ramdisk again when you want to play.

http://www.ramdisk.tk/

[tarquel]

@hough:

Nice, but true - who's gonna shell out 800 (whatever's) for a system that they could build a decent new pc for? lol

dman solution seems a much nicer idea

I imagine there must be more hardware solutions out there so if anyone knows of another, please post it - I'm sure alot of us might be interested in it (even if its just to go "oooOOOO" at lol)

Regards,

N.

[Mchart]

There are many such devices like the rocket drive which allow you to use normal SDRAM as a hard drive per say, but they are extremely expensive, and you better make sure as hell your power never fails or else you will loose all the data on the ramdisk device. If you have the money and an ABS though, then by all means go ahead. Don't install the OS or anything else on the ramdisk though, put the page file on the ramdisk.

http://www.cenatek.com/product_rocketdrive.cfm

^^^

If you have the money, that is the best ramdisk device that you can buy. You can only have a max of 4GB of space, but thats more then enough for the page file, and possibly a slimmed down version of XP. Although like I said, I would not put the OS or anything else on it because of the data loss issue. Putting the page file on it would be the smartest choice. (and why would'nt you? Having a page file with that kind of access speed would be f***ing kick a**.)

[ripdajacker]

It's a waste of money...

rocket drive:

Burst data rate: 132 MB/s

Sustained data rate: 80 to 115 MB/s

A normal ATA/SATA harddrive:

ATA : 133 mb/s

SATA : 150 mb/s

I can't see no idea in buying a 4 gig drive when you can get a 80gb for $40..

[Mchart]

The data rate does'nt mean jack diddly in this case. Take a look at the access speeds, and I/Ops.

[Bâshrat the Sneaky]

And those are the MAX & theoretical data rates... IRL it's MUCH lower!!!

[Mchart]

Once again, the data rate does not mean jack. Take a look at the access times, thats what really matters.