Booting from a RAM Disk?

T

tk4two1

Professional Crastinator
Is this possible? If so how and what do you need to do on system start to get it to boot?
 
It is quite possible. This used to be David Pogue's (big Mac expert/zealot) favorite trick... by booting a PowerBook from a RAM disk, he could get around 8 hours out of a battery that was supposed to last half that long.

So what do you have to do? Make a RAM disk that's big enough to hold the basic components of a system folder.... the later the operating system, the bigger the system will be. Make a new folder on your RAM disk called "System Folder" and load it up with necessary system files... Finder, System, and a ROM file, etc... basically, any file that has a Finder-type icon is probably necessary..... put in in the system folder of your RAM disk. When you're done loading it with all that's necessary, you might want to make a copy of your "mini" system folder back to your hard disk.

Go to the "Startup Disk" control panel, and choose your "RAM disk" as the startup disk. Reboot. Enjoy the speed.
 
Cool! I also hear there is a key command to boot from a RAM disk at startup, does anyone know what that combo is?
 
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