Computer Hope
Microsoft => Microsoft DOS => Topic started by: steven32collins on April 19, 2009, 04:45:05 AM
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hi
i was wondering is there a way of turning a flash drive memory into ram memory instead of buying a ned ram card because i have loads of memory sticks and one i hardaly use so if anyone knows can you post how to turn the flashdrive into extra ram (it may be imposible but its worth a try)
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If it's "impossible", then it isn't "worth a try", by definition. Flash RAM, the kind you find in memory sticks, is very different from the kind of main RAM that is used as main memory. If you have Vista you can use Readyboost which uses flash RAM as a cache and there is an app called eBoostr for XP which does the same thing, but most people find little or no improvement. The only way to get "more RAM" type performance is... more RAM.
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Dias de verano, very good answer.But it won't fly on Yahoo Answers.
(As if you cared.) 8)
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Expanding on what Dias said.
"Flash RAM" is actually based on the old ROM technology that has gone thru EPROM(Erasable Program Read Only Mem) > EEPROM(Electrically Erasable Program Read Only Mem) > Flash
Flash doesn't lose its contents when the lights go out.
But like EEPROM and EPROM, it can be re-written to.
Which doesn't even count it as a RAM type.
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Which doesn't even count it as a RAM type.
Very true.
http://www.linfo.org/flash_memory.html
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Very true.
http://www.linfo.org/flash_memory.html
All ROM memory is random access memory. The word RAM is mostly associated with volatile types of memory (such as DRAM memory modules), where the information is lost after the power is switched off. However, many other types of memory are RAM as well (i.e., Random Access Memory), including most types of ROM and a kind of flash memory called NOR-Flash.
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Getting back to the main object of this post. It is possible to build a static RAM array that will emulate a hard disk drive. To be practical, we have to have almost 4 GB of static RAM. If it is low power static RAM it can be kept active with a small rechargeable battery array. When power is cut off the batteries will take over and supply a minimum amount of voltage to the array to keep the memory contents from disappearing. The reason this is not often done is that static RAM requires much more power than dynamic RAM. And is expensive. The dynamic RAM requires a processor or a controller to be active and provide refresh for the RAM. However, the refresh rate can be very slow and still keep the dynamic RAM going. At the present time, it is not practical to pursue this sort of thing.
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Getting back to the main object of this post.
::)
The subject of this thread, if that is what you meant, is "Can I turn the memory contained in my various flash memory sticks into RAM for my computer?". A disquisition on the topic of solid state drives using static RAM is not exactly directly related to that.
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To be practical, we have to have almost 4 GB of static RAM.
Why? And why "almost"?
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Why? And why "almost"?
Beginning education.
Sorry, I got myself derailed again. When he said flash RAM, I was thinking of this dry. As far as I know all the flash memory devices readily available are intended to be inhalations of the disk drive, not a replacement for the RAM in your system. If you want the use the flash memory to assess substitute for RAM into require some kind of special driver to have it emulates the RAM. But that's what to pay child is anyway. So I guess, if you wanted to, you could put a huge page file in your flash RAM and that might serve some purpose. :-[
The 4GB comment was about putting XP on a flash drive.
I think this is can be done in about 2.8 GB.
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But that's what to pay child is
"That's what the page file is"? This gibberish is getting irritating. Not to mention troll like. Is there some reason why you can't type like normal people? E.g. you are paralyzed or something? If not, could you get normal and write comprehensibly, please?
So I guess, if you wanted to, you could put a huge page file in your flash RAM and that might serve some purpose.
It would serve a purpose all right: to wear out the flash drive
The 4GB comment was about putting XP on a flash drive.
I think this is can be done in about 2.8 GB.
It is very very difficult to get XP running off any USB drive, flash or HDD. MiniPE, that's another thing though.
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Your comment is appreciated. It is true, I do have a lot of gibberish. But I tried to avoid rubbish. On this forum there are things difficult to understand,. The general grammar and spelling may be all right, yet it can be hard to discern the thought. As for my gibberish, ou did understand what I meant. I know this is irritating, and is to me to. So my apologies for irritating everybody. But sometimes when people are irritated they perform better.
Might you agree with that ?
Now back to the topic. Flash RAM is not RAM. Not today, anyway. Some computers have huge amounts of Flash RAM, but only as mass storage.
And yes, Flash has a short life span. It is the re-write problem. Reading is OK.
And good quality fast RAM is preferable to slow large RAM.
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But sometimes when people are irritated they perform better.
Might you agree with that ?
I might or I might not; but you don't have the right to do the irritating. That is my point.
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There is a type of Non-volatile RAM out there called FRAM, it has the high speed read/write of RAM with the permanent storage/re-write capabilities of Flash.
But it lasts longer than Flash(As far as read/write times)
It stands for Ferro-electric Random Access Mem.
Right now its not used in Jump drives or any other solid state memory. But is in Chip form for Hobbyists and companies.
But back on topic....
No you can't use flash memory as a RAM replacement.
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My idea.
Yes Flash drive is RAM ... if you agree with me window page file (swap partition in Linux) is RAM.
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My idea.
Yes Flash drive is RAM ... if you agree with me window page file (swap partition in Linux) is RAM.
You want to put page file/swap file on a flash drive? That would kill the flash drive quickly.
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You want to put page file/swap file on a flash drive? That would kill the flash drive quickly.
That's why let people use my extra blank DVD's for partition transfer.
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I personally don't suggest steven32collins to do that. I just answer "is there a way" question.
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http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/features/readyboost.aspx
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http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/features/readyboost.aspx
This was covered a couple of pages back.
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Dias de verano
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/features/readyboost.aspx
This was covered a couple of pages back.
Sorry, my bad.
Yes, you said that as the first response to the original post.
Still - ???
Way would Microsoft allow or document a feature that would cause harm to the Flash device? IMO that is just typical of Microsoft. But it does make we wonder.
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I think he can make a part of HD work like RAM.
I see that topic starter uses the Windows XP, so he can configure the VIRTUAL MEMORY.
P.S. It will work a little bit faster and as you know the data access speed of HD is not such as RAM
Cheers.
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would Microsoft allow or document a feature that would cause harm to the Flash device?
No. Some people have the incorrect and mistaken idea that Readyboost works by storing the swap file on the flash drive. This is not so. Readyboost does not exercise a flash drive in the same way that using it as a swap partition would.
Flash memory can only take so many writes. Even with techniques such as wear levelling, swap file use will destroy a flash drive in a fairly short time.
The core idea of ReadyBoost is that a flash drive has a much faster seek time (less than 1 millisecond), allowing it to satisfy requests faster than a hard disk when booting or reading certain system files. (System files, right? That don't change - write once, read many times) By the way, unless you have USB 2.0 and you are using a top end pen drive or memory card ReadyBoost won't make a lot of difference. And even then it won't be anything to write home about.
A swap file on the other hand is constantly changing as memory is paged in and out. Furthermore, Windows uses the page file in blocks of 4096 bytes but flash memory usually has logical blocks of 65536 Bytes and whenever a 4K block is written the flash device has to erase and rewrite a whole 64K block. So pretty soon all the memory cells on the flash drive will be worn out.