SoftPerfect RAM Disk?

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Doe
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John Doe

Anybody try SoftPerfect RAM Disk? Says it's free.

Will it will use greater than 4 GB of memory on Windows 32-bit?
 
"Any RAM disk size on 64-bit systems. Up to approximately 3.5 GB on
32-bit systems"

I suppose that means and the answer is No, since apparently it is
referring to ordinary accessible memory.
 
"Any RAM disk size on 64-bit systems. Up to approximately 3.5 GB on
32-bit systems"

I suppose that means and the answer is No, since apparently it is
referring to ordinary accessible memory.
Click to expand...
You are correct, this program only will uses the same RAM that
Windows sees as accessible in it's native form.

You might consider looking at the RAM disk software at;

http://memory.dataram.com/products-and-services/software/ramdisk

The personal use version allows it to be use free with the restriction
that the largest RAM drive it will create is 4GB which works out great
if your system only has 8GB of ram in it.

Here is some of the info from their web site.

"Intel or AMD-based system with at least 512MB RAM. Dataram RAMDisk is
compatible with all versions of Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista (x86
and x64), Windows XP (x86 and x64), all editions of Windows Server 2003
(x86 and x64), all editions of Windows server 2008 (x86 and x64).
Dataram RAMDisk is freeware for personal use (up to 4 GB disk size).
Disks larger than 4 GB require registration and a license which can be
purchased for $18.99 USD. Registration and license are not required for
disks under 4 GB."

So for really big drives you have to purchase the software but for the 4
gig or less it is free and works just fine, on my system at least. It
has been updated to work on XP all the way to Windows 8.

One note, with a 4Gig drive if you have it saving the data to an actual
hard drive (so it can be reloaded during a boot) during shutdown it
looks like the compute is stuck but watch the hard drive light. It is
actually saving the entire 4GB of info to the hard drive, even if it is
empty. Wait for it and the computer will shut down as usual provided it
did before you install the software.
 
"Any RAM disk size on 64-bit systems. Up to approximately 3.5 GB on
32-bit systems"

I suppose that means and the answer is No, since apparently it is
referring to ordinary accessible memory.
Click to expand...

It's possible to access the memory beyond 4gb even when using a 32-bit
OS. It just can only be done by code specifically written for the
purpose.
 
Loren said:
It's possible to access the memory beyond 4gb even when using a 32-bit
OS. It just can only be done by code specifically written for the
purpose.
Click to expand...

It depends on the memory license. Notice how hacking the
kernel here, fixed it.

http://www.geoffchappell.com/notes/windows/license/memory.htm

http://www.geoffchappell.com/notes/windows/license/_images/system8189.jpg

PAE virtual to physical translation, allows a process to use
a 32 bit virtual address, to compute a 36 bit physical address.
And as such, if Microsoft hadn't monkeyed around, you could have
sixteen programs using 4GB private space each, out of a 64GB physical
memory setup. Intel invented that scheme long ago, before
gobs of memory like that were available.

Virtual to physical translation without PAE, uses fewer translation steps.

http://i.technet.microsoft.com/dynimg/IC195870.gif

With PAE enabled, an extra step is involved. This used
to be a big deal, back when hardware was a lot slower.
It used to suck the performance out of the machine.
That is no longer apparent. To some extent, the inclusion
of a TLB (translation lookaside buffer in hardware)
may have helped hide it. I don't know at what point,
a TLB was introduced, with respect to virtual to
physical address translation.

http://i.technet.microsoft.com/dynimg/IC195871.gif

(Article on PAE...)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc736309(v=WS.10).aspx

In WinXP SP3, PAE is enabled by default, and is being
used to support other things. It seems to be a shame
to hobble it, by not using it for what it was originally
intended for. But Microsoft needs to separate desktop
OSes from server OSes, as the server OSes fetch a
higher purchase price. The 4GB artificial limitation,
helps separate the desktop and server OS markets.

The product here, uses AWE below 4GB, and as far as I know,
driver level access to PAE above 4GB. I only learned
about the AWE detail, when the product threw an
"AWE error" when I was testing it on my 4GB RAM machine.
So it seems to use different mechanisms, depending
on where it gets the RAM from.

http://memory.dataram.com/products-and-services/software/ramdisk

If you or I wrote a RAMDisk, chances are it would have a
2GB limit, and only access memory the way a regular
Windows x32 program would. AWE extends the range a
tiny bit. But going to driver level to manage the
RAM, opens up the PAE area. And I don't think that
was shown in the old Microsoft sample code for
RAMdisk, released long ago. The person who wrote
that DataRam program, had to do a hell of a lot more
work than just copy this code (as so many other people
have done in the past). In a way, I feel the availability
of this, is what slowed down efforts to implement a
good one. Because people were naturally lazy. They'd
make some tiny tweak to this, and go pour themselves
a brandy :-)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/257405

Paul
 
GlowingBlueMist said:
http://memory.dataram.com/products-and-services/software/ramdisk

The personal use version allows it to be use free with the
restriction that the largest RAM drive it will create is 4GB
which works out great if your system only has 8GB of ram in it.
Click to expand...

That's useful information. I thought it was limited to RAM a under
the 4 GB limit. So it will do well on 8 GB of RAM, especially if
that's all your motherboard allows, and if you want to use 32-bit
Windows.
 
That's the one I use I haven't had a single issue with it over 3.5 years.
Click to expand...
DK
Click to expand...


I too have been using the dataram softyware for some time, I like it!!!

win XP x64, only 4 giggles of ram But it does what I need and use it for
just fine
 
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