Windows 7 and using Intel Turbo memory (Robson) as a persistent RAM disk or temp drive

What I am about to describe below definitely falls under the 'unsupported orted' and 'not-an-intended-use' category for Intel Turbo memory. I debated about posting this for a few months but it has worked well enough for me that I feel secure in describing how to do this. of course, if something breaks, please let me know in the comments section and we'll get it into ented.

Typically intel Turbo memory is supported as a mini-PCIe option on laptops and some memory tops, and provides an embedded version of readyboost and/or readydrive. most computers have enough RAM these days so the boost fromReadyboostIs pretty minimal.

With that in mind, I figured I wocould try to see if I cocould re-purpose the turbo memory. in Windows 7 (as of driver version 1.10.0.1012), the memory is exposed to the OS asStorage ControllerWith a disk volumeIMD-0.

By default, it will automatically enable and control the entire volume.

What you want to do is openDiskmgmt. MSCAnd look for a volume that is about 75% of advertised size of the Ram. In my case, I have 2 GB which shows up as 1.37 GB due to some of the space being usedReadydrive.

If you setViewToDisk list,Device TypeWill be listedUnknownInsteadIDEOrUSBOrSCSI.

You'll want to delete this volume but make sure it is the turbo memory! After deleting the volume, create a new simple MBR volume from what you just deleted. format the drive as fat16 with 64kb cluster size. you can use other block sizes if you want less waste on smaller files. NTFS is a bit of an overkill for most scenarios too. feel free to experiment and report your findings.

After formatting, assign it a drive letter and enjoy a persistent RAM disk, as long as you don't rebuild your computer or upgrade your Turbo memory driver.

The end result will look something like this:

Uses for this new drive

1.Store YourWindows SearchIndex on the new drive. In my case, underR: \ temp \ Index \. You can easily move your index by going into the control panel, under indexing options, under advanced and selectingSelect New. After restartingWindows SearchService, the index will move from the original location to the newly created Turbo memory drive.

Why do this? Less hard drive thrashing overall and faster search results inside windows and outlook. instead of the index and the content residing on the same drive spindle, you have a 'false' SSD dedicated to your Windows Search index. the old joke about making Vista faster was to doNet stop wsearch, But this is no longer needed using this method.

2.Set yourTempAndTMPEnvironment variables to use the drive for temporary storage/scratch space. In my case, I set my UserTempAndTMPVariablesR: \ temp \ UserAnd my systemTempAndTMPVariablesR: \ temp \ System. Make sure to create these directories on the drive before applying the settings.

3.Internet Explorer disk cache location-I set IE to store cache insideR: \ temp \ IEAnd limit the size to a small amount.

4.Firefox disk cache location-usingAbout: config, I setBrowser. cache. disk. parent_directoryToR: \ temp \ FF. In order to avoid stallon fsync on FireFox 3.x due to SQLite, you can also addToolkit. Storage. synchronousSet0InAbout: config. I know this quirk is being addressed in Firefox 3.5 +, so it will soon be a non-issue. you do have a slight risk of Firefox SQLite tables, but in practice, I have not experienced any.

Things to watch out
If you do upgrade the turbo memory driver in the future, you will want to reset yourTempAndTMPVariables back to the original values in order to ensure that you can log in properly into your computer. The Windows Search index and IE/FF caches can be dynamically regenerated after you redo the drive setup.

I have experienced scenarios/programs that required more than 1.3 GB of free temporary space so I sometimes set the variables back to the original hard drive location on a case by case basis.

Conclusion
Please let me know if you think of new uses for this and I will add them to this blog entry. it has worked well for me since W7 RC and it shoshould work well for you too. it has even encrypted red me into looking into cheap 4 GB Robson modules or a secondary Bay SSD.