![]() ![]() I have seen some programs (especially RAM-drive software) that purport to being able to access the “unavailable RAM” on 32-bit systems. or are they doing something special like using extra-large pointers and accessing hardware directly? Summaryĭoes anybody know if there is any truth to these programs’ claims? Has anybody actually seen it work? If so, what is required to make them work? Also, how exactly do they pull it off (do they affect the whole system and all programs by enabling /3GB, PAE, etc. Unfortunately not only is the article not free, but my German is not yet fluent enough to read a technical article, so I don’t know if it gives details of how it works or its requirements. It also mentions the article Geisterspeicher from the German magazine c't as the source of the breakthrough. Jens’ discussion of the Gavotte RAM-drive seems to indicate that they (Gavotte at least) do in fact work by using PAE. However, like most of these programs, it is vague about what is required (hardware- and software-wise) for it to access the extra memory, and says nothing about how it works or what kind of side-effects it has (for example, if it merely adds the /3GB switch or enables PAE mode, then it is not “overcoming” the problem, it is enabling a special Windows mode-that would affect the OS and all programs-and accommodating that). The first statement is good because unlike most of these programs, it is not vague about which limit(s) it overcomes. Keep in mind, this can only be done if Windows reports the hidden RAM above 4GB. Not only can RamDisk Plus create RAM disks with the hidden RAM above 4GB it can also use the inaccessible memory between 3.2GB and 4GB. I’ve previously tried a couple of RAM-drive programs that made such claims (I think Gavotte was one of them) but was not able to get any to actually access the extra memory. ![]() Some examples include Raxco, DATARam, and Gavotte. I think I’ve seen other programs make claims like this, but I’m certain that some RAM-drive software does. My question is about programs that claim to be able to overcome one or more of these limits. I’m already familiar with these limitations and their typical work-arounds (including the Russian patch that makes the Windows 7 kernel more like the Windows Server 2003 kernel), and I am not interested in rehashing them. My question is not about how Windows or regular programs (like Notepad) are affected by any of this. In addition to mathematical limits of hardware and software, Microsoft also imposes an artificial limit on Windows (*including 64-bit versions) so that they can market different editions for different purposes-and prices. Using PAE mode can help with this by using larger pointers and “pages” (much like the old 16-bit DOS segment:offset memory scheme, which is ironic since protected mode was supposed to be better than real mode). Memory remapping may help with this on systems that support it.īecause a 32-bit pointer can only point to up to 2 32 addresses, it can only point to up to 4GB worth of data. The /3GB switch can mitigate this to some degree by changing the ratio from 2:2 to 3:1.ĭue to hardware address mapping ( MMIO), some of the address space will be used up by other devices installed (or built-into) the system. There are several different way in which the amount of RAM installed in a 32-bit Windows system can be limited (simplified here):īecause of the way that Windows partitions the address space, programs can only allocate a block of memory up to 2GB in size. I’m wondering if they actually can, and if so, how they manage to do it. I’ve seen some programs (especially RAM-drive software) that purport to being able to access the “unavailable RAM” on 32-bit systems (including XP). ![]()
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