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RAMdisk on XP 32bit - brainstorming!

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Nod5:
I'm soon upgrading my XP 32bit system with two new 2GB sticks of RAM. Together with my two previous 1GB sticks I'll then have a total of 6GB.
But from what I've read XP can only make use of a bit above 3GB for regular RAM for some complex reasons.

So I'm looking into the possibilities of using the leftover memory as a RAM-disk.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAM_disk

I'd like to brainstorm a bit about that.  :) Things I'd like to get feedback on:

1. This RAM-disk program claims to use the memory XP can't use as regular memory for a RAM-disk:
"RamDisk Plus 9 has a most unique feature. Our patent pending technology can access memory beyond the limitation imposed by a Windows 32-bit operating system! In other words, RamDisk Plus 9 can use "unmanaged" Windows' memory e.g. above 4GB. It can also use the stubbornly inaccessable memory between 3.2GB and 4GB."
http://www.superspeed.com/desktop/ramdisk.php 

Has anyone tried that? Does it work well? Any drawbacks? (Note: even if there are great problems with that I'm still interested in the RAM-disk questions below -- 3GB is still a lot of memory for many cases so I could still test to devote a bit of that for a RAM-disk)

(The Ramdisk Plus software was brought up in this older thread that didn't catch on https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=10979.0 )

2. putting the XP page file on a RAM-disk: one (possible) benefit would be non-recoverability. Are there also noticeable speed benefits?

3. putting the cache of Firefox or other programs on a RAM-disk: speed benefits?

4. putting all of Firefox on a RAM-disk (via a script that copies Portable Firefox to the RAM-disk at each system start): would I get additional speed benefits, especially when starting Firefox?

5. Downloading: I sometimes use Flashget Classic to grab video streams. With many parallell streams Flashget easily freezes and seems to strain the harddrive. Would I avoid those problems by saving the downloads (and perhaps also Flashget cache or all of Flashget) to the RAM-disk and then only later, once all parts are save, move the saved file to a harddrive?

6. Are there any other good RAM-disk applications for XP 32bit (especially freeware/FOSS version that are actively developed)?

another partly related older thread:
https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=10348.0

4wd:
6. Are there any other good RAM-disk applications for XP 32bit (especially freeware/FOSS version that are actively developed)?
-Nod5 (May 08, 2009, 05:59 AM)
--- End quote ---

Not sure about 'actively developed' but Gavotte Ramdisk, (Google translated Japanese), was last updated 30-11-2008 and reportedly can use the unavailable RAM that XP x86, (or Vista x86), can't touch, (although you'll still be limited to a ramdisk of 64.5GB).

Oh, did I mention it is free?

EDIT: Having had a quick look at it, it appears you need to enable the /PAE switch in boot.ini and then merge the reg file found in the archive which allows the driver to access memory in the PAE area.

Shades:
Was there not one that came with Windows XP itself?

It seems there is, but its limited to 64Mbyte. However following this link will lead to a blog describing a much nicer (free) product without limits and working on any version from Windows 2000 and up. So does this link but then from another product.

Ooops, just saw that 4wd was faster than me with posting.

4wd:
Ooops, just saw that 4wd was faster than me with posting.
-Shades (May 08, 2009, 11:13 PM)
--- End quote ---

At least we both beat f0dder for a change  :P

Nod5:
Thanks! Here's a roundup from some more searching:

CENATEK.COM -- http://www.cenatek.com/
1. Dataram RAMDisk Beta V.3.5.107  -- released 2008(2009?)____  "free for disks under 4 GB"
2. RAMDiskXP v2.0.100 RC7 (trial) -- released 2005-11-15

http://www.cenatek.com/product_ramdisk.cfm
http://www.cenatek.com/product_page_ramdisk_download_list.php
http://www.cenatek.com/downloads/RamDiskXP_Configuration.pdf
"The absolute maximum RAMDiskXP/2000 disk size is 3045 MB, if you have a computer with 4 GB
of RAM installed.  RAMDisk will always leave some memory for the OS." = can't use memory above 3.X GB in XP 32bit?


Gavotte Ramdisk -- http://bbs.et8.net/bbs/showthread.php?t=906641 (non-english)
1. ramdisk5.7z (free) -- released 2008-11-17

http://www.chweng.idv.tw/swintro/ramdisk.php
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/27/free-ramdisk-for-windows-vista-xp-2000-and-2003-server/
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www10.atwiki.jp/gavotterd/
 (claims Gavotte can use memory above 3.X GB in XP 32bit)


Qsoft RAMDisk -- http://www.ramdisk.tk/
1. RAMDisk Enterprise 5.3.1.11 ($10) -- release 2009-04-17
2. Free RAMDisk 5.0.2.2  (free; 64MB size limit) -- released ______
3. RAMDisk Extended Basic (trial & nag) (RAMDisk_Evaluation_52102PRO.zip) -- released ______

http://members.fortunecity.com/ramdisk/RAMDisk/ramdiskent.htm
http://members.fortunecity.com/ramdisk/Download/download_and_001.htm
http://members.fortunecity.com/ramdisk/RAMDisk/ramdiskfree.htm
http://members.fortunecity.com/ramdisk/Download/brewing.htm (updates/news)

limitation: "The 32 bit versions of XP and Vista do not allow the RAMDisk to allocate memory above a particular 3.x GB boundery"

trialware: "The "Enterprise Evaluation" (full) versions are freely available and can be downloaded from the links within the table below. The versions are full functional , but they may however popup randomly a "nasty" reminder message. They may display a "Fatal application exit" message, although there is nothing "fatal" going on and you can continue your work without any fear at all. The evaluation version will expire on September 1st , 2009."


AR Soft -- http://www.arsoft-online.com/
1. AR RAM Disk (free) 1.20 -- released 2009-04-23

http://www.arsoft-online.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=26&Itemid=47
"The AR RAM Disk is no longer supported by AR Soft. You may continue to use the RAM Disk, but we will not provide any help or additional information. Since the development of this product has been stopped there will no more versions of the software."

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/AR-Soft-RAM-Disk.shtml

can't use memory above 3.x GB in XP 32bit


SuperSpeed -- http://www.superspeed.com/ramdisk.php
1. RamDisk ($35)
2. Ramdisk Plus ($50)

"RamDisk Plus 9 has a most unique feature. Our patent pending technology can access memory beyond the limitation imposed by a Windows 32-bit operating system! In other words, RamDisk Plus 9 can use "unmanaged" Windows' memory e.g. above 4GB. It can also use the stubbornly inaccessable memory between 3.2GB and 4GB." = can use memory above 3.x GB in XP 32bit

http://www.superspeed.com/download/trialversions.php

ImDisk -- http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html#ImDisk
1. ImDisk (freeware) 1.1.4 -- 2009-04-21

+ free ; actively developed ; author active in forum (below)
+ can also mount image files (like an .iso image of a DVD)
- can't use memory above 3.x GB in XP 32bit

http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html#ImDisk (official page)
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?act=SF&s=&f=59 (official forum)

FarStone -- http://www.farstone.com/software/virtual-hard-drive.htm
1. Virtual Hard Drive 2 Pro ($30)

edit changelog:
090511 added ImDisk, Farstone

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