Re: RAM drive for XP possible?

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

"Pop`" <nodoby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:O7lXMoQ0GHA.4956@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi,

1. You can find some poser users over at cnews.com newsgroup,
corel.paintshoppro_graphics group in particular. They seem to be
pretty
knowledgeable folks but I'm not a poser user, so don't really know.
It's a moderated group, and does have some, shall we say, egotistical
people there; just in case you come across them<g>. Most of the
moderation
is by bot, so it might take half an hour or so for your post to show up,
seldom any longer than that.

2. The PageFile actually IS a RAM drive of sorts and perhaps what you
need
is a little management of the Page File (swap file in older windows
systems). You might read up on the Page File usage; I suspect it's what
you
need since Poser is a Windows program; I think, and possibly more RAM
along
with it.

3. It IS possible to make a RAM drive in XP without shelling out bucks,
in
other words, free, but you might have to download a couple of programs to
do
so. If you really want to make your own RAM drive, let me know and I'll
go
see how it was done.
I thought I was going to just tell you how, but I now notice
ramdrive.sys
isn't part of XP, so I'll need to research how it was done in the apps I
have.
If you have an old copy of DOS laying around, it's highly likely XP
will
run the ramdrive.sys, making it easy on you. I've used many DOS6.22 files
in XP and had no problem with them. So far. I know, famous last words!

4. You might also ask the ram drive question over in alt.msdos.batch.nt.
That's mostly for batch files, but you'll find some very helpful and very
knowledgeable people there who will likely have a zillion ways to create
the
ram file with XP<g>.

5. If you're increasing RAM in your machine, especially to 4 Gig, I'd
wait
and see if that plus the new page file size to go with it doesn't solve
your
issues. The normal rule of thumb for a page file is 1 1/2 times the
amount
of RAM you have, but with 4 Gig, there's a different set of rules. If you
can't research those or don't already have the info, try Google, or come
back here and ask. I think people right here probably have the
approximate
max recommended size although it's a little, uhh, "adjustable" depending
on
the usage. Supply as much detail as you can if you come back for that.
It'll be needed.
IMO initially I'd think starting with letting Windows determine the
page
file size would be the way to go; monitor that and see what it's doing.
There are both pros and cons to using large page files.

Hope I haven't talked down to you; couldn't tell what your expertise might
be from your post.

HTH
Pop`

The tech guys at e-frontier were a little encouraging. It
seems the rendering engine (Firefly) is not very fast in and
of itself. I asked them about both an external eSATA
raid array and a ram drive. It seems that the best bang
for the buck is the ram drive idea. It will take several
days just for the shipping of the ram and I haven't yet
ordered it. What I would like to do is put 4G in the
motherboard and then set the upper 2G as a ram drive.
Then put the swap file and the images in the ram drive.
Problem is the swap file size tends to be 1.5 times as
big as ram. That would make the swap file 3G and it
wouldn't fit on the ram drive. Then I am stuck putting
the swap file on the C: drive, in this case an ata-100
40G Western Digital, not too fast. Maybe I can
manually adjust the swap file down to a small enough size
to fit on the ram drive along with the pictures being
manipulated. We'll see. Anything on the ram drive
process would be appreciated. I have been googling
the problem too.

With over 30 years experience and a Ph.D. in Computers
Don't worry about talking down to me, or over my head.
I appreciate any and all help.

ah, those old DOS days...

later,
charles.......

***** charles wrote:
Hi all,

I have a motherboard that supports up to 4G of ram.
I would like to segment half of that to a ram drive.
Can XP do this on its' own or is there any software
out there that can do this is either free/cheap?

thanks,
charles.....





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