2009/05/09

Windows 7 x64 Ramdisk

Posted at 5/09/2009 02:36:00 AM

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Since the beginning of times, I speed up Firefox on all my computers by putting its cache on a ramdisk. Only recently I started to use Windows x64 and faced with the problem that it is impossible to start any free ramdisk under W7 x64. Luckily, there was a solution on on sevenforums.

Download the Ramdisk from
CENATEK: High Speed Storage Systems
Select the 1st one on the top (Public Beta V.3.5.107) and save the msi file to c:\
Don't start the MSI, it will not work.
Decompress the MSI-File (Start/Run CMD as Administrator):
msiexec /a Dataram_RAMDisk_v3.5.107.msi /qn TARGETDIR=C:\Driver

Since we have no "add hardware" in control panel, we have to install this driver manually.
The Hardware-Wizard still exist.
Start/Search -> hdwwiz.exe
- Button "next"
- select "hardware manually (expert)"
- Button "next"

- select "All Devices"
- Button "next"
Now you have to search for the Button "have disk". Click on this button and search for the folder
C:\Driver\Program Files(x86)\Ramdisk

select RAMDiskVE.inf
- Button "OK"
- Button "next"
- Button "next"
To Configure the Ramdisk start the program
C:\Driver\Program Files(x86)\RamdiskVE.exe

For me (solnyshok) RamdiskVE reports failure to start ramdisk, but after rebooting the computer, ramdisk with the required parameters is there. So, don’t panic if you get this error.

The 2nd part is easy and described in detail here. Requires creating a string browser.cache.disk.parent_directory containing the path to new cache location.

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4 comments:

  1. asdDecember 28, 2009 at 8:06 PM

    update:
    it seems the website has changed to:
    http://memory.dataram.com/products-and-services/software/ramdisk/download-ramdisk
    (if the link gets filtered: memoryDOTdataramDOTcom)

    the file I downloaded was: Dataram_RAMDisk_V3.5.130RC9.msi (had to rename from .exe to .msi to work)
    it's supposed to be beta, but supports every windows up until w7 x64 AND server 2008 r2 x64, drivesizes up to 4GB (and more with free registration)
    so far it works flawlessly on server 2008 x64

    ReplyDelete
  2. Solnyshok (Солнышок)December 29, 2009 at 10:16 AM

    finally! hooray!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJanuary 14, 2010 at 1:51 AM

    You know firefox already has an in-memory cache right? You could acheve the same results much simpler by just disabling the disk cache, and increasing the size of the firefox memory cache...

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownJuly 9, 2010 at 11:23 PM

    Thanks for such a nice piece of software. I usually use it to store a few mp3 albums I listen instead of playing from external hard drive. Saves some energy I guess - which is good

    ReplyDelete

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