RAM drive

This article is about virtual drives emulated with software. For hardware storage devices using RAM, see solid-state drive. For filesystems without drive emulation, see tmpfs.

A RAM drive (also called a RAM disk) is a block of random-access memory (primary storage or volatile memory) that a computer's software treats as if the memory were a hard disk drive or solid-state drive (secondary storage). RAM drives provide high-performance temporary storage for demanding tasks and protect non-volatile storage devices from wearing down, since RAM is not prone to wear from writing, unlike non-volatile flash memory as used in solid-state drives.

It is sometimes referred to as a virtual RAM drive or software RAM drive to distinguish it from a hardware RAM drive that uses separate hardware containing RAM, which is a type of battery-backed solid-state drive.

RAM drives were originally conceived to bridge the performance gap between primary memory and secondary storage devices. With the advent of solid-state drives this advantage was reduced. However, solid-state drives suffer from wear from frequent writing. RAM does not suffer this damage or does so far less, so RAM devices still offer an advantage to store frequently changing data, like temporary or cached information.

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