1.

Parameters registry is
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\RRamdisk\Parameters\
why RRamdisk, 'cause XP SP1 contain a Ramdisk driver for XP Embeded.
2. Parameter: DiskSizeM, DiskSizeK
your desired disk size, the unit is M bytes or K bytes. The DiskSizeK
has higher priority.
3. Parameter: MediaType
the reported drive type,
1 -- RAM Drive
2 -- Fixed Media (default)
3 -- Removable Media
4 -- Floppy Diskette
4. Parameter: DriveLetter
name say it is, default is R:
5. Parameter: SectorsPerCluster
your desired cluster size, zero for driver pickup:
<= 2M
FAT12, cluster=512
<= 32M
FAT16, cluster=512
<= 64M
FAT16, cluster=1k
<= 128M
FAT16, cluster=2k
<= 256M
FAT16, cluster=4k
<= 512M
FAT32, cluster=2k
<= 16G
FAT32, cluster=4k
......
you can specify smaller cluster size, force pre-format as FAT32
6. Parameter: Image
maintained by rdutil utlilty, mainly for preload NTFS image. eg:
1) load ramdisk, don't write anything
2) format the ramdisk
FORMAT /FS:NTFS /Q /V:RamDisk /A:512 R:
3) adjust logfile to minimum size
CHKDSK /L:2048 R:
4) reset access rights
CACLS R:\ /G: BUILTIN\Adminstrators:F
5) create necessary structure
MKDIR R:\TEMP
6) pack the disk image and save to registry
rdutil R: registry
Notes:
1) You should leave RamDisk as clean as possible before packing,
the max packed image size is 64K.
2) The disk image only valid to same RamDisk size, you should
re-create disk image when size changed.
3) The driver internal formater will disable if this registry present,
corrupt/size-mismatch value leave an un-formated disk.
rdutil utlility usage:
1) backup registry image
rdutil save filename
2) restore registry image
rdutil load filename
3) report packed image size
rdutil R:
rdutil registry

4)
5)
6)
7)

rdutil unpacked_file
second command reading DriveLetter from registry
the third is packing an unpacked image file
packing image & save to registry
rdutil R: registry
packing image & save to file
rdutil R: packed_file
unpacking image
rdutil unpack packed_file unpacked_file
link NTFS junction to Ramdisk
rdutil link temp \

7. Re-Format RamDisk
You can re-format RamDisk except RAMDrive media type. eg:
FixedMedia type
FORMAT /FS:NTFS /FORCE /Q /V:RamDisk /A:512 R:
RemovableMedia type
ECHO Y | FORMAT /FS:NTFS /FORCE /Q /V:RamDisk /A:512 R:
you can place your format command to startup script.
I don't recommend re-format to FAT, the pre-formated RamDisk is
more efficient than other format utililty.
8. pagefile support
you can set pagefile to FixMedia type disk w/ pre-formated system.
if you need other MediaType or re-format, use the addswap.exe utility:
addswap r:\pagefile.sys 16 32
create pagefile r:\pagefile.sys with min=16M max=32M.
9. TEMP directory
you should set TEMP/TMP directory to TEMP sub-directory,
don't use the root directory.
10. NTFS junction point to RAMDrive
You can't create NTFS junction point to RAMDrive media type,
Fixed & Removable Media type should work
11. Connectix VirtualPC compatibility
someone report problem with VirtualPC+physical volume/disk.
please set MediaType to RAMDrive/Removable.
12. Mountpoint without DriveLetter
Clear DriveLetter registry value will not create Drive Letter for
Ramdisk.
Attn. Don't delete the DriveLetter registry, which fall to default R:.
You can setup mountpoint/junction linking to this unnamed Ramdisk.
eg:
rdutil link C:\ramdisk
link C:\ramdisk to root of Ramdisk
rdutil link C:\TEMP TEMP
link C:\TEMP to \TEMP at Ramdisk
rmdir C:\ramdisk
rmdir can remove the link without clear target content
NoDriveLetter configuration isn't recommended, because most AntiVirus
software cannot realtime scan Volume w/o Drive Letter.
ChangeLog:
12.09.2003 fix SMP/HT compatibility
11.26.2003 fix re-format problem & some typo
11.25.2003 merge rdpack and rdj to rdutil

11.24.2003 add DiskSizeK registry, more compatible w/ antivirus software