Date Added: Mar 2010
The concept of a RAM disk is simple: set aside an area of the computer's memory (RAM - Random Access Memory) to serve as a simulated hard disk. While hard drive speeds have increased tremendously since RAM disks fell out of use, they are still much slower than RAM, both in data transfer speed and access time. The newest generation workstation disk drives have a maximum data transfer speed near 70 Mb/second and an access time of about 10 milliseconds. The latest RAM, on the other hand, transfers data at up to 6400 Mb/second (91 times faster) and an access time of 9 nanoseconds (roughly 1,000,000 times faster).