can i use some part of my hard disk as my system RAm?

Question

well i have 256 MB ram installed on my PC and m not in a position of purchasing a new one is there any way by which i can use a part of my hard disk as RAM as 40 GB of my 120 GB hard disk is free................



please help


Thanks in advance

its true tat windows also have this option but its slow.................. so can any software speed this up

Answer 1

Windows already does this with virtual memory but it is much slower than physical ram

Answer 2

Not really. HDD interface is much slower than the system RAM interface. If you are using Windows XP, you are already using some small portion of your HDD as a swap space (like slower RAM). If you are running out of virtual memory you can increase the page size:
Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Advanced Tab -> Under Performance click settings to open Performance Options window -> Click on Advanced Tab -> Click on 'Change' under Virtual Memory. Select Custom Size and enter Initial Size and Maximum Size as desired. You want Initial size Smaller than Max size ofcourse.

This will improve your system's performance somewhat, if you have limited RAM. But adding more RAM will be the best solution if you're running out of memory.

Answer 3

No and yes. Anytime your computer runs low on RAM memory, it automatically uses your hard drive as "virtual memory". That serves the same function as RAM memory. It is also called the "swap file".

The only thing is the hard drive is much much slower then real RAM memory, so anytime your computer has to do that, it slows the computer. There is no way to set up your computer to use hard drive space at the same speed as the RAM memory, or they would have already done that.

One trick that people use is to move their swap file to a USB flash/jump/thumb drive as the computer can access those faster then a hard drive. That increases the speed of the swap file.

But by the time you buy a USB flash drive to do that, you might just as well spend the same money to buy RAM.

Answer 4

Virtual Memory is space allocated on your hard drive for those times that your physical memory (RAM) is not enough.

To increase the amount of virtual memory go to Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance > Settings > Advanced > Virtual Memory "Change" > Custom Size > adjust as needed. 2 times your physical RAM is a good minimum and 3 times your physical memory in MB is good for your maximum.

Answer 5

Your hd can act as a ram cache called virtual memory. A rule of thumb is to make this file twice as big as the amount of ram installed. It is however much slower than ram as the read/write speed is limited in most cases to 8mbs.

Answer 6

Yes, that is is true as it's called "Virtual Memory", and what it does is it access your hard drive as backup ram just in case your main system memory drains all the way to zero. You should just buy more memory on your computer which is in my opinion, the best bang for your buck and would really benefit in really running windows XP that much better.

Answer 7

of cousre you cann't.
speed problem.
actually ,the os you are using does use a part of you hard disk as RAM (virtual memory tech.if not ,you pc runs like a snail.^_^ )

Answer 8

no cuz there are not the same but yea ur pc will move faster buy a attache usb flash drive there are about 20 bucks

Answer 9

No.. hard disc is magnetic and is inherently slower than RAM which is made of silicon compounds

Answer 10

What you are referring to is Virtual Memory. Yes it can be increased but it is a poor substitute to adding more RAM

http://ask-leo.com/virtual_memory_how_do_i_adjust_virtual_memory_settings.html