Memory allocation and volume formatting in RAM FS

I am using and love your RAM Disk software, and I saw your news about RAM File System.

My questions are:
I have 64GB of RAM and I split off 24GB for my RAM disk. Will I have to do the same thing with RAM FS?
Also, for the best use of that space, what formatting should I use - NTFS, exFAT, or...?

Thanks

With our RAM File System, answers to both your questions are simpler than you are anticipating.

You do not to set aside a block of memory. When you create a RAM File System volume, you give it a maximum size - it is a ceiling, not an upfront reservation. Memory is used only as files are written, and released again as they are deleted. If you set the maximum size to 24 GB and then put 3 GB of files on it, only about 3 GB of your RAM will be in use, not 24 GB. So you can be more generous with the maximum size of your volume - it takes up nothing until you actually use it.

There is no formatting step and no file system choice to make. RAM File System is itself the file system, so there is no virtual disk to format as NTFS or exFAT. You need to choose only a drive letter and a maximum size - and the volume is ready for use immediately. It presents itself to Windows as NTFS so that other applications recognise it, but in reality it has its own 'RAMFS' system.

You can run both RAM Disk and RAM File System products side-by-side on different drive letters, which is a good way to compare their performance with your hardware and with your workload. Just keep an eye on the total RAM use, as your existing RAM disk does hold its space for as long as it exists.

Thanks for your reply. I think that my purposes are best served with the new software. I primarily use my computer for online gaming (Division2), plus some internet browsing, banking and email.

So... how do I install RAM FS and remove RAM Disk? My current temp drive B: is RAM Disk. Shall I add RAM FS, then remove RAM Disk and rename RAM FS to B:? Or shall I remove RAM Disk first and reinstall RAM FS afterwards?

Best is to install RAM File System first and remove RAM Disk afterwards. This way you always have a working setup to fall back to. The two products are quite happy to be installed side-by-side, as long as they aren't both using the same drive letter at once.

It's easier not to reuse the letter B:, and instead do the following:

1. Install RAM File System and leave RAM Disk as it is for now.
2. Create a volume on a free letter, for example, R:, with whatever ceiling you like. Remember it's only a ceiling, so being generous costs nothing until files are written. In the same dialog, put Temp in the "Create Folders" box, so the folder is recreated every time the volume mounts.
3. Reboot and check that R: comes back on its own with the Temp folder in it. The volume is mounted by the driver early in startup, well before Windows needs a temp folder.
4. Point Windows at it via Tools - Set Windows Temporary Folder, and set both TEMP and TMP to R:\Temp (use a folder rather than the bare root, to keep the clutter one level down).
5. Reboot and just use the machine normally for a few days.
6. When you are satisfied that everything works perfectly well, uninstall RAM Disk and reboot.
7. This step applies only if you were redirecting Temp to RAM Disk. Check Tools - Set Windows Temporary Folder once more. Depending on the version, the RAM Disk uninstaller may restore TEMP and TMP to the Windows defaults on its way out. If it has, simply set them back to R:\Temp.

Thanks again. Your directions were very clear and helpful.
I love your products!

Quick follow up question: What are the pros and cons of using compression? Does it slow the process to the point of losing the benefit vs RAM disk?

Compression pays off when the data is compressible and not constantly rewritten: source code, logs, text and CSV, build output... In your case - a temp folder on a machine with 64 GB - we would recommend to leave it Off. Much of what games and browsers write is already compressed, and RAM FS detects that per region and skips it, so there would be little to gain in the first place.

To your actual question: no, compression would not cost you the advantage over RAM Disk. Writes always run at full speed, because a region is uncompressed before it is written to and only recompressed later, in the background, once it has gone idle. Reading compressed data costs a little CPU to decode it, and on the Fast level (LZ4) that is very small. So it would still be quicker than a RAM disk. At "Off" is simply quicker still, and in your case for no benefit.

One thing that surprises most people: compression does not give you more room. The volume counts its space as though nothing were compressed, so a 24 GB volume still fills up after 24 GB of files whatever the level. What you save is physical memory, which matters when you want a volume larger than the RAM you can spare. With 64 GB that is not a problem you have.

Nothing is locked in either way. You can change the level whenever you like and existing data is repacked as it goes idle, so it is worth trying Fast at some point out of curiosity - the main window shows how much RAM each volume is actually saving.

One more question: I was looking at my system performance in Task Manager and I didn't see any mention of my RAM FS drive R:\ amongst the drives. Also, I don't see any effect on the memory usage either.

Can you help me interpret this? I do see the RAM FS drive and folders being created and used by Windows.

It is all normal behaviour. Your R: is a volume, not a disk. Whereas the list in Task Manager is of physical disks, and drive letters only show there as disk labels. RAM File System is a file system - there's no virtual disk underneath holding your data, which is why there was no formatting step either. So it has no line of its own in that list, or in Disk Management, even though Explorer and your programs use it perfectly happily.

Memory is much the same. It's held by the driver rather than by any program, so no process is shown using it, and it isn't part of the paged/non-paged pool figures either. What it does do is reduce Available memory, so it's inside the "In use" total on the Memory page - nowhere itemised. And since it's only used as files are written, a near-empty temp folder barely affects your 64 GB total. If you'd like to watch it work, copy a few gigabytes to your R: and see the Available figure fall by about that much, then delete them and watch it come straight back.

Most informative of all is RAM FS own window: the bar along the bottom shows live memory use (leftmost blue bar). That's the honest figure, and far easier than looking for it in Task Manager.