F5F Stay Refreshed Hardware Desktop No, RAID 0 cannot be applied to multiple RAM disks.

No, RAID 0 cannot be applied to multiple RAM disks.

No, RAID 0 cannot be applied to multiple RAM disks.

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roborober567
Member
195
01-20-2016, 02:28 PM
#1
Imagine a system with a massive memory capacity, such as 256GB, which exceeds the typical needs of most users in one setup. What if you're not focusing on maximizing RAM usage but are instead dealing with high read/write demands from multiple drives? Could it be feasible to generate several identical memory partitions and combine them using RAID 0? For clarity, let's assume these memory sections don't require persistence after a restart—they're simply moved elsewhere before shutdown. Would any operating system recognize this approach? Since these memory units behave like regular disks, the OS would interpret them as consuming a certain amount of RAM, potentially causing complications. I suspect Windows might struggle with this method, requiring Striped Volumes instead, while Linux could leverage existing tools more easily. EDIT: It appears some solutions have already been explored by others who tested this concept. Since RAM functions as a single unit for all I/O operations, creating a RAID 0 configuration wouldn't be viable.
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roborober567
01-20-2016, 02:28 PM #1

Imagine a system with a massive memory capacity, such as 256GB, which exceeds the typical needs of most users in one setup. What if you're not focusing on maximizing RAM usage but are instead dealing with high read/write demands from multiple drives? Could it be feasible to generate several identical memory partitions and combine them using RAID 0? For clarity, let's assume these memory sections don't require persistence after a restart—they're simply moved elsewhere before shutdown. Would any operating system recognize this approach? Since these memory units behave like regular disks, the OS would interpret them as consuming a certain amount of RAM, potentially causing complications. I suspect Windows might struggle with this method, requiring Striped Volumes instead, while Linux could leverage existing tools more easily. EDIT: It appears some solutions have already been explored by others who tested this concept. Since RAM functions as a single unit for all I/O operations, creating a RAID 0 configuration wouldn't be viable.

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Xytrixz
Senior Member
552
01-20-2016, 03:59 PM
#2
However, the reason lies in how data flows: your disk speed matches the memory speed you have. RAID0 works best when combining several network ports to boost performance, but here you’re reducing one port and reusing its capacity, which isn’t ideal.
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Xytrixz
01-20-2016, 03:59 PM #2

However, the reason lies in how data flows: your disk speed matches the memory speed you have. RAID0 works best when combining several network ports to boost performance, but here you’re reducing one port and reusing its capacity, which isn’t ideal.

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InoueAlice
Senior Member
677
01-31-2016, 03:35 PM
#3
No, it's not. RAMdisks are not actually valid device blocks so you can't easily do a software raid on them on linux (no idea about windows tho). Anyway, even if you managed to do so, the idea of faster RW from raid 0 is due to the fact that it splits the data between both disks, so you have double the transfer speeds for doing it in parallel. RAM is already used like that by default (dual/tri/quad/octa channel), so there wouldn't be any benefit of doing it whatsoever.
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InoueAlice
01-31-2016, 03:35 PM #3

No, it's not. RAMdisks are not actually valid device blocks so you can't easily do a software raid on them on linux (no idea about windows tho). Anyway, even if you managed to do so, the idea of faster RW from raid 0 is due to the fact that it splits the data between both disks, so you have double the transfer speeds for doing it in parallel. RAM is already used like that by default (dual/tri/quad/octa channel), so there wouldn't be any benefit of doing it whatsoever.

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theyoungveins
Junior Member
7
01-31-2016, 05:17 PM
#4
It looks like you've reached the solution. The data is essentially organized in a striped format across the hardware channels. Creating a RAM Disk functions like a RAID0 depending on the number of channels you use—whether it's dual, quad, hex, or octa channels. Forming multiple volumes and combining them with RAID would add unnecessary complexity without real benefit.
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theyoungveins
01-31-2016, 05:17 PM #4

It looks like you've reached the solution. The data is essentially organized in a striped format across the hardware channels. Creating a RAM Disk functions like a RAID0 depending on the number of channels you use—whether it's dual, quad, hex, or octa channels. Forming multiple volumes and combining them with RAID would add unnecessary complexity without real benefit.

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DexoLag
Member
128
01-31-2016, 05:51 PM
#5
Only in scenarios where you have more RAM slots than channels available would this make sense. For example, with dual-channel support and four slots, you could allocate memory from each channel separately, then combine them using RAID 0. This approach is purely theoretical and not currently practical, just an interesting concept to explore.
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DexoLag
01-31-2016, 05:51 PM #5

Only in scenarios where you have more RAM slots than channels available would this make sense. For example, with dual-channel support and four slots, you could allocate memory from each channel separately, then combine them using RAID 0. This approach is purely theoretical and not currently practical, just an interesting concept to explore.