SoftPerfect RAM Disk 3.4.3 - Bugs

Started by Nemix

Nemix

SoftPerfect RAM Disk 3.4.3 - Bugs   12 December 2013, 21:52

Hi,

I just started trying out SoftPerfect's RAM Disk software and my first ever RamDisk software ever in general and must say the RAM Disk by SoftPerfect is really an outstanding software!

I just wanted to point out some bugs I'm having with the software and certain settings on my system which leads to BSOD's and the RamDisk either not mounting or mounting and not formatting to a filesystem on my system.

The first is the more severe bug, if I create a RamDisk (does not matter what size or filesystem) and do NOT enabled hard disk emulation then I get random BSOD's at the Windows boot logo during system startup, sometimes the BSOD happens instantly upon first restart after creating a new RamDisk and other times it happens randomly.

It's 100% certain though that the system boot will BSOD whether it's random or instant on my system if hard disk emulation is NOT enabled on the RamDisk created; so for now I'm using my RamDisk with hard disk emulation enabled which seems to be stable and not causing any BSOD's on my system.

The other bug I found which highly severe is that if a RamDisk is created and set to a NTFS filesystem (this is with hard disk emulation enabled since there not other way for me to not get BSOD's at boot) the RamDisk sometimes does NOT format to NTFS when Windows loaded and the RamDisk has been mounted at system start, it's just shows a RAW RamDisk which causes lots of problems with my web browsers since all the cache is directed to the RamDisk.

These random non filesystem RAW RamDisk mounts at Windows start only seem to affect the NTFS filesystem and not the FAT/FAT32 filesystems when creating a new RamDisk and selecting which filesystem to use, for the time being I have no choice but to use a FAT32 filesystem with hard disk emulation (from the BSOS problem stated above) which seems to be booting and mounting correctly at Windows startup.

Please look into these bugs and problems and see if they can be fixed and ready for the next release of SoftPerfect RAM Disk, other then the two system breaking bugs mentioned above SoftPerfect's RAM Disk is truly an outstanding software that that stands above other freeware RamDisk software available.

I would definitely highly recommend the software to my friends and colleagues once the two major bugs have been fixed and maybe some new features added to the software in the next release.

Thanks,
Nemix

Re: SoftPerfect RAM Disk 3.4.3 - Bugs   13 December 2013, 13:10

Seems like these problems don't exist in Windows 8.1 just in Windows 7 does these bugs occur.

The hard disk emulation BSOD and RamDisk not mounting formatted only happens if the filesystem in set to NTFS in Windows 7.
simba

Re: SoftPerfect RAM Disk 3.4.3 - Bugs   13 January 2014, 13:18

I have this problem in Windows 8.1.
Wang

Re: SoftPerfect RAM Disk 3.4.3 - Bugs   04 February 2016, 00:22

As of February 3, 2016, RAMDisk version 3.4.7 causes the same issues the poster explains about. I experienced the same EXACT symptoms on multiple machines. At first I thought it was because I was moving my %TEMP% and swapfile locations to the RAM disk, but I later found out the symptoms are mostly intermittent. Sometimes the only way to fix a BSOD during Windows loads is to go into Safe Mode and disable RAMDisk, change the setting and/or using the Last Known Good Configuration (which works half the time only). When using other RAM disk programs, I do not experience these kinds of issues.

Also, I've noticed that randomly (although less frequently - maybe 1 out of every 100 bootups and reboots) SoftPerfect does not mount my RAM disk. The first symptom I notice is when I open my browsers, they close silently with no errors. This is because I've redirected my browser temp files to the RAM disk. Also, if you redirect your swapfile there, you'll notice Windows will tell you it couldn't create a swapfile in that location and created it on the C: drive instead.

CRITICAL RECAP: Use "Hard Disk Emulation (slower)" option when mounting your RAM disk. Failure to do this will result in frequent intermittent famous blue screens of death when Windows loads.
PEGI 3

Re: SoftPerfect RAM Disk 3.4.3 - Bugs   16 March 2016, 01:08

SoftPerfect RAMDisk would be best RamDisk software if there were no BSOD errors. I install RAMDisk 3.4.7 on Windows 7 64-bit. Mount RAW disk (not backed by file) and then problems starts. If I rightclick on disk in Windows Explorer (or even start Windows Explorer) then comes BSOD. If I try to unmount disk then it's not possible due to files in use. It's a vicious circle. Seems that 'Hard Disk Emulation' solve it, but anyway this serious bugs should be fixed!
SoftPerfect Support forum - Andrew avatar image

Re: SoftPerfect RAM Disk 3.4.3 - Bugs   16 March 2016, 08:02

Unfortunately it's not really possible to fix all these BSODs, which may not even be caused by the RAM Disk itself.

I have seen reports of backup software and other programs' crashes with a BSOD because of an error in those when a RAM Disk is created. The reason is simple, those apps don't know how to handle a standalone RAM volume, run into an error condition and crash.

When you turn on Hard Disk Emulation, the software emulates a complete hard disk with partitions, which is no different from a regular disk drive. This fixes BSODs in some third-party apps, but is also slower, so we don't use this option by default.
Paul

Re: SoftPerfect RAM Disk 3.4.3 - Bugs   21 August 2016, 08:40

I also suffer from the randomly happened NTFS > RAW problem, l've already installed the latest 3.4.7 on Win10 x64 home. I set a 3GB ram disk to start at boot, and set my temp to it.

Although I hadn't seen BSOD yet, the RAW problem is really frustrating. I had this for almost every 2-3 days.
SoftPerfect Support forum - Andrew avatar image

Re: SoftPerfect RAM Disk 3.4.3 - Bugs   21 August 2016, 12:03

Could you post here a screen shot of the RAM Disk app's main window?
Paul

Re: SoftPerfect RAM Disk 3.4.3 - Bugs   22 August 2016, 08:33

I'm using ver. 3.4.7 on the following: Win10 Home x64 TH2, 16GB RAM (8GB x 2)

Create RAM disk image
Mount ram disk
Main screen
My Win version
NTFS to RAW, RAM disk failed

I created 2 RAM disk this time, the 1st one is a 4GB and using HDD emulation, the 2nd 3GB one without HDD emulation, both failed and unable to read after 3 reboot in less than 24 hrs.

Just an extra info, I also had Avast free antivirus installed.

I tried the recovery method mentioned in other thread, but neither OSF mount + CHKDSK nor Recuva helps since both are unable to read RAW disk.
SoftPerfect Support forum - Andrew avatar image

Re: SoftPerfect RAM Disk 3.4.3 - Bugs   22 August 2016, 15:55

I have attempted to re-create the setup on Windows 10 Anniversary, with the following results:
  1. Created two RAM Disks with image files: one regular and one with HDD emulation.
  2. Restarted several times ranged 5-30 minutes between restarts, no problems so far.
  3. Installed Avast Free Antivirus with no issues, rebooted and the system stopped booting.
  4. No matter how many times I restarted, the boot process froze at the black screen with blue flag.
This makes me think Avast may well also be the cause of the disappearing file systems, though I can't say with certainty.

I guess as a workaround, you can try one of these:
  • Re-format the RAM Disks using the Windows OS formatting tool. There may be something in the NTFS structures that we create that the OS or Avast doesn't like; or
  • Try re-creating your RAM Disks as logon-time disks, for which choose Disk - Add (not Disk - Add Boot Disk) from the main menu. In this case the RAM Disks will be mounted during logon, which theoretically may help.

Reply to this topic

Sometimes you can find a solution faster if you try the forum search, have a look at the knowledge base, or check the software user manual to see if your question has already been answered.

Our forum rules are simple:

  • Be polite.
  • Do not spam.
  • Write in English. If possible, check your spelling and grammar.

Author:

Email:

Subject

A brief and informative title for your message, approximately 4–8 words:

     

Spam prevention: please enter the following code in the input field below.

 **      **  **          ******   ********   **     ** 
 **  **  **  **    **   **    **  **     **  **     ** 
 **  **  **  **    **   **        **     **  **     ** 
 **  **  **  **    **   **        ********   ********* 
 **  **  **  *********  **        **     **  **     ** 
 **  **  **        **   **    **  **     **  **     ** 
  ***  ***         **    ******   ********   **     ** 

Message: