#60 Windows crashes and restarts when moving files to ramdisk

[gianluca]

Hi. I created a dynamic ramdisk that I use for browser cache and as a recycle bin for when I have big size files of folders with hundreds of small files.
These are my system specs:
Ryzen 5 5600X, GTX 1070 TI, 32GB of ram, Windows 10 Pro in NVME M.2 disk Crucial 1TB Gen 3, and a couple more hard disks.
The ramdisk is configured in this way: the disk has the Letter A, it's using the exFAT fyle system, it starts with Windows, size is 11 GB, I'm not using it for the Windows Temp folder, the memory is allocated dynamically and in the Advanced tab the method used to free the memory is set to Automatic.

I have this problem: lot of times Windows crashes and restarts while I'm moving files from one of the disks in the ramdisk. It happens randomly, I can't replicate it. The files can have all kind of size or extension. It can happen even if the ramdisk is empty and the file is way smaller than the size assigned to the ramdisk.
I don't like to put the files that I want to delete in the Windows recycle bin, because they don't get deleted, but renamed and moved in some part of the disk. So I prefer to trash them in the ramdisk.

I tried enabling and disabling the paging file in the disk with Windows and doesn't change things.
Same story changing the ramdisk size and its file system to NTFS.

Is it just me, or this happened to someone else?

Maybe is the fact that the ramdisk size is set dynamically, but I like it like that.

[v77]

It's the first report of this type and given all your informations, I really don't see from what it could come.
It seems to be an issue with write requests, but if it comes from the software, it should be more common.

You should try a static ramdisk. If the problem is solved, this means that it comes from "RamDyn" (the executable used for memory allocations).
Otherwise, there is a good probability that there is a hardware issue.

[Danish Bronco]

Also, is it safe to use the letter A, knowing that it used to be allocated to floppy drives? Even Windows 10 still has a little of MS-DOS lurking in the basement... :-)

[gianluca]

Thanks for the answers. I'll try using a static ramdisk and to change the letter of the drive. Then report back asap.

[gianluca]

Hello. All these days I tried using the static disk option and the ramdisk worked fine, no crashes when deleting files inside it. Tried different sizes and using the letter A for the disk.
So looks like my crash problem was caused by the dynamic version.

[v77]

Thanks. The last change in RamDyn.exe is more than 3 years old and it is used by a lot of people.
Another point that is surprising: this is a user mode process, so it should be impossible to make Windows crash. The worst thing that could happen is to make the driver wait infinitely, which can lead to a freeze of the system.

However... As you are using exFAT, RamDyn uses a special cleanup function to release the memory no longer used by deleted files. I am pretty sure that if you use NTFS (which not requires this cleanup function), your crashes will disappear.
But, even so, this does not explain a crash of the system. Moreover, you say that the crashes occur when you move files to the ramdisk, but the cleanup function has very few chances to start at this moment.

Could you try to make the crash happen again, and then take a photo (or write what it is displayed)? Not sure I'll be able to do something, but it could help to locate the issue.
And then, could you try to use NTFS instead of exFAT?

[v77]

I am now testing exFAT. No crash to report. I will continue the test for a few days.

Another thing you could try: use a drive letter other than A or B. It would be surprising, but it is not impossible that there is something with that.

[gianluca]

I was using the dynamic disk with NTFS all the time. I changed to exFAT to see if this could fix the crash problem. But didn't. I will try with a different drive letter from tomorrow.

The crashes didn't give any error message, because consisted always in a system restart, with no BSOD.
Anyway, as I've said, the crash/restart happened always when I was moving a big file of folder (1-5GB or more) in the ramdisk. I use the ramdisk for the browser cache (the browsers create their cache in this path: A:\000) and as a recycle bin.
The folder 000 is created in the ramdisk the moment that I open one of my browsers.

So the problem happens when I'm filling the dynamic disk, when this is taking ram from the system.

[v77]

Yes sorry, it seems I missed some parts of your first message.

Perhaps a last thing to test if you want: try a dynamic ramdisk with AWE (see in Advanced tab). As the memory allocation method is very different, it might help to locate the issue.

[gianluca]

Update.
After many tests, I can say that in my case the crashes were caused by the program itself. Imdisk and dynamic ram allocation don't go well in my pc.
Static ramdisk is not a problem. Tried also Softperfect ramdisk (that has only static disk option) and never had a crash.
Now I'm using the program Primo Ramdisk. This one can be configured as a dynamic ramdisk and so far, after weeks, I never had a crash. So I'll stick with this one with this machine.
Unfortunally it's not free, it costs 25$. Way too much in opinion.
One thing that I've noticed: Primo asks to turn off the Fast Boot option of Windows. Can't remember if it was On or Off when I was using Imdisk. If I keep it active, Primo won't delete the files inside the ramdisk after the computer restart.
Maybe I'll do more tests in the future, but for now I'll keep Primo. Bye.

[zloyprotoss]

I have same problem on Windows 11. It isn't happened on Windows 10 for years of usage(!), but in Windows 11 it happens in 1-3 days when RAM Drive is active. I tried not only ImDisk but also OSFMount. It have same problem on Windows 11(sic!) - may be some memory managment functions changed in Windows 11?

I use Windows 11 x64 with 32Gb RAM