In comparison to mechanical HDDs and even the quickest and fastest SSDs, RAM Disks are transitory digital data storage solutions that are often 50 to 100 times faster. The performance of read/write speeds on a PC might theoretically be greatly enhanced by the use of RAM Disks. Therefore, today we’ll demonstrate how to set up a RAM Disk (also known as a RAM Drive) on your Windows 10 PC. In order to provide you a more complete grasp of the topic, we will also provide you with further information on the technology and its advantages as well as benchmarks comparing RAM Disk with SSD.
Create RAM Disk in Windows 10 to Improve PC Performace
Today’s demonstration will make use of the free ImDisk Toolkit application for Windows 10. Other programmes of this type are nevertheless readily available, including AMD Radeon RAMDisk, Dataram RAMDisk, Gavotte RAMDisk, and others. While each has advantages and disadvantages of their own, ImDisk is a well-known programme and is frequently recognised as the industry leader alongside Dataram’s products. So let’s get straight to it and learn how to establish a RAM Disk (RAM Drive) in our Windows 10 machines without further ado. But first, additional information about RAM Disk, its advantages, and comparison tests with SSD flash storage devices
What is RAM Disk?
A RAM disc, also known as a RAM Drive, is a section of a computer’s random access memory that has been set aside for the operating system to treat as a standard storage drive. You can use a RAM Disk as a typical secondary storage device once you mount it and even install apps on it. It is distinct from a hardware RAM drive, which uses RAM chips to produce extremely quick battery-powered SSDs, and is often referred to as a virtual RAM drive or software RAM drive.
How Do Ram Disks Compare to SSDs?
A RAM drive typically outperforms SSDs, the quickest form of secondary storage currently on the market, in terms of read/write performance. The increase in performance is caused by a number of variables, including access time, throughput limit, and file system type. Greater maximum throughput, which in the case of RAM drives is only constrained by the speed of the RAM, the data bus, and the processor, results in the highest increase. The speed of the storage bus, such as SATA or USB, further places restrictions on SSds. Due to longer access times, HDDs and optical drives are significantly slower than other types of storage media.
RAM Disk vs SSD: Benchmarks
I started up CystalDiskMark 8, the industry-standard free programme to assess storage discs, on my company-issued laptop to compare the read/write rates of the RAM drive with the M.2 SSD. The RAM Disk vs. SSD fight ended in a wipeout, as was to be expected. Although the M.2 drive isn’t slow, the RAM Drive outperforms it by a factor of ten. For modest amounts of data, it is roughly 7-8 times quicker for sequential read rates and over 20 times faster for random read speeds. The disparity in write speeds is equally pronounced, ranging between 5 and 6 times for sequential and 3 to 4 times for random.
RAM Disks: Benefits and Disadvantages
Everyone can notice the advantages of RAM Disks’ speed advantage. Technically, because their data would be kept in the fastest sort of memory possible, programmes loaded in a RAM drive would have nearly instantaneous load times. Because their data was simply moved to another area of RAM, opening files, browsing documents, and loading games or apps would always occur almost instantly. Despite its clear advantages, there is a significant problem that has stopped the RAM Disk method from being used more frequently to speed up people’s sluggish PCs.
The fact that RAM is volatile memory is the main issue here. In other words, the instant the computer is turned off or there is a power outage, all data stored there would be lost. Naturally, you may reduce the problem by saving your RAM Disk data to an image file before each shutdown and loading it again at each startup, but it would lengthen system startup and shutdown times, defeating the purpose of generating RAM Disks in the first place.
Additionally, RAM discs take up a significant portion of your memory, preventing you from using it for anything else. While it is acceptable in computers with lots of RAM, it might not work in older or less expensive systems with little extra memory. After all is said and done, however, it does appear that games and programmes stored in RAM drives open and operate noticeably faster than those installed in ordinary SSDs. This is particularly true for programmes that typically store small data to secondary storage rather than using RAM as a cache.
Hardware RAM Disks
Some ultra-premium SSDs are faster than conventional solid state drives because they store data on RAM chips rather than flash. These drives have internal batteries that ensure they can continue to store the data that has been stored on them even when the computer is turned off. But because of the rising cost of semiconductor chips and electronics, such storage drives are also substantially more expensive and often not intended for retail users (that would be you and I). These are intended for data centres and researchers instead, who may need extremely high speeds for mission-critical applications regardless of their cost.
How to Create a RAM Disk in Windows 10?
On Windows systems, RAM Disks are simple to manufacture with the use of compact, lightweight third-party applications. As was already said, we’re utilising ImDisk on our Windows 10 PC to construct the RAM Disk. However, there are other other pieces of complimentary software that are comparable.
Note:Both desktop and laptop computers can be used using the strategies discussed in this article. Additionally, although I’m using Windows 10 for this demonstration, the techniques described here will also work on earlier versions of Windows, such as Windows 7, 8, and 8.1.
Step 1: Download and Install ImDisk
- First off, download the IMDisk Toolkit (free) Zip file from the developer s official Sourceforge page and extract the contents to a location of your choice. Now open the folder and run the batch file install.bat.
Note: If User Account Control (UAC) asks you to confirm, click or touch Yes. You can also turn off obtrusive UAC prompts to streamline your operations.
- On the installer configuration window, check all the boxes in the Components section and then click/tap on Install. Your installation will barely take a second or two.
Step 2: Use ImDisk to Create a RAM Disk in Windows 10
- Run ImDisk. On the Basic tab [1], select the size of RAM [2] you want to allocate to the RAM Disk. You can also opt for Dynamic Memory feature by checking Allocate Memory Dynamically [3]. Leave the rest of the settings on default and click on OK [4] to create the RAM Disk.
Note:If the dynamic memory option was selected, the RAM disk’s capacity could change instantly, with additional space being allocated as needed. When only a small portion of the RAM Disk is being used, it is slower but will save a significant amount of memory.
- Go to This PC (My Computer in earlier Windows versions) and you will see a new drive with the drive letter and size you chose. This is your RAM Disk.
- To revert all changes, you can delete the RAM Disk by clicking on the Unmount button on the Basic tab in the ImDisk configuration window, as seen below.
Step 3: Prevent RAM Disk Data Loss Following Every Shutdown
Since RAM is volatile memory, every time you shut down your computer, the data on your RAM Disk will be automatically wiped. However, you can rapidly reload the information that was in the RAM Disk at the time of shutdown by saving it. Voici how to do it:
- Move to the Data tab [1] on the ImDisk configuration window. Now, in the field for Load Content from Image File or Folder , navigate to (or type-in) the path for the image file [2] with auto-saved RAM Disk data that will synchronize at the next startup. Make sure to check Synchronize at System Shutdown [3]. Click OK [4] once done.
Enjoy Super-Fast Read/Write Speeds With RAM Disk on Your Windows 10 PC
You should be able to simply make a RAM Disk to speed up your Windows 10 computer by following the instructions in our guide above. And since you want to experiment with your computer’s RAM settings to get better performance, see our tutorial on how to give particular Windows 10 apps additional RAM. Last but not least, have a look at our tutorials outlining the finest Windows 10 hacks and techniques as well as the actions you can do to extend the battery life of your Windows PC.
