Features and Usage
ramBunctious is a RAM disk program with a rich set of features.
ramBunctious maintains the advantages and eliminates the disadvantages of most RAM disk programs. Several options let you customize for your desired balance of speed, security, safety, and versatility. For example, you can set it to write through to a file on a (real) disk for safety in the event of a crash. You can mount as many RAM disks as you wish (or as many as you have memory for) simultaneously. ramBunctious uses the same memory that applications use, so the memory used for each RAM disk is instantly available for other applications when the RAM disk is put away.
Its menus, dialogs, and windows allow easy management of your RAM disks, whether you use a single RAM disk or multiple RAM disks with customized settings for each.
When you create a RAM disk, you can specify initial settings. These settings can be adjusted later using the RAM disk's settings window, and are discussed below.
When you select "New RAM Disk..." from the File menu, a standard file dialog is presented:
In addition to the standard controls to navigate and enter a RAM disk name, there are a few extra controls.
You can choose the size of your RAM disk.
If Startup Items Folder is selected, a folder called "Startup Items" will be created automatically on your new RAM disk. Any files (or aliases) in this folder will be automatically opened when the RAM disk is mounted. This powerful feature allows you to conveniently open documents or applications when you start your RAM disk.
The Automount Volume feature lets you start up your computer with a RAM disk already mounted. It works by automatically placing an alias to the new file in the startup items folder of the System folder.
The RAM-only volume checkbox lets you create a RAM disk without all the contents in an image file.
All of these options can be adjusted after the RAM disk is created -- they exist here only for convenience while creating the RAM disk.
ramBunctious has a fairly simple File menu:
New RAM disk... prompts for a new RAM disk name and size; it then mounts the new volume, and makes it available for system use.
Open... allows you to select a RAM disk image file; the RAM disk is mounted and available for normal use.
Close closes the frontmost RAM disk settings window.
Save performs a write-through for the RAM disk whose window is in front.
Put Away unmounts the RAM disk whose window is in front.
Register... launches the Register program to assist when you register ramBunctious. Once you've registered, you can enter your registration code.
Quit tries to put away all open RAM disks and, if successful, exits the ramBunctious application.
The RAM Disk menu lets you manipulate mounted RAM disks.
When you select a RAM disk from the Put Away submenu, the selected RAM disk will be put away (unless it contains open files). There are three independent ways to put away RAM disks when you're done with them: you can use this Put Away submenu; you can quit ramBunctious; finally, you can put away the volume from Finder.
Each mounted RAM disk has an item in the RAM disk menu; a check mark next to it indicates that its window is open. To open a RAM disk's window, select the item. If you select an item with a check mark already next to it, that window is brought to the front.
The features of ramBunctious include:
- You can have multiple RAM disks mounted simultaneously, limited only by memory available.
- ramBunctious has a "write-through" option. When activated, everything written to the RAM disk is saved to a (real) file. This means that the next time you mount the RAM disk, all the contents are still there. It also adds protection against data loss in the event of a crash.
- ramBunctious uses normal application memory. This means that when you're done using a RAM disk, that memory is available for other applications to use. In other words, you don't have to reboot to regain the memory.
- A Startup Items folder on the RAM disk behaves like the Startup Items folder in the System Folder, except that all the enclosed items are opened when the RAM disk is mounted. You can put aliases to applications in this folder, and those applications will be launched when the RAM disk is mounted.
- Each RAM disk may be configured to be mounted automatically when the computer is started up.
- These options, and more, are fully user-configurable for each RAM disk via a status/settings window:
- In addition to controls directing the behavior of the RAM disk, this window includes an indicator that flickers
when the RAM disk is being accessed. This indicator is similar to the access LEDs found on many hard drives, and the
color of the indicator tells you what is happening to the RAM disk:
- Red is used when a "write" operation is happening to the RAM disk.
- Yellow is used when a "read" operation is happening.
- Blue means that a "write-through" is occurring. This indicates when ramBunctious is writing recent changes to the RAM disk image file.
- Green shows that the RAM disk is in an idle state, and is currently up-to-date with its RAM disk image file.
- Dark green indicates that the RAM disk is in an idle state, and there are changes on the RAM disk that have not (yet) been written through to the RAM disk image file.
) allows you to shrink a settings
window so only the indicator is visible, or expand the settings window to adjust the options:
The help icon toggles balloon help. Use
balloon help to clarify features of ramBunctious.
- If Ram-only volume is selected, no information on the volume is saved to disk; it's all lost when you put away the RAM disk.
- Disk-based volume specifies that a RAM disk image file holds the RAM disk contents. There are various options for maintaining RAM disk image files.
- Write-through means that after information is written to the RAM disk, it is written "through" to the RAM disk image file. The benefit of write-through is that if your computer crashes, you won't lose information: it's written to a "real" file after it's written to the RAM disk, making it safer than other RAM disks.
- Save at quit means that all changes to the RAM disk are remembered; then, when the RAM disk is put away, it writes all the changes to the RAM disk image file.
- Ignore changes is a way to take a "snapshot" of the current RAM disk. In the future, when this RAM disk is mounted, its contents will be exactly what they were when you took the snapshot: subsequent changes will not be recorded to the RAM disk image file.
- N Minute Saves is a popup menu that lets you choose to save periodically to the RAM disk image file. It will also save when the RAM disk is put away.
- You can click the Save Now button any time the RAM disk is "dirty" -- any time it has information that has not been written through to the RAM disk image file.
- The Automount Volume feature lets you start up your computer with a RAM disk already mounted. It works by automatically placing an alias to the RAM disk image file in the startup items folder of your startup disk's System folder.
- In addition to controls directing the behavior of the RAM disk, this window includes an indicator that flickers
when the RAM disk is being accessed. This indicator is similar to the access LEDs found on many hard drives, and the
color of the indicator tells you what is happening to the RAM disk:
ramBunctious can be fully controlled by using AppleScript. For more information, see the ramBunctious dictionary (from the AppleScript Editor) and the example scripts included when you download ramBunctious.
ramBunctious cooperates with Peek-a-Boo, a process analysis program. By running Peek-a-Boo and ramBunctious simultaneously, you can see where the RAM disks exist in the Mac's memory.
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