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Configuring a Ramdisk for Windows

A free ramdisk program is available here:
​https://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html/#ImDisk ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver

Download the current stable version and install it.

BallroomDJ includes sample ImDisk startup scripts. These scripts assign the ramdisk to drive M: and sets the ramdisk to a size of 250 megabytes.

windows\imdisk.bat
windows\imdiskawe.bat

imdiskawe.bat is used on 32-bit machines with more than three gigabytes of memory. Otherwise use the imdisk.bat script.

On a 32-bit machine with more than three gigabytes of memory, first start up a cmd.exe window, and enter:

sc config awealloc start= system

Setting up a RAM disk on Windows 10

The instructions here will work for Windows 7 and 8.1, but there may be slight modifications.

This example was made on Windows 10.

Step 1

An account that has password protection is needed. Accounts that are protected by "Hello Face", Fingerprint, PIN, picture or security key will not work, as the task creation process needs an account with a password. You can create an additional administrative account on your computer that will start the ramdisk.

Sign on as the user with the password protected account before starting the following tasks.

Step 2

Install the ImDisk utility.

Download the current stable version of the ImDisk utility from:

​http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html/#ImDisk

I use the package from this site as it is a full installer. The author's site for the original code is: ​https://sourceforge.net/projects/imdisk-toolkit/

After the download, run the installer and install the ImDisk utility.

Step 3

Copy the ImDisk startup script to a permanent location.

Copy the BallroomDJ\windows\imdisk-m.bat file to a permanent location. For the purposes of this example, the file was copied to C:\ . (The imdisk-m.bat was named imdisk.bat in older versions of BallroomDJ)

The imdisk-m.bat file is set up to configure a RAM disk on drive letter M: and uses 256MB of memory. This file can be edited to change the drive letter and the amount of memory. Sizes less than 256MB are not recommended.

Location of the imdisk-m.bat file in BallroomDJ

Step 4

Start Windows Computer Management.

Right click on the Windows symbol in the lower left corner. Select "Computer Management".

Starting Computer Management

Step 5A

Create a new task in the Task Scheduler (A).

Select "Task Scheduler" from the left-hand sidebar.

Task Management

Step 5B

Create a new task in the Task Scheduler (B).

Select "Create Task" from the right-hand sidebar.

Create Task

Step 6A

Create the RAM disk startup task (General).

On the 'General' tab, enter the name of the task. In this example, "RamDisk" was used. It could be "RAM Disk for BallroomDJ" or whatever you want.

Enter a description so you know what this task is for.

Select Run whether the user is logged in or not.

Create Task (General)

Step 6B

Create the RAM disk startup task (Triggers).

Select the Triggers tab.

Select the New button in the lower left.

Select At Startup in the drop-down selection, and then select Ok.

Create Task (Triggers)

Step 6C

Create the RAM disk startup task (Actions).

Select the Actions tab.

Select New in the lower left.

Make sure the drop-down has Start a Program selected.

Enter the full path to the imdisk-m.bat script. In this example, the imdisk-m.bat script was copied to C:\ , so C:\imdisk-m.bat is entered.

Create Task (Actions)

Step 6D

Create the RAM disk startup task (Conditions).

Select the Conditions tab.

Make sure that all checkboxes are turned off on this screen.

Create Task (Conditions)

Step 6E

Create the RAM disk startup task (Settings).

Select the Settings tab.

Only two checkboxes should be turned on: Allow task to run on demand, and If the running task does not end when requested, force it to stop. All other checkboxes should be off.

Make sure the drop-down at the bottom of the screen has: Do not start a new instance selected.

Create Task (Settings)

Step 6F

Create the RAM disk startup task (Finish).

Select the Ok button, and enter your password to finish saving the task.

Step 7

Reboot the computer. This is the easiest way to start the new task.

After rebooting, you should see the new M: drive when you open the Windows file explorer and select "This PC" (or "Computer").

Step 8

Configure BallroomDJ to use the new RAM disk.

Start BallroomDJ, and select Configuration from the main menu. Select Options.

Select the green folder icon next to Temporary Files. Select the
Up button until you can see all of the Windows drive letters. Select the M:\ drive. Select the Select button.

Add the new M:\ drive to your anti-virus exclusion list.

Exit BallroomDJ and restart it.

Note that if the temporary folder does not exist, BallroomDJ will locate a temporary folder that does exist.

Configure / Options / Folders