Use RAM disks for a VirtualPC speed gain

Oct 05, '04 10:21:00AM

Contributed by: Anonymous

I have gained VirtualPC performance by using the RAM disk Creatora>.:

  1. Create a RAM disk just big enough to copy Virtual PC application then launch VirtualPC from the RAM disk. There's noticeable performance gain. All of your changes are saved on the Virtual PC Disk, so it doesn't matter if Virtual PC application gets deleted off of the RAM disk.

  2. You can REALLY get a huge performance gain if your VirtualPC disk is small. If you are running Windows 95 or NT, then the VirtualPC disk size is around 200megs, and you can copy the application and the disk into the RAM disk. This is real performance boost. Just remember to copy back the PC disk to your hard drive before ejecting RAM disk!Otherwise, your data will not be saved!
Alternatively, you can copy the VirtualPC application and the VirtualPC disk (if small enough) to the RAM disk, then create another VirtualPC data disk to save your data on your hard drive. This way, you don't have to copy back the VirtualPC disk.

[robg adds: A previous hint discussed RAM relative to web browsing, and this much older hint covers methods of creating RAM disks yourself without any third party software. I don't have VirtualPC yet, so I can't confirm any speed boost from this technique.]

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