How To Add Another Drive For Free
Nov 03 '02
The Bottom Line It might not be a hard drive, but it's as close as you can get for free.
Preface
Have you noticed how cheap RAM is today? Compared to Hard Drive, RAM offers a minute amount of memory for the price, however the real bonus with RAM is that it is temporary, it will wipe clean without any trace like normal hard drives do. RAM is cheap, but offers enough memory for a bunch of photos, word documents or a daily dose of heavy downloads. RAM is clean and most importantly fast. The latest RAM would be able to transfer data quicker, in fact in most cases, would do it in the time that a hard drive could even find the data. In this case, RAM offers the perfect balance of performance and value.
Deleting Doesn’t Work. Here’s Why
Regular hard disk drives that are inside every computer today, use a metallic disk which stores data on the surface of the disk. When data is stored on a disk, a system known as an Array is used to locate where data is stored. Array pointers direct the drive to where the data is stored in what is known as a Heap. The Heap is a grouping of data, which usually cascades through several layers. In one layer for example, will be a set of data, at the end of that data is the array pointer which directs the drive to another layer. The heap contains and unknown amount of layers which each direct the drive to other layers in that heap. By using heaps, data is organized, and in this way variable size data can be stored successfully. By using up one space, the drive must set the array pointer to direct the drive to another location where there is spare space. This is system is much more complex, but this is the basic idea. Data is written on the disk, it does not clear the data already there, it merely overwrites it. When you cut and paste a file to another locations the array pointer is usually changed, and if it’s a large file lots of pointers need to be changed.
But when the disk is full of space, things must be “deleted”. Deleting doesn’t require the use of wipes inside the drive, it merely removes the array pointers, the heaps and data are still stored, however the data is unseen to the drive or any operating system looking at it. This is why people can view your supposedly deleted items. One reason that privacy can be at risk.
Privacy For Free?
So this is the reason for this article. Saving files that require some privacy, either personal or commercial, is very difficult to do with the normal computer. You can order the latest file encryption, but that costs money, why buy when you have that privacy in your own computer. What the keyword here is, RAM. Remember RAM removes the data everytime power is lost to it, it can neither be viewed nor inspected by anyone, if they had the software to do it. RAM has already been discussed as an ideal form of memory, and when you consider hiding files of some nature from others, what could be better. It is safe from the internet, a local area network, and even you. But that is the problem, you can’t handle RAM in any sensical way, so we have to rely on the right software, and software I’m happy to say, if free.
Of course by now you have grasped we are going to use RAM, but how is it going to be used? Simple, just like you hard drive. Thanks to professionals who wrote the programs we can manipulate RAM just like any hard disk, but is much faster, and can be deleted just as easy.
Consider this: If you have over 128Mb of RAM, your operating system will use roughly 40 to 70Mb of it, if you think about it, there is about 20Mb spare which you could use without reducing performance. But then, you could just buy more RAM. Some people have managed to get over the Gb (Giga bytes) in RAM, which means that this adequate space could be used as a sophisticated caching drive or temporary bin.
They are known as “RAMDrives”, and the software is readily available.
What Do I Need?
Before I start, I must make this clear, this is aimed at Windows 98 and higher users, and secondly, there are two software programs available, RAMDisk and RAMDiskNT. The first one only offers a maximum of 30Mb, the latter offers up to 4Gb.
The RAMDisk way
The first step is to download the software. Copy the following link into your browser, or a download program.
http://download.microsoft.com/download/win2000ddk/sample01/1/NT5/EN-US/Ramdisk.exe
If you start the exe file, it will ask you to unzip a file, select any directory of your choice, but remember to copy that address completely. The next stage is relatively simple. Do with the according operating system:
Windows 98, ME, 2000
Go to the Control Panel via the Start menu or My Computer. Run the Add New Hardware shortcut. If it wants to search, let it, but after that follow the Chose From List bullet hole, continue until you see the “Have Disk” button. Click this, and then in the address box at the bottom paste the address you gave the unzip exe file.
Windows XP
Before you do this, you must be an Administrator for you to access the restricted areas. Go to the Control Panel either via the Start menu or My Computer, click on the “Switch To Classic View” link on the side if it is not already set, then click the Add New Hardware link. This should open a pane, click next, a Search should run. Next click the “Yes, I Have Already Connected The Hardware” bullet point. In the next pane, scroll down in the mini window to “Add A New Hardware Device”, click next. Then you will see another pane with two options, select the one that reads, “Install The Hardware That I Select From A List (Advanced)” and then click next. On the next pane, select “Show All Devices” and click next. On the next one, which should take several minutes depending on the speed of your computer, click “Have Disk”, and paste the address you had set before, click ok, then Next in the main pane. It should bring up some installing windows and some messages, with it ending in a final pane, and click Finish there.
You should be asked to restart, and you do want to restart, click Yes. After you restart, you need to set the memory amount to something larger than the default 1Mb, so you have to go into the Registry. If you have doubts about this, you can back up your registry by going to File > Export, and save it on a back up disk.
You open the Registry by going to RegEdit, through the Run command on the Start menu, or if you feel flash, hold the Windows logo key and hit R, type:
Regedit
And hit enter. A window should appear that resembles the explorer look. On the left is all the registry, and on the right is the data sources. You need to navigate the left hand side by pressing the buttons to open the folders. By doing this, follow this address, where each slash / represents an open folder.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Ramdisk\Parameters
If you don’t see it, then you will have to restart like I told you to. If you click on the Parameters folder, a set of eight data values appear on the right, browse down until you spot the one labelled “DiskSize”, if you right click on it, and select Modify. A new popup window should appear, in this find the Value Data text box, and enter this value:
1f00000
This will set the RAM size to 30Mb.
Another aspect of this area is that you can change the Drive letter, it is set to Z:, you can modify it by simply changing it by selecting the “Driveletter” line and doing the same, but replacing Z: with another letter, however don’t chose one already in use.
Restart the computer. You should see the RAMDrive listed in My Computer with 30Mb to spare.
Notes:
This takes memory from your original RAM
Data stored on the RAM will be erased when power if cut
The RAMDrive will work like any other drive
The RAMDiskNT way
RAMDiskNT is a fully automated program that requires little or no explanation on how it works. The downside is that it’s not free ($49.99). You have the ability to use up to 4GB of memory, and configure the registry settings from the actual program, but it is not developed for Windows XP.
For the free evaluation copy, which will work 100 times and then turn into a 1.44Mb disk, download from here:
http://www.cenatek.com/product_ramdisk.cfm?Page=Download
What Can I Use This RAMDisk For?
Consider that you have done the RAMDisk tutorial and have a limited 30Mb of the fasted drive memory ever, then what can it be used for. As already discussed private files which must not be seen by others is one option for this new drive. However many suggest turning it into a complete Temporary Internet Files folder. You could also set it to be a downloads directory so that zip files are deleted but not the unzipped ones. It could be a transaction area, where you download music to be put on CD or MD or an MP3 player. Or you might just be running low on disk space.
Finally, I haven’t read of any options on creating a second drive using the RAMDrive *.inf file that is used, and creating a second drive, but it could be a possibility.
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