Write activity on C drive when using RAM Disk

Dear SoftPerfect Support Team,

I recently set up a RAM disk using SoftPerfect RAM Disk software, assigning it to drive X. However, I've noticed that whenever I write data to this virtual X drive, there appears to be write activity on my physical C drive as well.

I'm concerned about this unexpected behavior and would appreciate your insight on the following questions:
Is this write activity on the C drive normal when using a RAM disk?
If it is normal, what exactly is being written to the C drive and why?

Could this impact the performance benefits or lifespan extension I'm hoping to achieve for my SSD by using a RAM disk?
Is there a way to prevent or minimize this write activity on the C drive while still using the RAM disk effectively?

Thank you for your time and assistance in clarifying this issue.

From what you've described, it sounds like the write activity you're seeing on the C drive might be related to how the disk was set up.

If you created an image file associated with drive letter X, rather than a pure RAM disk, this could explain the behaviour. This can happen if you used the Image - Create Image and Image - Mount Image options in the main menu. In this case, any data written to drive X would be saved to the image file, which is likely stored on your C drive. This feature is intended for creating custom disk images and differs from a traditional RAM disk. To stop this, you can simply go to Image - Unmount Image and remove the image file association.

However, if you created a RAM disk using Disk - Add without involving an image file, there should be no writes to the SSD. If this is how your RAM disk was set up, could you please share how you are observing or measuring this write activity on the C drive? This will help us diagnose the issue more accurately.

Many thanks for your quick reply!

I did not select any image or similar setting.

The write activity was observed when extracting from WinRAR or downloading. Not on regular file move actions within the disc itself.

Monitoring Tool Used: Windows Task Manager - Performance tab.
The write instantly stops as the download is finished. Both temporary download file and final file paths are set to X:\
The write activity is also observable during WinRAR extractions with the same path settings.

It is difficult to determine without direct access to those applications, but it is possible that they still use the Windows temporary folders configured by the %TMP% and %TEMP% environment variables.

For testing, you can download Disk Mark and run it on the RAM disk. It will perform read and write operations at high speeds, without any data being read or written to the C drive.

You might also try creating a Temp folder on your X drive and remapping the temporary paths to it, as explained in this guide.

I did set all environmental variables to disk Z, which is also a RAM disk. The mentioned Windows TEMP folder directory is empty at all times. It is being written to the RAM disk.

The DiskMark showed the results of no writing on the C drive, however if the programs I am using still write to temporary directories despite me redirecting them, what can I do to use the RAM disk forcefully?

To identify which programs are still writing to the C drive and what exactly is being written, you can use Process Monitor, a free tool from Microsoft. It will allow you to monitor file system activity in real-time.

Once you identify the specific programs and files involved, you can take steps to redirect those writes to the RAM disk, or contact the developers of those programs for further guidance if necessary.

Thanks for the information.

I still have some questions:
1. Could enabling hard disk emulation resolve some of the write issues I am having? Does hard disk emulation write to the system drive in any way or is it simply another layer of emulation?
2. Enabling "Mount as Removable" does not show the volumes as ejectable in the Windows taskbar tray. Is it supposed to be like that?
3. Could the file system be what is causing the issues? Would using exFAT resolve this?

1. Hard disk emulation is just another layer of emulation. It doesn't write to the system drive but makes the RAM disk behave more like a physical drive. With emulation enabled, the RAM disk will also appear in Task Manager, allowing you to monitor its performance and I/O activity more easily.

2. "Mount as Removable" won't make the RAM disk appear as ejectable in the Windows taskbar tray. However, you can still eject it by right-clicking the disk in Windows Explorer and selecting 'Eject' from the context menu.
The "Mount as Removable" option is intended for the cases when you do not want Windows to create the Recycled or System Volume Information folders on the disk. These folders are used by the Recycle Bin and System Restore features.

3. If by "writing issues" you are referring to the activity on the C drive, switching to exFAT is unlikely to resolve this. However, we recommend using exFAT for better performance on RAM disks. If you enable hard disk emulation, you can monitor the I/O activity in Task Manager and compare it with any activity on the C drive to troubleshoot further.

I have now changed all discs to exFAT and enabled the hard disc emulation. However, the write operations are still visible in the task manager performance tab.
Should I try using a different disc activity monitoring program?
Could the specific Windows build be causing RAM Disk to malfunction and falsely write to the C drive instead of the Virtual disk?

No, the RAM Disk cannot malfunction in such way, and the tests with Disk Mark confirm that any RAM disk I/O does not end up on the C drive.

To find out which programs are still writing to the C drive and what exactly is being written, you can use Process Monitor, a free tool from Microsoft. This tool allows you to monitor file system activity in real-time. Once you identify the specific programs and files, you can adjust their settings to redirect writes to the RAM disk or contact the developers of those programs for further assistance if needed.

I filtered using Process Monitor as you recommended. The AntDM.exe did ONLY have write activity on the X virtual disc, except one its task... you were right.

You helped me a lot right now. Thanks for that. But still I have absolutely no idea how to redirect this data-writing. Any ideas?
It's a portable version which uses a sandbox environment to write local files to the Data folder.

It's hard to say for sure, but I would start by trying a regular non-portable version of the application. If the regular version also writes to C excessively, it might be worth reaching out to the developers for support.

As you mentioned, the portable version runs in a third-party sandbox environment, which could be redirecting some I/O to drive C. For example, it could be disregarding the RAM disk redirection and always be writing its temporary data in its own folder, where its exe file is located.

You could try redirecting the Data folder to a RAM disk by replacing it with a symbolic link. However, this may have unintended consequences, such as the application not remembering its settings or downloads between sessions. Proceed with caution, and test thoroughly to ensure it works as expected.

Okay I will do that. Thanks so much for your time.

One more question question. Is it possible to create subfolders using the create folder section? A folder below a different folder.

Yes, nested folders are supported. Simply enter them like this:

Folder\SubFolder\SubSubFolder
Folder\SubFolder2

...etc.

I resolved the write issues by moving the entire portable software folder to the RAM drive.

Thank you.