The average computer’s RAM will always be faster than any modern solid-state drive on the market. RAM disks build on this advantage, converting a computer’s RAM into a super-fast virtual drive. At first glance, RAM disks are very easy to justify, benchmarks across the board prove how much faster it is to read data from a RAM disk compared to the fastest SSDs on the market.
Advantages
To create a RAM disk, you need to install a third-party program capable of creating a virtual drive in Windows. There are many software ranging from freeware to paid software that can meet your needs. The RAM disk program, upon activation, will reserve a section of your RAM. For example, if you had 6 GB of files on your RAM disk, the disk would occupy 6 GB of RAM. All files on your disk would be stored in your RAM.
The advantages of programs installed on a RAM disk are that you would have almost instantaneous load times because the data would already be stored in the fastest possible memory. This can be a boon for people who code or use graphics card heavy applications. Saving a file would be almost instantaneous as it would simply be copied to another part of RAM. This results in very fast application load times and faster file read/write speeds for data saved to the RAM disk.
Warnings
There is, however, a huge caveat to keep in mind. RAM is volatile memory. Computer users in Bangladesh are no stranger to sudden power outages and if you don’t have a generator or UPS, you will lose everything on your RAM disk. This actually means that nothing important can be stored on a RAM disk.
This also applies whenever you turn off your computer; all data on your RAM disk will be erased. Since RAM is not persistent, whenever you shut down your computer, you should save all important files from your RAM disk to your actual hard drive when you shut down your computer.
For example, if After Effects is installed on your RAM disk. You’ll need to save a copy of your RAM disk to your computer’s hard drive to ensure you don’t lose the installation file. So if you’re using a RAM disk, it’s best to back up frequently, or at the very least remember to do a full backup before shutting down. When you turn your computer back on to resume your project, the third-party RAM disk program should read the RAM disk image from your hard drive and reload it into RAM.
Verdict
In short, the tradeoff is getting faster program load times at the expense of longer boot times. Once you have loaded an application, it will remain present in your memory for quick loading later. It’s a great option to explore in the modern age where 16GB RAM cartridges are quickly becoming the norm. One of the biggest problems with modern graphics applications is rendering and loading times. RAM disks are the perfect solution for the conscientious and careful computer user.
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