Here’s something I’ve
revived from the “old” DOS / Windows 3.1 days. It seems
to work much better for some, than others, but most will no doubt
find a use for it.
It’s called RAMDRIVE.SYS and is still included with all versions
of Windows 9x and ME. Getting it to work in ME may be a little
difficult, but below is the standard process for
Windows9x, and a little further down are instructions for Windows
ME.
A ramdrive is a virtual drive that
is set up manually, and loads before windows via the config.sys
file. It uses a portion of RAM (specified by the user) as a
virtual hard drive. With two major differences. Because it uses
RAM, it’s lost, along with all it’s contents, every time you shut
down your computer, thus it’s NOT advisable to put anything on it
you want to keep.
Because it’s RAM, it’s almost infinitely faster than your hard
drive!
It does work well for the Windows temp folder, and your
browser’s cache folder(s) though, and may significantly increase
speed while browsing the internet.
Remember, anything you put on your ramdrive will disappear when
you shutdown or restart your computer, so use it wisely.
Please read the whole article,
including the *Notes below, for known issues regarding
ramdrive.sys, thanks.
For Windows 9x
users:
- Go to Start > Run > and
type in sysedit, click OK. - Find the one titled
“config.sys”, and insert the line:
16384 /E - Close the
Main Sysedit box, and click OK to save any changes. - Restart your
computer. You should now have another virtual
drive. If you encountered any error messages, see
the notes* below.
For Windows
ME users:
- READ THIS:
- Follow steps 1, 2, 3, and 4
above.
*NOTES*
*Notes:
It is NOT recommended you run a ramdrive if you have less than 64
megabytes of RAM!
*Notes: If you encounter any
errors relating to something not loading, or ems or xms:
- Go to Start > Run > and
type in sysedit, click OK. - Find the one titled
“config.sys”, and erase the line you have just
inserted ( class="basefont">DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\RAMDRIVE.SYS 16384 /E) - Insert these
three lines EXACTLY as they are here:
DEVICEHIGH=c:\windows\himem.sys
DEVICEHIGH=c:\windows\emm386.exe ON MIN=16384
DEVICEHIGH=c:\windows\ramdrive.sys 16384 /E
4. Close the Main
Sysedit box, and click OK to save any changes.
5. Restart your computer.
*Notes: This
creates a virtual drive which is 16 megabytes in size. You may
modify this size as needed, by changing the value (16384) in the
ON MIN=16384 and
DEVICEHIGH=c:\windows\ramdrive.sys 16384 /E
The table below specifies the numbers you should use to set your
ramdrive the size you want.
| Ramdrive size in MB |
Number to enter |
| 1 | 1024 |
| 2 | 2048 |
| 4 | 4096 |
| 8 | 8192 |
| 16 | 16384 |
| 32 | 32767 |
I have found that a 16 megabyte
ramdrive is probably the most usefull for general use. If you
find that you need more, or less, feel free to change it. You may
find that a larger ramdrive takes too much system RAM, and
Windows may slow to a crawl. I do not recommend anything over a
16 megabyte ramdrive, unless you have 128 megabytes of system RAM
or more, and hopefully with over 80%
*Notes: Your ramdrive cannot be
larger than 32 megabytes.
*Notes: If you wish to use your
new ramdrive as the Windows temp folder, you must put the
statement SET
TEMP=[ramdrive letter]:\temp
size="2" class="basefont">in the autoexec.bat file thus, if your new
ramdrive becomes drive E, the statement would read:
*Notes: If you
wish to reserve your current drive letter for your CD-ROM,
you must follow the procedure below.
- Right-click the “My
Computer” Icon. - Select “PROPERTIES”
from the context menu, opening the SYSTEM DIALOGUE
SCREEN. - Select the DEVICE MANAGER
TAB. - Select the plus sign (+) to
the left of CDROM. - Select your CD-ROM item.
- Select the PROPERTIES BUTTON.
- Select the SETTINGS TAB.
- At the bottom of the SETTINGS
DIALOGUE set the Reserved Drive letters, (START and END)
to the drive letter currently being used by your CD-ROM
drive. - Select OK.
Cheers, and Happy
Computing
