Does an OS in a RAMDisk Still Need RAM

Computer-Steve

Commendable
Mar 26, 2017
5
0
1,520
An OS running from an HDD or SSD loads the files it wants to work with into system RAM which is basically a faster cache.
If however, an OS is running from a RAMDisk, then what's the point in loading the files it wants to work with into system RAM that is now running at the same speed?
I believe that RAMDisks are on the verge of becoming mainstream.
As such, has anyone looked into optimizing Windows or Linux to run completely from a RAMDisk and just skip conventional system RAM?
Thanks.

I see my question wasn't clear co I've reworded it.
 
Solution
1) A RAMDisk is run off of RAM, so in order to fully utilize it you would need however much RAM you plan to have in your RAM disk allocated, plus additional RAM to run programs. So if you plan to have a 32GB RAMdisk, you would need 64GB of RAM. Or if you're running a 64GB RAMdisk you would need 128GB of RAM.
2) Because the RAM in that case would be recognized as storage, so you would need the RAM that you would be using for storage.
3) I'm not sure I am understanding the question here because you need RAM in any system you plan to run. Running a RAMdisk is kind of dangerous because you would need to keep your system always powered on, since RAM is temporary storage, if you turn your machine off or even restart, you would need to...

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
1) A RAMDisk is run off of RAM, so in order to fully utilize it you would need however much RAM you plan to have in your RAM disk allocated, plus additional RAM to run programs. So if you plan to have a 32GB RAMdisk, you would need 64GB of RAM. Or if you're running a 64GB RAMdisk you would need 128GB of RAM.
2) Because the RAM in that case would be recognized as storage, so you would need the RAM that you would be using for storage.
3) I'm not sure I am understanding the question here because you need RAM in any system you plan to run. Running a RAMdisk is kind of dangerous because you would need to keep your system always powered on, since RAM is temporary storage, if you turn your machine off or even restart, you would need to reinstall the operating system from scratch every time.
 
Solution
You can't run an os from ramdisk. Windows needs to boot first then ramdisk runs to create that virtual disk and then finally load the files into ram. There were actual drives that use ram with a battery for permanent storage but they were still limited by sata. I-ram and hyperdrive.

When we get the tech to have permanent storage be fast enough then the os can be programmed differently. But no one could reprogram the current windows version. A new os would need to be made from scratch. There's always going to be some type of cache though. Technically there will always be faster more expensive memory used as cache vs slower memory used as ram.

I'm not understanding the point of virtual ram instead of system ram. It's the same implications as not needing ram.