Ramdrive is a virtual drive created in you EMS or XMS memory. It appears and works just like a hard drive, with 2 major exceptions:
1. It runs many time faster than a hard disk, and
2. When you reboot the computer, anything stored on the Ramdisk is gone forever.

      Ramdrive works at DOS, in Windows 3.1 and in Windows 95 and 98. In fact Windows 98 Startup disks use Ramdrive while you are running the computer from them. While the Ramdrive can have a size up to about 33.5mb (up to 2gb with third party programs), you must have enough total memory to run it and your programs. If you need 8mb to run your Windows and/or game, You would need over 40mb total memory to use a 32mb size Ramdisk. You can create smaller Ramdisks, but it must be large enough to hold all of the program files. You can increase the available Ramdrive space with Microsoft Double Space and Drive Space. Others such as Stacker might also work, but I haven't tried them.

      RAMDRIVE is an optional component of MS-DOS and Windows 95. Ramdrive has been included with Microsoft DOS since at least DOS-5.0. With today's large RAM capacities on the computers and the declining price of RAM chips, it is practical to use Ramdrives. Information about it was included through MS-DOS 6.22. Although RAMDRIVE is included in Windows 95 and Windows 98, there is no information about it in HELP.

NOTE: If you use Windows 95 your CONFIG.SYS file may be blank. If you add commands you should make a duplicate of your file as some versions of Windows 95 erase the file when you make changes such as creating a Doublespace Disk. Your custom settings would be lost.

      Many of your games pause while reading the hard drive or CD-ROM when you progress from one scene to another. Likewise, Screen Savers such as Afterdark and Second Nature which run "Slide Shows" access your hard drive each time a picture changes. So, when you computer is otherwise "Sleeping", the hard drive keeps on working. Putting such files on a Ramdisk can let the hard drive rest. I might put MP3 music files on a Ramdisk while I am playing them. That way neither the CDROM nor the hard drive has to work while they are playing.

      With Windows 95/98 you can in some installations swap to the Ramdisk. Some put their Internet Explorer Temp files on a Ramdisk. This can speed up page loading. Also, the temps are gone each time you restart the computer. Of course this can work against you if you wanted to look at past pages while off line.

      The Ramdrive is setup by your CONFIG.SYS file. First you need to know where to find it. The file RAMDRIVE.SYS is normally in the DOS directory on Microsoft DOS 5.0 to 6.22. It can also be found in the WINDOWS directory in both Windows 3.1 and Windows 95. Typing:
HELP RAMDRIVE.SYS
at the DOS prompt on Microsoft DOS 5.0 to 6.22 will give you more information about Ramdrive. Windows 95 has no information available about Ramdrive.

I recommend using a BOOT MENU so you can turn the Ramdrive on and off at boot. Some programs won't run with Ramdrive on. My scanner won't Scan if I am running Ramdrive.

      While the computer is booting, the Ramdrive letter will be displayed. But it goes by so quickly. If you are running Doublespace, you can type:
DBLSPACE /LIST
to display your drives. Otherwise, you will have to hunt for it. It has a label MS-RAMDRIVE so if you use the VOL command on each drive you will know when you have found it.

      In Windows 95 it will be on My computer or the Explorer. In Windows 3.1 the Ramdisk will be listed on the Filemanager as a drive.

      Install your game on the drive. If the game is not location sensitive and you already have it on a disk, you can copy all the files on to the Ramdisk.

      If you have to install the game on the Ramdisk to play it, copy the files form the Ramdisk to a hard disk, floppy disk, or Zip Disk for future use without the installation procedure. This also preserves Saved Games if there are such features on the game.

      This file will create a RAMDISK up to 2gb (if you have the RAM). I use the XMSDSK.EXE to create a RAMDISK which works in Windows 95. Also included is a file SETXMSTO.EXE which resets the HIMEM.SYS to recognize more than 64mb of installed ram. Now I want more RAM since I now have a use for it. My kid taught me how to make Windows swap to it by editing the system.ini file. Under the [386enh] section put a line:
PagingDrive=X:
The X is the drive to swap to.

      The UBERTO RAMDISK can have the drive letter assigned, which makes it much easier to program to. Outside of Windows, you can change the drive size, remove it, or create a new drive from the DOS Prompt or a batch file. All of this can be done without rebooting.

      RAMDISK 98 Version 1.1 by John Lajoie used to be available. This program also provided up to 2gb Ramdisks. It is a Windows 95/98 program which installs in Windows and has many features. It can emulate a 1.44 or 2.88 floppy drive which can be used to create a bootable disk image. A trial version was available.

INCREASING THE SIZE OF YOU RAMDRIVE WITH DOUBLESPACE OR DRIVESPACE

      You can compress a Ram drive with Doublespace, Drivespace or other compression utilities such as Stacker, increasing its capacity. Once you have created the Compressed Volume File on the Ramdisk, you can copy it to your hard disk, a Zip disk or other type of storage. If the game doesn't require more space than the Ramdisk has without being compressed you can store the game with PKZIP to save disk space when you're not playing the game.

      You can use BATCH files to load and/or save the game. You can also have a Batch file menu to pick and load the games from. With some games it may take less time to load the game and run it on a Ramdrive than it would take just to start the game on a hard disk.

PoliTalk Technical Menu

Comment to PoliTalk

And That's My

Updated April 23, 2003