A RAM disk is a virtual storage location that can be accessed the same as an HDD, SSD, or other flash storage device on a computer. RAM disks are created by partitioning capacity from system memory (aka RAM) using software, and they provide incredibly fast I/O (read and write) performance, many times faster than today’s fastest SSDs, with wider bandwidth and extremely low latencies.
Using system memory as storage has its pros and cons. One of the benefits is obviously the performance. Storage bound applications greatly benefit from the extreme read and write speeds, not to mention storage latency being virtually eliminated.
On the downside, system memory is volatile. This means that power is required to keep data in RAM. When powering off the system, or in the event of power loss, any files or applications on the RAM disk are erased. Backing up is critical for making the RAM Disk a useful replacement drive where applications have been installed. Many RAM Disk utilities feature a backup function, which will create an image file of the drive’s contents, though this will require space on a conventional storage device.
Another downside is any RAM capacity partitioned for storage would no longer be available to the processor for system memory use. Fortunately, today’s PCs and workstations support sizable memory populations. The latest four-socket DDR5 based Intel and AMD chipsets can support up to 192GB, and workstations up to 2TB! Most applications won’t take advantage of all that system memory, leaving room for a decent sized RAM Disk to be created.
Ideas for Where to Use a RAM Disk
All computers use system RAM as cache (or temporary storage) between the processor and HDD/SSD for open applications and files. However, some applications, such as content creation programs like Adobe’s Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects, will use “temp” or “scratch” locations in storage so they don’t gobble up all the RAM capacity. You might consider changing the temp/scratch file location of your application to the RAM Disk to help boost performance.
Running an entire application from a RAM Disk may also be faster. Bear in mind that it must be backed up on every shutdown and reloaded on every boot to Windows.
Which RAM Disk software to use?
There are plenty of free and paid options on the web for RAM Disk software. One free, open-source option would be the popular ImDisk. There is no limit on how large the RAM Disk can be (besides the actual amount of physical RAM) and it is easy to use. Another free software, the one that was used in our testing, is OSFMount by PassMark. OSFMount also has no limit to the size of the RAM Disk. The drive can be formatted in NTFS, exFAT, or FAT32, and can be seen as a physical or logical drive. A third free software is from AMD called Radeon RAMDisk. The free version only allows up to 4GB, enough for storing temporary files, but paid versions go up to 64GB. Another paid software called Primo Ramdisk has many tiers suiting various needs. There is a free trial and the cheapest option allows up to a 4GB RAM disk, with higher tiers offering up to 1TB.
How does a RAM Disk compare to an SSD?
We set up a DDR5 workstation for our RAM Disk benchmark, which features an 8-channel memory architecture for high bandwidth and large capacity:
- Processor: Intel Xeon w9-3475X
- Motherboard: ASUS Pro WS W790E-SAGE SE
- RAM: 256GB of Kingston FURY Renegade Pro DDR5 (KF556R36RBK8-256)
- Graphics: ASUS RTX 3070
- SSD: 500GB Kingston FURY Renegade NVMe SSD
Looking at PCMark 10’s Data Drive Benchmark, a RAM Disk has about a three times higher bandwidth than an NVMe SSD.
Conclusion
DO use a RAM disk to boost I/O performance for storage-bound applications.
DO use an SSD to hasten the time it takes to back up on shutdown and load the RAM disk image on boot.
DO NOT use a RAM disk if you have any concerns over power loss and don’t have a battery backup.
#KingstonFURY #KingstonIsWithYou
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