@~This is the first of James' articles on ramdisks and should @~have appeared LAST issue (see Editorial). RAMDISKS - ARE THEY WORTH THE BOTHER? by James Judge This is a little article for the less knowledgeable among us on the subject of Ramdisks. You hear a lot about them but all this talk is just nonsense to the novice so the following is a small bit about the things we so dearly call Ramdisks. Let me say that all my knowledge of ramdisks is either from ST Format or a great deal of trial and error (and data loss) so I'm not a master by any means. Also the following is concerned with STs but the basic rules will apply to all the machines - just the programs and RAM size will differ. OK, SO WHAT ARE THESE BEASTS WE CALL RAMDISKS? Well, they are a disk drive (like the internal one in the ST casing) but they exist in the computer's memory. What a ramdisk program does is set aside a section of the computer's memory and keeps it clear, not allowing the computer to write to (put anything in) the section except on your say so. This does mean that, through the use of the computer's RAM (random access memory) for the disk, you can't use memory intensive programs such as DTPs, large word processors and other such serious software. It also means you can't use games which need a lot of memory to run (Hack! is a good example). This is, of course, unless you own more than a megabyte of RAM (lucky devil). WHAT CAN A RAMDISK DO FOR ME? Well, if you do a lot of file and data handling on the desktop or you are into AGT and other games which run from the desktop a ramdisk is what you need. Because everything runs in the computer's memory it is far quicker than using a disk drive because the computer works at such a high speed (so many MIPs (millions of instructions per second)). Using a ramdisk can, for example, save you many minutes of frustration as a program de-arcs itself. We've all seen these archived programs which, when run, unfold into loads of small files but it takes such a long time because the computer reads something off the disk, does its stuff and then writes the information back to a disk. This is very slow compared to a ramdisk even when you consider you have to copy the arched program to the disk and, once all the data is ready, copy the data back to a disk. Another use of ramdisks (and, for me, is the main use) is to make games written with programs that do a lot of disk accessing far quicker. You obviously know the frustration an AGT game can cause when every time you do something the computer accesses the disk drive. Also it takes such a long time to load up. To increase the speed AGT games run you just put all the relevant data files into the ramdisk and then run the TTP. The game then runs at a speed near that of a STAC game. WHAT SIZE RAMDISK SHOULD I USE? If you've got a megabyte and want to use the ramdisk as a second drive while copying files (just copy the data to drive M, insert a disk and then copy the data on drive M to drive A) I'd suggest about 720K which allows you to copy a whole disk at one time - if you use Maxidisk you'll be able to copy about a megabyte's worth of data at one go (ooh). If you're planning to use it with AGT games (or even Talespin games, I should think) I recommend to use a 500K ramdisk which will hold all but the LARGE adventures (or things done on AGT BIG eg Oklib's Revenge) but if you use Maxidisk, a 500K ramdisk should hold everything you need and still leave you with about 350K to run the game (that's including the memory used to get the desktop up and running as well as running Maxidisk). If you've got only a half meg machine you'll come across some big problems when trying to use a ramdisk. You won't be able to run AGT games off it but using it as a second drive will work. A 400K ramdisk will work but it means you'll have to copy double sided disks in two lots which still cuts down on the time taken compared to the desktop copier. IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE I NEED TO KNOW? No, not really except that if you use the ramdisk program called RDE and you name the ramdisk as drive C the computer will then boot from that drive after running the RDE program. This means that if you own a machine with two or three megabytes (you lucky thing, I'm jealous) you can copy games (Ultima 5 is a good example) which use quite a bit of disk accessing and could do with a speed up. Of course, you've got to be able to copy the disks either by the desktop or a copier program such as FCOPY3 (a brilliant program which everyone should have) or its big brother FCOPY PROFESSIONAL (which is available through the ST Club). Another examples of copying commercial games to a C ramdisk are the Magnetic Scrolls games which, when loading pictures, take a long time and if you're skipping between two locations which have different graphics you spend a hell of a long time twiddling your thumbs. Two things you should know about your computer and that's about warm and cold resets. Warm resets just erase the memory unless there is a program which is able to stay in the memory (some ramdisks do this (yes, Maxidisk does this as well) as well as picture rippers and, unfortunately, quite a few viruses). A cold reset totally wipes all the memory including any resident programs (the ones which are able to survive a warm reset). This is useful if you suspect you've got a virus in memory or, of course, a resident program you want to get rid of. Warm resets can be achieved be pressing the reset button (or , and together) and a cold reset is achieved by switching the computer on and off. I should imagine (I've never tried this) that if you've got two drives, two megabytes of RAM and a game which comes on two disks (and is able to use the second drive) and the boot disk takes a long time to load you could copy the boot disk to the ramdisk C, put the second disk in drive B and do a warm reset. Well, I think that's about it really. I hope it has helped and given you a little push into the world of ramdisks and the potential use for them. If you happen to know any other tricks, tips or bits I have overlooked get in contact with me via either Syntax or 33 Chidley Cross Road, East Peckham, Nr. Tonbridge, Kent, TN12 5BX and I'll be interested to see what you've got to add. Also if you're still totally confounded by ramdisks contact me and I'll try to help.