RAMDISK

(information from Asus )

ROG RAMDisk

ROG RAMDisk The RAMDisk software is exclusively offered on selected ASUS ROG product lines and enables users to utilize the available system DRAM to its full capability. The ROG RAMDisk can form ability to junction with exiting files hosted on the SSD or HDD. It simply remaps the original contents into the RAMDisk, enabling access to the desired application or data to be done purely within the DRAM bus, minimizing executing latency as well as data read-in time. By utilizing the ROG RAMDISK software, users will be able to divert the access critical folder from permanent mass storage to the DRAM, where it only does one single access to the permanent storage during system shutdown, assuring the maximum life time for permanent mass storage devices in the system. By creating a junction of existing folder between the permanent storage (SSD/HDD) and the RAM Disk, the system will copy across the data then access the RAM Disk data as if they were installed into the RAM Disk initially. The system only sees one version of the data so there is no risk of duplication. The ROG RAMDISK offers a complete functionality as is, where the entire free DRAM space can be utilized to create as many RAM Disk drives as necessary (depending on the remaining driver letters available). There are no further costs involved, enabling full flexibility for all sorts of applications. The only limitation is the installation and the access to the ROG RAMDisk software will be granted, as long as the supported ROG motherboard is detected. The ROG RAMDisk however, takes the other approach by updating only the modified contents, leaving the rest of the contents untouched. This prevents extensive writes, which extends the life of permanent storage such as SSD drives. The ROG RAMDisk prepares itself in the background while the OS loads up, and allows access even during the preparation process, making this process invisible to the user. To reduce the performance bottleneck, the ROG RAMDisk first utilizes a kernel-based driver, which presents itself as a standard mass storage medium once created. It will then further redirect the traffic from the original mass storage device to the RAM Disk if junction was configured. The data hosted on the RAM Disk is later compared, and only the changes made are updated back to the mass storage devices before the system shuts down to ensure data integrity, component life time and maximized I/O performance. Not all data is needed or even advised to be stored into RAM Disk, due to specific requirements of software architectures. The listed below outlines the black list of folders that are not suitable for RAM Disk Utilization when optimal performance is desired: Swap File / Page File: The swap file is simply the permanent storage space used as the virtual memory expansion of the system memory to make the system believe that it has more system memory space than it really has. Moving the swap file into the RAM Disk simply defeats the whole purpose of having it in the first place. As the result, doing so will not benefit the system performance at all. Start Up Folders: Considering the ROG RAMDisk generates and populates its RAM Disk during OS start-up, doing so will slow down the start up time as the files won’t be there before the time of execution. This is therefore unsuitable.

Sources and References

• https://rog.asus.com/technology/republic-of-gamers-motherboard-innovations/ramdisk/

Files