Ramdisk

Accessing data at a fast speed is crucial for your computer’s performance. That is why, emphasis is being put on developing increasingly faster storage devices, such as solid state disks (SSD).

However, there is also the alternative of reserving part of your RAM for such purpose, which allows reading data several times faster than from a standard hard disk and even an SSD.

In general terms, this is what Ramdisk does. Using such an application is ideal for processes that require high-speed data access, such as storing webserver cache, editing audio and video, rendering 3D images, using CAD applications, compiling software and, most of all, gaming.

The tool is quite easy to use. In fact, there is not much to do. Simply, set how much of your RAM memory you want to reserve and decide on a file system. Then, you can use this storage space as if it were a regular drive. Luckily, Ramdisk allows saving an image of the RAM-disk to a permanent storage technology so that your data do not get lost when you turn off your computer. The downside of this is that it surely slows down your system’s booting.

However, not all everything in the garden is rosy. Many users can be limited by the amount of available RAM, so using a program as this one is definitely not an option for users with a low-end computer. Also, there is the danger of losing your work in the event of a power failure.

In general, RAMDisk is a cost-effective way to emulate a solid-state drive. There are three versions of this product and it is possible to create a RAM drive of up to 1 gigabyte at no cost. The other two versions, RAMDisk for businesses and RAMDisk Extreme, allow reserving up to 32 Gb and 64 Gb respectively. RAMDisk Extreme can also make frequent backups of the data to prevent any loss. Unfortunately, RAMDisk does not rank as one the fastest tools of its kind.