Level 1

9 points

RAM disk for OS to speed up?

Back in the good old days of approx Mac OS 7, I could speed up the operation of my Mac by 1000 times, by having a utility which created a RAM disk at start-up, copying the OS to the RAM disk and running the OS from the RAM disk.

Why has no-one created a version of UNIX which runs from RAM? i've got 96 GB RAM, so plenty of room. That way, my Mac won't spend most of its time dicking around with the hard drive (yes, SSD helps by not by much). I'm sick of seeing that sodding beach ball....

Any clarification gratefully received.

Mac Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Aug 8, 2017 4:10 PM

35 replies

djfilms Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 10, 2017 5:40 AM in response to Lexiepex

Lexiepex, Very helpful and detailed answer. Thank you for taking the time to compile it. Couple of items:

- I will clean out old or unnecessary items.

- I do have an SSD: djCUDA.

- I will investigate settings in Cinema4D, Vue xStream and After Effects CS6 to see whether I can manage memory and buffers.

- I will also adjust the fan settings.

Again, you have been very helpful. regards.

BobHarris

Level 9

56,819 points

Aug 10, 2017 6:13 AM in response to djfilms

For Kernel extensions, EtreCheck tells you the directory they are found in.

For Launch Daemons, they are in /Library/LaunchDaemons

For Launch Agents, they are in /Library/LaunchAgents

_AND_

~/Library/LaunchAgents (where the first character ~ is a Unix shortcut to mean your home directory.

Also when looking at your various apps, if they are using scratch files, make sure they are at least using the SSD.

Again, if those apps are using scratch files and cannot be taught to use more RAM instead, then that would actually be a good use of a RAM disk, assuming you can get the apps to put the scratch files where you want them, or if not, then to maybe play games with Unix symbolic links that point the apps preferred directory to your RAM disk.

djfilms Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 10, 2017 6:23 AM in response to BobHarris

Bob,

Thanks for the clarification. I will investigate RAM disk for the scratch files for my rendering apps. But.... there are no "com." files in /System/Library/Extensions, as shown in the screencap. Are they invisible if not loaded?

djfilms Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 10, 2017 1:48 PM in response to Lexiepex

Alas, I'm still confused: I took your recommendations that, for example, ArcanaSound should be removed. I can't find it. Similarly, "com.Media100.iokit.Vincent_Driver (8.2.1)" should be removed, but it's not showing up where Etrecheck says it is.....

No wonder I drink too much....

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Aug 11, 2017 12:37 AM in response to djfilms

Apps or tools may be in the Applications folder, the Utilities folder, or in the SystemPreferences folder (Arcana, Tuxeira, Perian, Cuda, GoPro, Logitech, Nvidia, Flip4Mac......) Everything that is added is shown in your etrecheck list. Normally you CTL+Click them and to se how to uninstall, Arcana should have an uninstaller, Flip4Mac you just throw away, and so on.

com.media... etc... show up in the etrecheck list: as I said before they have another name in the System/Library/Extensions folder. These kexts should dissappear when you use the uninstaller of that app. If that app does not have an uninstaller or uninstall procedure at the website, leave them alone at the moment.

Like in SystemPreferences: all you see in the etrecheck list are those that are added by installations (Soundflower, elgato, logitech.....); some apps have them in the app and are only loaded when the app is started (Parallels, Virtualbox, and more) and are unloaded when one Quits the app.

BTW if you want to remove the Roxio file, it is easier: in Finder: Homefolder(yourname)->Library->ApplicationSupport delete the Roxio folder...

Have fun, find the uninstallers of the apps that you want to remove.

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,254 points

Aug 8, 2017 7:20 PM in response to dialabrain

The Multics operating system predated UNIX. If you look at the first paragraph of the Apple OS X Core Technologies Overview for El Capitan (direct PDF link), it will clarify that OS X is UNIX.

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Aug 9, 2017 8:46 AM in response to djfilms

Here is another good discussion about RAM disks:

Re: How do I store data in my RAM?

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,254 points

Aug 8, 2017 7:07 PM in response to dialabrain

If its not UNIX, then it must be Multics. 😉

dialabrain

Level 10

135,875 points

Aug 8, 2017 7:16 PM in response to VikingOSX

I like the term Multics. 😎

dialabrain

Level 10

135,875 points

Aug 8, 2017 7:31 PM in response to VikingOSX

I won't quibble but despite what the first paragraph says it is not what I consider pure "UNIX".

(I quibbled a little) lol

dialabrain

Level 10

135,875 points

Aug 8, 2017 7:57 PM in response to BobHarris

Well, I added to my comment. 🙂

Some people refer to FreeBSD as Linux and some refer to Solaris as Linux. Neither of which is true.

I'm going with UNIX as I explained. 😎

dialabrain

Level 10

135,875 points

Aug 8, 2017 8:33 PM in response to dialabrain

I've said this in a better way in the past…

Q: What's the difference between a masochist and a sadist?

A: A masochist uses Linux, a sadist recommends it.

(much better).

djfilms Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 9, 2017 7:48 AM in response to djfilms

Addendum: I missed seeing Lexiepex's post on page 2. good suggestion from him.

djfilms Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 9, 2017 8:37 AM in response to dialabrain

dialabrain, Noted. Thanks for your helpful comments. I will post Etrecheck results here, once my rendering is completed. regards.

dialabrain

Level 10

135,875 points

Aug 9, 2017 8:39 AM in response to djfilms

Welcome.

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RAM disk for OS to speed up?