Author Topic: RAM disk and temp folders...what else?  (Read 41682 times)

Martin Vieregg

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Re: RAM disk and temp folders...what else?
« Reply #60 on: May 04, 2018, 02:06:58 pm »
Thank you. Indeed, it works all fine. The first time, I forgot to check the "ramdisk" checkbox.

A cosmetic problem: The shadow to the folder on the ramdisk is broken, of couse, because I create the folder in a cmd file located in the startup folder. So I have to use a config.sys command:
c:\os2\cmd.exe /c createfolders.cmd   (is this correct?)
(haven't tried yet.) But how can I be sure that the ramdisk is generated before executing the cmd file?

Doug Bissett

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Re: RAM disk and temp folders...what else?
« Reply #61 on: May 04, 2018, 07:48:26 pm »
Quote
But how can I be sure that the ramdisk is generated before executing the cmd file?

The RAMDISK exists, before the kernel is loaded (created by OS2LDR). It is accessible as soon as the driver loads (BASEDEV=HD4DISK.ADD). The CMD executes just before the GUI starts up.

Personally, I create the desired folders in STARTUP.CMD, but you may need to do it earlier, if something will try to use them earlier. Your command should be a CALL or RUN (I don't remember which) statement in CONFIG.SYS:
CALL c:\os2\cmd.exe /c createfolders.cmd
I think (you may need to try a few variations).

Andreas Schnellbacher

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Re: RAM disk and temp folders...what else?
« Reply #62 on: May 04, 2018, 07:59:16 pm »
I recommend not to use the CONFIG.SYS for that, but a Startup Folder.

To the difference of the CONFIG.SYS statements CALL and RUN:

o  CALL runs the specified .exe synchronously. (The processing of the rest of the CONFIG.SYS statements is halted until the called .exe has finished its startup processing.)

o  RUN runs the specified .exe asynchronously. (The processing of the rest of the CONFIG.SYS statements is continued immediately and the processing of the .exe is processed in parallel.)

Martin Vieregg

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Re: RAM disk and temp folders...what else?
« Reply #63 on: May 09, 2018, 10:02:59 am »
I have got an idea how to make a "shadow icon" for a Ramdisk folder which is not broken:
- create a program icon, use a folder icon on the "icon" tab
- point to a cmd file which holds the string  "open z:\myfolder"

Greg Pringle

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Re: RAM disk and temp folders...what else?
« Reply #64 on: May 09, 2018, 06:10:59 pm »
I use Java extensively for applications.
One is a mail filter which I wrote that buffers the mail. To keep memory usage down it uses a virtual memory vector (FileVect) which I also wrote. This works fine but is much slower than real memory. It has the advantage of being able to buffer huge amounts of data. I recently redirected the virtual vector to use a 3.6 GB ram disk. It is working quite well. I have not checked the speed against a non-virtual vector but it seems close enough.

Martin Vieregg

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Re: RAM disk and temp folders...what else?
« Reply #65 on: May 13, 2018, 11:19:26 pm »
I made speed tests on my new current AM4 system with ArcaOS 5.0.2. I copied three files with together 550 MB with Larsen Commander which shows the average speed in MB/sec, SSD is JFS, RamDisk HPFS:

SSD -> SSD: 142 MB/sec
SSD -> RamDisk: 235 MB/sec
RamDisk -> RamDisk: 390 MB/sec

Anyway, the main benefit will be sparing the SSD with its limited write cycles.

Andy Willis

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Re: RAM disk and temp folders...what else?
« Reply #66 on: May 14, 2018, 04:53:48 am »
I made speed tests on my new current AM4 system with ArcaOS 5.0.2. I copied three files with together 550 MB with Larsen Commander which shows the average speed in MB/sec, SSD is JFS, RamDisk HPFS:

SSD -> SSD: 142 MB/sec
SSD -> RamDisk: 235 MB/sec
RamDisk -> RamDisk: 390 MB/sec

Anyway, the main benefit will be sparing the SSD with its limited write cycles.

To save the write cycles on my SSD, in Mozilla browsers I set:
browser.cache.disk.parent_directory
so that it writes to my RamDisk.  I also set the swappath in config.sys to use the RamDisk as it gets recreated at every boot.  I also set the temp, tmp, tmpdir to all be on the RamDisk for the same reason.

gamba

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Re: RAM disk and temp folders...what else?
« Reply #67 on: May 14, 2018, 09:30:44 pm »
I'm now trying to disable ArcaOS ramdisk (as I want to test emsifs.ifs).   I removed os2ldr.cfg file and remmed hd4disk.add in config.sys. I rebooted several times and also switched off the PC, but the drive letter used by ArcaOS ramdisk is still in use! LVM sees it as:

[ CDROM 2 ]          *->T:  Compatibility                   CDFS file system

and it fact it appears in Drives folder with a CD icon. I really guess how I can definitely remove it...

Greg Pringle

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Re: RAM disk and temp folders...what else?
« Reply #68 on: May 14, 2018, 09:53:37 pm »
I  am not sure what happens if you manually delete the files but you could have used the "HiDisk" utility used to create the ram disk in the first place. When using the utility "un-check" the create button and then "check" the drive you want removed and then press the "OK" button.
Then reboot and the ram disk will be gone.

gamba

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Re: RAM disk and temp folders...what else?
« Reply #69 on: May 14, 2018, 09:54:49 pm »
... I rebooted several times and also switched off the PC, but the drive letter used by ArcaOS ramdisk is still in use! LVM sees it as:

[ CDROM 2 ]          *->T:  Compatibility                   CDFS file system


It was USBCDROM.ADD: it seems that ArcaOS/QSINIT ramdisk - I had assigned T: to it - can "steal" the drive letter to USBCDROM.ADD, while emsifs can't.