Is a RAM Drive possible

[Joe]

Is it possible to create a RAM drive (drive created using RAM/memory) in
Windows XP?

If so, can I place my pagefile on it?

I have a laptop with 4GB memory, and even with SQL server running with large
databases, it rarely goes over 1GB. Being able to create a RAM drive a use it
for the page file would increase the performance substantially!

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Is it possible to create a RAM drive (drive created using RAM/memory) in
Windows XP?

Yes.


If so, can I place my pagefile on it?

I have a laptop with 4GB memory, and even with SQL server running with large
databases, it rarely goes over 1GB. Being able to create a RAM drive a use it
for the page file would increase the performance substantially!

No, it would not increase performance at all. In fact, it would *hurt*
performance. Doing what you suggest makes no sense. It's like
borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. You'd be taking memory away from
Windows use, then giving it back in the form of a page file in a RAM
drive. Since you would create extra need for paging in exactly the
same amount as the size of the RAM drive page file, you would
accomplish nothing except the extra overhead associated with the RAM
drive.

RAM drive software is available, but, except in special circumstances,
is usually counterproductive when running Windows. It is *certainly*
counterproductive to use it the manner you suggest.