Automatic ramdisk mounting with Link Shell Extension ( Hardlinks )

[AsRock]

Example: Arma 2
Fist off create a new folder for putting the files you want separated from the main game folder ( remember were you took the files from).
The ones I moved were the following as they are most likely the main streamed ones, these are all located in various locations in the main game directory.
Cut and paste these files in your new folder and keep it somewhere as backup, you also need it to reload into the RAMdrive depending on how you use it.

structures_e.pbo
characters_e.pbo
weapons_e.pbo
plants2_Tree.pbo
takistan_data.pbo
takistan_data_layers.pbo
tracked_e.pbo
air.pbo
misc_e.pbo
roads_e.pbo
takistan.pbo
desert_e.pbo
rocks2.pbo
rocks_e.pbo
plants2_Tree.pbo
Roads2.pbo
rocks2.pbo
signs2.pbo
signs_e.pbo

The above files totals at 3.91gb altogether so I went for a 4gb RAMdrive, you can chop and change to suit yourself or do some testing and see what ones really are used most.

Ramdisk time:
I used Dataram RAMDisk but to have a bigger ram drive than 4GB you need to pay $15.
I created a 4096mb unformatted ramdisk partition then formatted it as NTFS, copied the files to the ramdisk then with the Dataram program made a img of it and told it to automatically load it at start up.

So when the system starts up the ramdrive is there with all required files.

http://memory.dataram.com/products-and-services/software/ramdisk

Now it's time to link those files to were they were moved from.
Download this app for the symlinks, saves a lot of time and hassle.
Link Shell Extension
http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html
Go to the downloads section and get whatever one is for your OS/system.
Install as per the installation instructions on the page linked.

Once downloaded and installed it's time to link the ramdrive files to were they came from and how you do this is VERY simple.

In explorer you select the files on the ram disk and right click and select Pick Link Source, after that you go to were the files were and right click in the right side of explorer and select Drop Symbolic Link.

As long as you told it the right places were all the files are from it should work.

Important shit:
Don't disable pagefile, It can make problems like crashing. System startup will be slower due to the system making the new drive from the image on boot.

For my needs at least and still only using a 4GB ramdrive turning the pagefile off has no ill effect although the system has 8 GB to run on so that might be why.

 

[bear jesus]

Some useful information there, i admit though for now it's of no use for me as i still only have 4gb total but once i upgrade to a tasty 8gb, 16gb or 32gb this could come in very handy.

 

[AsRock]

Some useful information there, i admit though for now it's of no use for me as i still only have 4gb total but once i upgrade to a tasty 8gb, 16gb or 32gb this could come in very handy.

It fun to mess around with it, another good thing is with that ram drive program you can save the image on shutdown to so it's always up to date. Although better not using hardlinks with changing files though and just tell the system to just store them there.

 

[VulkanBros]

I too have messed around with RAMDisk - but the performance gain vss. a new SSD disk is limited.....saying that it is not worth the trouble if you have a relative new SSD disk.

But else .... if you have 8 GB mem and an old 5400 or 7200 rpm slow-disk-drive then it
a good idea

 

[Completely Bonkers]

If you have a SSD then IMO a RAMdisk is still very useful just to save wear-level-trashing of your SSD. Put your temps esp. internet temps onto the RAMdisk.

 

[AsRock]

If you have a SSD then IMO a RAMdisk is still very useful just to save wear-level-trashing of your SSD. Put your temps esp. internet temps onto the RAMdisk.

For sure and as long as you don't mind a little slow down ( depending on size ) you can save it all with that ramdrive program so when the system is rebooted all be like normal.