Ramdisk which remember his content after reboot/shutdown
Status: Inactive
Brought to you by:
w77
Menu
▾
▴
Hi, i have some question about this.
I still trying to figure out proper way to make Ramdisk remember stuff inside after reboot.
It is little bit confusing for me, i used some other ramdisks before, they just create IMG file somewhere to remember their conent.
Right now, for ImDisk, i use "Data" tab, and Synchronize at System Shutdown flag.
And it forced me to disable "fast boot" in windows (which one, i guess does allmost nothing usefull because i'm using SSD for OS)
So I've disabled fast boot, and enabled this sychronization, and just chose some folder.
It is how it should work? Just saving stuff to folder, by this synch. option?
Also there is label that tell, i can select Image or folder. But how i can get image file first, to select it? I guess ImDisk can't create img file for me? How acutally i can create img file, and use it for synch. option?
I should use some thrid party soft to create empty img? It should have fixed size that will be equal to size of Ramdisk? Or i can use some VHDx which size will depend on size of it's conent?
ps
there also option save image in disk driver, but it says i have no right to do this.
update
well, i find way, there is save to image option in context menu of explorer, and then i can select it instead folder, and it is working, so i presume it is proper way to make remembering of content between reboots.
now when i have new question, i'm apparently can create several RamDisk through ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver window, but how i can configure each one? RamDisk configurator show me settings of first drive i created.
Last edit: SilentPrayerCG 2018-09-04
In most cases, using an image file will be slower than a directory.
The ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver window can only create temporary ramdisks. To create several ramdisks with the RamDisk Configuration Tool, simply select another drive letter. The new ramdisk will be registered along with the previous one(s), if "Launch at Windows Startup" is checked. And use the Unmount button of this GUI to unregister a previously registered ramdisk.
About the fast startup, Windows writes at shutdown all that belongs to the kernel or the "session 0" (the System account). You need to be aware of that if you use a ramdisk for privacy purpose.
And of course, if the system already writes all the data, there is no need for a synchronization tool. However, letting the system doing the job is not necessarily the faster way or exactly what you want.
That said, with a SSD, you should keep the fast startup disabled: it will not slow down a lot the boot, and you will save a lot of writes, which will increase the lifespan of your SSD.
Yes i thought that logically writing to file will be slower, than just in folder. And you confirmed it to me. For some reason i thought it kinda strange that files stored in simple folder, exposed.
Good to know that configurator can create new ram disk by switching letter, it not very obvious in it's current interface though. I'm actually even thought it is works that way, have tried to switch letter, but i selected letter of drive that i created in driver window, and didn't see any difference in GUI, and thought i just try to change letter for current drive. Now i see that when i select other letter in configurator, unmount is grayed out. I was able to create second drive as mounting point, little folder-drive for Skyrim save files, just interesting if will get some noticable perfomance for loading them from memory, or if it will work at all.
About fast boot and synchronization.
When fast boot is enabled, configurator at creating drive, said me that "Ram Disk content will be stored to hard drive at the shutdown" and that "while fast boot is enabled, synch. will not work"
So synch. is second option? It should remember all stuff out of box, while fast boot is enabled?
Because of me it isn't. For some reason.
I have at least 2 machines where i installed ImDisk, (both win 10 x 64) and while fast boot is enabled, after shutdown/reboot RamDisk is clean. It shouldn't be?
Shutdown, or reboot?
If you choose "Shut down", the fast startup will be active, and all the kernel content will be written to the hard drive. In this case, the synchronization cannot work, because as it is not a normal shutdown, services are not notified of the event. The state of the services is merely written without any notification.
If you choose "Restart", il will perform a normal shutdown and then a full reboot. This is intended for the case where you want to restart all the drivers. Of course, in this case, you lose the ramdisk content, unless to use the synchonization option.
Ok, now i get it. Kinda. I've checked, and yes with fast boot, files didn't disappear after shutdown.
But it kinda weird acutally, i don't think saving stuff only on shutdown but not on reboot needed for something, so better use just synch.
And now i don't sure what for this fastboot actually needed (i didn't mesured speed of booting, probably for winning few dozen seconds on hdd drives systems), as you described it looks more like hibernation (which i'm actually use most time) but with closing all stuff before shutdown.
Well thanks for answers, now i know how it's works, i guess.
Hi. After i've figured out how to craeate two permanent ramdisk's i bump in-to new problem, synchronization aparently works only for one.
So i created second as mounting point, it is working, and files stored in folder i picked.
But my original first disk R stop storing files. At first i thought may be it something with that image file i created, because windows have context option to mount it but it said it is corrupted.
So i change it back to store in regular folder, but after reboot disk is clean...
I should work that way? Or it some kind of glitch?
And it is inpossible to edit drive with configurator? only Remount it with new settings?
I reproduced the issue. It is even worse with a 3rd ramdisk...
This a major bug. Will try to fix that as soon as possible.
And no, it is not currently possible to edit a registered ramdisk. You need to unmount it and then recreate it.
Last edit: v77 2018-09-11
Oh, good that my "research" wasn't useless). Will wait update.
About editing, ok - got it. Thanks!
Faced yet another problem, that i don't know how to unmount that mounting point drive? It doesn't have letter, i've chose S when created it. I tried create ram disk, like over it, with S letter, it said - it can't. Removing from virtual disk driver didn't help, because it respawned after reboot)
How it should be done? By command line? Or manually remove it from some autostart places in registry? I just reinstalled whole program, because after i tried delete it from virutal disk drive, it became glitchy, my main ramdisk R stop mounting, and configurator start tell me he can't mount it and stuff.
Simply use the dedicated Unmount button in the Advanced tab of the RamDisk Configuration Tool, just above the selected mount point.
By the way, I found 2 bugs about the synchronization feature.
The first one is a crash of the service (ImDiskTk-svc) that can occur if there are several ramdisks to synchronize.
The second one occurs in RamDiskUI: if you define a ramdisk on a drive letter just after one on a mount point, the synchronization parameters are not properly registered, and they can modify parameters of a previously registered ramdisk. As a consequence, a big mess in the backup folders/image files. However, I doubt a lot of people are mixing drive letters and mount points while using the synchronization feature.
The next version will take several days to come because I will need the translators for a few things.
For now, avoid to use this feature on several ramdisks simultaneously.
Ok. So i should select same folder, that i mounted as mounting point and select unmount? Again didn't notice "unmount" button here. Will know how it works now. Thanks!
I will use only one ramdisk for now, until i dont "invent" some usage for another ramdisk or mouting point.
Ofcourse, make Skyrim saves folder as mouting point folder was stupid idea XD, it kinda useless ofcourse, save files not that big, and they on ssd, main loading time it is loading of game resources, not savefile. Just wanted try something funny.
I right now have firefox chache on ramdisk. But don't know about temp folders. Because user temp folder, used by photoshop to contain some of his pagefiles/swapfile and i didn't find a way to switch it to another drive, and it can overflow ramdisk very quick.
I checked it right now, and i have Photoshop Temp1363673204 file in user temp directory that size is 7gb... so no ramdisk for this folder i guess. May be sometimes when i will buy more ram...
Hi
I also can't save the content of the drive...
I tested AMD Ramdisk and works flawlessly.
I have tested all the options and doesn't save ...
Do you have a tutorial or doc to check things out??
Thanks