Romex Software Forum

I get the idea that there're two ways to make a program available on your image.
1. Install the program directly to your image.
2. Create a junction point connecting the program and the RAM drive or image.

If I'm right in regards to the above two statements, is one methods faster than the next?

Also, what's the best way to load a program like Excel or Access to your Ramdrive. The executable for these window programs is rather small and I'm certain there must be more programs that support the executable. What is the best way to get the absolute maximum performance out of a program like Access, using Primo RamDrive Ultra. I do some very heavy daily processing with Microsoft Access. When you install programs into Windows it seems it's never unusual to find it resting and several different places, Users Folder, Program Data is for a couple examples.

The method 1 is shall be a little faster than the method 2. The method 2 is more flexible, especially when you already installed programs.

For excel etc., I would recommend PrimoCache instead of Primo Ramdisk. PrimoCache is more flexible than ramdisks. You just need to create a caching task and don't need to think about relocate files or other settings.

Never looked into RamCache but will now. I would imagine I would dedicate memory the same as I do with RamCache. Is there a package price for RamDrive Ultra and Ram Cache?
Bob

My plan is to use a program called Actual Windows Manager. The problem is when installing you get a message that Regedit would have some issues with it. That issue is only if I do not use the default directory when I install.

My question is if I use the Cache program will I lose a lot of speed compared to installing the program directly to the RamDrive. I have successfully installed 6 programs so far with great results, Primo RamDrive.
Bob

Compared with Ramdisk, the performance gained by the Cache program is not good as Ramdisk. This is because the cache program has to do additional work to maintain cache space and data stored in the cache may be swapped out when cache space is full.

Did you try the Junction Point way for the program "Actual Windows Manager"? I mean that you install it in the default directory and then you move this directory to ramdisk and create a junction point between them.

Physically move it to the RamDisk or is this the purpose the Junction Point. Also, I would think the Junction would be slower. But by how much. So far my experience with the RamDisk is far greater than I was lead to believe by the many forums out there. Very happy camper on this end.
Bob

Yes, the method of using a junction point is a little slower, but I don't think it will cost much.

Amerifax wrote:Also, what's the best way to load a program like Excel or Access to your Ramdrive. The executable for these window programs is rather small and I'm certain there must be more programs that support the executable...

For databases like Access which tend to be hard-disk intensive, it is the index and data files you need to look at for improving performance (see here for a list of file extensions used by Access). Once you find the files (which will likely be held somewhere within the %APPDATA% folder), you can copy them across to a ramdisk and either configure Access to use the new (ramdisk) location or create a link/junction point from the old folder to the ramdisk one (I'd suggest using Link Shell Extension for managing these).

The downsides of this approach are:

• Database files tend to be very large (you may be able to shrink them significantly using NTFS Compression but that will affect performance) so you may not be able to create a ramdisk large enough;
• Unless you use an image file with Real-Time Save enabled, you increase the risk of data loss (due to a power outage or system crash) - if you have a database it presumably has content you consider important, so safety should take priority over performance. There is an increased risk of data loss with PrimoCache also if Defer-Write is enabled, but you have more control over this.

In terms of performance, it's unlikely anyone would be able to distinguish between whether a junction point was used or not.

There are other ways of speeding up databases (including Access) with appropriate use of indexes and ensuring that queries are structured to allow for on-the-fly optimisation. This 10 easy ways to speed up an Access database article should provide some useful info to start with.