RamDrive

[Shahram]

I am using ERD Commander 2005,

can anybody explain how I can load a RamDrive,

I don't want to load the whole thing into a RAMDRIVE, only an extra RAMDrive to put the temp files in, even if there is no hard drive in the system.

[Shahram]

I have access to the registry files of ERDC,

at least does somebody know, if it could be loaded through a registry key or something?

without an Extra Drive I am stuck with a lot of my programs not functioning in a hardless environment,

[Albuquerque]

Do some searching for one of two options: Either the filterdriver from XP Embedded (allows you ~32mb of ramdisk that is actually appended to any disk letter, regardless of whether it's actually writeable or not) or the SDI image method, also gleaned from XP Embedded.

Both tools are essentially free, both will allow you to "write" to the X: drive just as if it were a ramdisk. The SDI method allows you to control the available space by how much "free space" you leave when you finish building the SDI image; alterantively the filter driver is always 32mb

[Shahram]

A Quick search didn't give me much results, only a few hints like filter driver should be registered here :

CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E978-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\UpperFilters REG_MULTI_SZ (Yourdriver name)[/vbcol?

??

for SDI image, can you actually load an SDI image inside WINPE / ERDC to have some writable media, all I could find were bootable SDI images to load the whole windows into the memory.

Edit:

I wan't to use this as a temp folder, even 32 Mb will do that for me.

Edited March 28, 2006 by Shahram

[Albuquerque]

Looks like I misunderstood some of the threads I've previously read... The enhanced write filter from XP Embedded cannot be installed on any of the current WindowsPE builds. Sorry

However, I know the SDI process works because I use it on my existing PE image. Look into the creation of an SDI image for your PE image (by using the XP Embeded toolkit) and it will outline how you can make your PE image smaller as well as give yourself some writeable ramdisk room for your temp files. My current image has about ~6mb of "free space" on drive X: that can be used for whatever...

And yes, you have to build the entire WindowsPE to load from the SDI image. That's how you get the writeable portion; it cannot be "added on" after PE is already booted.

Edited March 28, 2006 by Albuquerque

[Shahram]

hmm..,

I will need it to be seperated from the actual ERDC,

thanx anyways

I found this which sounds promissing,

http://home.tiscali.be/ir006712/RAMDisk/ramdriv.htm

But yet I have to figure out a way to incorporate it in ERDC,

in other systems like BartPE, it shouldn't be a problem as you make plugins for them, but in ERDC this is not that easy,

If anybody knows how to incorporate this or any other ram using programs, please let me know.

[Shahram]

nope, I couldn't find a way to incoporate it, even though I managed to reset the permission of the registry files and add the registry values that work in counter WINPE / BartPE , but it does not work,

if somebody finds a way, it would be most appreciated,

Ps.

it's starnge that till now, nobody has really been working a RAMDRIVE in ERDC,

[allen2]

You can find a ramdisk here. And information for using it with are described there.

[gdogg]

could always grab a gigabye iram, and trow 1GB in it.

[Shahram]

Ok,

thank you,

I have been working on the previous version 5.2.10.2, Now I used the latest version, V 5.3.1.5

The decvice actually seems to apear after RAMDSIZE XX (thank god at least getting somewhere)

But it always remains on ~1MB(1,029,120 bytes), no matter what is given to the RAMDSIZE,

hm.....

[Shahram]

Ok,

I guess I finally made it work,

it even works with the previous version,

it's just like I haven't been looking enough

first thing was, once the ramdrive size is set, it can not be changed at least in ERDC, so RAMDSIZE is pretty useless if the size was set before through the registry key,

the 2nd thing is (maybe it's my virual machin, but I gave it 512 MB total RAM) , I had to do a couple of DEVCON.exe disable/enable ramdriv to get it work, it didn't work on the first try (which I usually was giving up), and in many cases I was getting an error of being low in virtual memory even before setting the drive size.

So I made a one batch file to do everything,

My next step would be to incorporate it in WindowsShell.exe, to be executed before everything,

[Shahram]

I think I jumped into conclusion very fast,

It worked for a while and the same script stoped working,

It might be related to the fact that is being tested under a virtual machin, but I am not sure,

There is another problem regarding the ERDC that you will have to be aware of, that when ERDC attaches itself to a the Target PC Windows, the registry information is loaded from the target windows and any written to the registry will be written to the target registry and it might also cause problems for the next ERDC session, so I remove all the registry enteries before proceeding with new enteries,

Yet , with a clean snapshot, it is not working, and sometimes I even get the blue screen of death,

AnyBody esle trying this in ERDC?

[Shahram]

I have been able to enable the device if writing the registry keys once before the windows start, together with windowsshell.exe.

After so many times not being able even to Enable the device, I have been able to enable the ramdrive when it attaches itself to the target windows by writing the registry keys again (goes into the target registry) and then disabling/enabling the device.

But this does not work in a Hardless environment, or when ERDC does not attach itself to the target windows (or load the target registry),

The Device is ENABLED, but there is no drive ???????

The same script does not work even though it says the device is enabled.

How does it work in WINPE or BartPE?