Given that most systems have only enough memory for a small ramdisk (especially compared to the size of a hard disk), making best use of one currently involves choosing a folder with frequently accessed data, copying it to ramdisk (with an image file to avoid data loss) and then setting up links or junctions from the original location to the new ramdisk location (or reconfiguring relevant software to use the ramdisk).
This could be automated with a feature like Ramdisk Folder Migration which would do the following:
- When the ramdisk starts, folders listed for migration are renamed (to avoid conflict with their replacement junctions);
- Folder contents are copied to the ramdisk (using the original folder name);
- NTFS junctions are set up in the original folders' location (and with the original names) to point to the new folders on ramdisk.
When the system is shut down (or suspended/hibernated):
- (optional) any changes made to the ramdisk folders are copied to the (renamed) original folders;
- the junctions are deleted;
- the original folders renamed back to their previous names, leaving things as they were before.
This would make it quicker to relocate folders while preserving data (the original folders are still there if a system crash causes ramdisk data loss or image file corruption). Having changes copied back to the original files means being able to access them, even if no ramdisk was present (e.g. if the folders were copied to another system without a ramdisk or if the ramdisk failed to start), providing a second level of data security over that of an image file alone.
This would also provide another way of handling full ramdisks - if a migrated folder exceeds the space available, it gets copied back to its original location (as above) with Primo Ramdisk reporting an error without having to interrupt the program responsible.
