Ramdrive Speeds Up Netbooks

If you can upgrade to 2gb of DRAM, a small amount of it (128mb) can be used to speed up your netbook.

This is a free RAMDRIVE that will automatically copy from an image file at start, and then backup to an image with your shutdown.

http://www.cenatek.com/product_page_...nload_list.php

Download this one:

http://www.cenatek.com/downloads/Dat...V3.5_TEST3.msi

It is free for disk under 4gb!

The code is small, compact, works like a charm, and so far, flawless.

Create the drive as unformatted (with the default drive letter). Then follow instructions to use your Computer Management / Disk Management to set the Drive to the permanent letter you want, and then format it to NTFS.

Then, set it to "Load Disk Image at Setup" and "Save Disk Image at Shutdown".

The factory instructions are here:

file:///D:/Program%20Files/RAMDisk/RAMDiskXP%20Users%20Manual.html



"3. How do I create an NTFS formatted RAM disk?

Since much of the NTFS structure is undocumented by Microsoft, RAMDiskXP does not support creating an NTFS formatted disk explicitly (there is no "NTFS" button like there is for "FAT 16" and "FAT 32"). However, you can format a RAM disk using the NTFS file system by using Windows Disk Management.

By saving and loading the RAM disk image on startup you can automatically start with an NTFS formatted RAM disk, since the disk image format overrides any other configuration settings.

RAMDiskSE does not support dynamic disks. Since Windows likes to keep track of dynamic disks, it gets upset when one is missing (like every time you shutdown a RAMDisk). When prompted, it is best to set RAMDisk to "basic" disk type."


The next step is to set your temp files to this disk:

So far, I set:

windows temp and tmp via the Control Panel / System/ Advanced / Environment Variables setting dialog box.

then I set Firefox and Internet explorer caches to the ram drive.

What I have yet to do is to redirect more temp files here....

Thus far, the performance increase have been quite stunning for very little effort (and a very small 128mb disk).

Solid State Drives (SSD) on Netbooks

Many netbooks come with Solid State Drives (SSD), a relatively new technology that promises the possibility of improvements in performance over mechanical hard disks at a considerable premium.

However, in real life, with existing operating systems like most flavors of Linux, Windows XP, etc. this promise, far from being realized, have been setback by optimizations of OS and popular Applications like Microsoft Office / Outlook for use on hard drive based PCs.

For a detailed discussion of the problems and issues, see this link below:

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42487

In summary, every SSD optimization require a solution taylored around your netbook's limitations and also your OS and applications.

The best way to begin is to use a tool like filemon (from Microsoft) to figure out what is causing the file access on your SSD, then making a determination as to whether it can be limited without other costs, and then, tweaking your system.

Welcome to Performance Netbook PCs

A site dedicated to the next revolution in PCs, where the handheld meets the laptop.

This site will be used to showcase problems with netbooks, the issues with particular models like the eee PC 1000, optimizing Solid State Drives (SSD), and other issues that stand in the way of netbooks displacing the traditional laptop in may applications where portability outweighs the need for a full featured laptop.