RAMDisk

[Telstar]

It took two reboots for this dataram disk to appear and it's hard to change the size when every option is greyed out
But it plays great! No going back to "normal" playback.

and now i'm out for lunch 

[AUDIODIDAKT]

The best way the apply RAMDisk:

First set the partition-size and fat32, then do nothing, reboot (or maybe 2 times)

Then you have image space (extra hdd) on your RAM, then copy the complete xx folder to that location.
next, setup xx with all settings that are needed, including your key.

Then go to the second tab in RAMDisk, Load and Save, and press "Save Disk Image Now" and select checkbox "Load Disk Image at Startup"
Reboot

Then finally select checkbox "Save Disk Image on Shutdown"
Reboot

Its about all those reboots that are needed, but when up and running it will work nice.

Roy

PS: correct me if i'am wrong, I will adjust it.

[PeterSt]

First set the partition-size and fat32, then do nothing, reboot (or maybe 2 times)

This seems superfuous, but is not; It will avoid copying the XX stuff to the RAMDisk again (maybe two times); no big deal, but setting those settings each time is not a nice thing.
Moral : first wait until the RAMDisk shows up automatically after a reboot (thus, maybe two), and when that works, copy in the XX data, set the settings, and finally check that box "Save Image on shutdown" and also save the Image at that point. This latter again is "necessary" because each change (like from the mentioned checkbox) is only dealt with *after* the reboot. So, just one step too late in fact.

Like Roy said : when it works, it keeps on working. Really a nice tool IMO.

Peter

[manisandher]

FWIW, I didn't have to reboot at all. As soon as I pressed 'Start RAMDisk', the RAM drive appeared. I then unzipped the XX files to it.

It has worked flawlessly on 3 different PCs with plenty of shutdowns/startups.

Mani.

[PeterSt]

Yes ... with me too. But it is about all automatically being there again after a reboot.

[Gerard]

Peter,

I might be writing complete nonsense now...

Is it possible to partition ramdisk with 2 separate cluster sizes?
Then the small files and coverart can sit in the 4k cluster sized partition.

Raj

The sound

It should be possible to create 2 ramdisks, but i think that the dataram software that we are using doesnt support 2 ramdisks at the same time. (i still cant see the letter unit, which must be "O" btw  )

I did install two yesterday. As it started i nodiced it was the wrong one. Then downloaded the one i like and activated that one to. I thought that i closed the previous wrong one but it did not.
The sound was terrible but that also could be of the two time´s 1500mb setting. I am not sure 


 

[Telstar]

Moral : first wait until the RAMDisk shows up automatically after a reboot (thus, maybe two), and when that works, copy in the XX data, set the settings, and finally check that box "Save Image on shutdown" and also save the Image at that point.

Yeah, i'm at this point now.
After several trials (and loosing xxhe with all its settings), i have managed to have the ramdisk available at boot, i put a dummy text file and i'm going to restart again.

[PeterSt]

(and loosing xxhe with all its settings),

Actually, the settings will stay, as long as you don't change the drive letter and folder name at a next attempt.
The Playlist Contents won't stay, because they come from the original copy. This is why the Image should be saved at each shutdown (that checkbox) because then *everything* will be back, just from that image (hence the copy from the RAMDisk itself).

It all may be a bit confusing.

Peter

[manisandher]

FWIW, I didn't have to reboot at all. As soon as I pressed 'Start RAMDisk', the RAM drive appeared. I then unzipped the XX files to it.

It has worked flawlessly on 3 different PCs with plenty of shutdowns/startups.

Yes ... with me too. But it is about all automatically being there again after a reboot.

What I meant was that it was there automatically after the first and all subsequent reboots. I don't understand why people are saying that it takes 2-3 reboots to make it all stable - not the case for me... on 3 different PCs.

Mani.

[crisnee]

A question, a thought and a reply, not necessarily in that order. We'll see.

Peter, does XX copy only the currently playing mp3, flac, etc. file (or part there of) to the local directory/disk or does it copy the whole play list. If the former, would it not be an advantage for the purposes of the ramdisk to incorporate a function that allows for the copy of the whole playlist; so that all xx functions (or as many as possible) during a particular play session would take place in ram (possibly the originating disk could slumber during...).

RE saving the disk image. It is not necessary to set "save the disk image" at shutdown and it might not always be advantageous. I for instance prefer that my ramdisk be the same as when I set it up, and to change only when I make setup changes. To do this I can save it manually. Your ramdisk should not be lost, and will load automatically until you actually "stop it." Because ramdisk space is limited I don't want to clutter it up with anything unnecessary that might be saved at shutdown.

Chris

[Gerard]

A question, a thought and a reply, not necessarily in that order. We'll see.

Peter, does XX copy only the currently playing mp3, flac, etc. file (or part there of) to the local directory/disk or does it copy the whole play list. If the former, would it not be an advantage for the purposes of the ramdisk to incorporate a function that allows for the copy of the whole playlist; so that all xx functions (or as many as possible) during a particular play session would take place in ram (possibly the originating disk could slumber during...).

RE saving the disk image. It is not necessary to set "save the disk image" at shutdown and it might not always be advantageous. I for instance prefer that my ramdisk be the same as when I set it up, and to change only when I make setup changes. To do this I can save it manually. Your ramdisk should not be lost, and will load automatically until you actually "stop it." Because ramdisk space is limited I don't want to clutter it up with anything unnecessary that might be saved at shutdown.

Chris

Isnt it saved to a file which is to be loaded at start?

[AUDIODIDAKT]

A question, a thought and a reply, not necessarily in that order. We'll see.

Peter, does XX copy only the currently playing mp3, flac, etc. file (or part there of) to the local directory/disk or does it copy the whole play list. If the former, would it not be an advantage for the purposes of the ramdisk to incorporate a function that allows for the copy of the whole playlist; so that all xx functions (or as many as possible) during a particular play session would take place in ram (possibly the originating disk could slumber during...).

XX does this only in UNattended mode.

RE saving the disk image. It is not necessary to set "save the disk image" at shutdown and it might not always be advantageous. I for instance prefer that my ramdisk be the same as when I set it up, and to change only when I make setup changes. To do this I can save it manually. Your ramdisk should not be lost, and will load automatically until you actually "stop it." Because ramdisk space is limited I don't want to clutter it up with anything unnecessary that might be saved at shutdown.

Chris

Yes, this could be to your own preference, it does save time on shut-down, but when all runs well, you dont have to do
several reboots a day, like most of us have done here in the last view days, when I shutdown after playing music I dont mind longer shutdown time,
This will get a little faster in different setup, be could also take longer if we need more RAM space.
Discusable, but also to your own liking

Roy

[PeterSt]

Peter, does XX copy only the currently playing mp3, flac, etc. file (or part there of) to the local directory/disk or does it copy the whole play list. If the former, would it not be an advantage for the purposes of the ramdisk to incorporate a function that allows for the copy of the whole playlist; so that all xx functions (or as many as possible) during a particular play session would take place in ram (possibly the originating disk could slumber during...).

A bit like Roy said : The whole Playlist goes to the RAMDisk at Unattended. With Attended it does too, but only those tracks that actually (come to) play.

RE saving the disk image. It is not necessary to set "save the disk image" at shutdown and it might not always be advantageous. I for instance prefer that my ramdisk be the same as when I set it up

This would be "wrong approach";
IOW, if this is your opinion, you use only a few of the functionalities in there; Working like that, the least you should do is denoting the XXData folder to somewhere on permanent storage. And then I think this is still not enough. So, what you call "clutter up" might be so, but it's necessary (though - and thus, depending on what you do).
The only thing I encountered so far as "doubtful" is the TemporaryData folder, which normally stays as long as possibe, and which indeed may overflow your RAMDisk. So, denote that to permanent storage and there's no problem, but it will be slower - depending on the type of track, useage of Normalized Volume (first time or not), HDCD, and some more. All 'n all, I always pointed that on a normal HDD (instead of SSD), and I thought to point that to the RAMDisk now. -> not good.

I hope it's clear a bit (or please believe me that anyone should save that image at shutdown *or* you must know what you are doing, and not complain about inconsistencies after a reboot).

Peter

[crisnee]

Peter, does XX copy only the currently playing mp3, flac, etc. file (or part there of) to the local directory/disk or does it copy the whole play list. If the former, would it not be an advantage for the purposes of the ramdisk to incorporate a function that allows for the copy of the whole playlist; so that all xx functions (or as many as possible) during a particular play session would take place in ram (possibly the originating disk could slumber during...).

A bit like Roy said : The whole Playlist goes to the RAMDisk at Unattended. With Attended it does too, but only those tracks that actually (come to) play.

Peter, I don't understand your answer. You say "With Attended it does too, but only those tracks that actually (come to) play." That isn't clear. It sounds like you're saying it copies the files one at a time as XX can't know before hand what will "come to play", however you also say "with attended it does too." So, does it copy all the files in the play list initially, or one at a time as you go along (in attended mode).

Chris

Never mind. I just figured it out. It copies one at a time in attended mode, not very useful to use ramdisk in this instance then it seems. An interesting point. I played the same file three times in succession and erased the corresponding UnicodeTrack in between. Each play the UnicodeTrack grew. Initially it was 58 mb by the third time it was 66 mb? 

Chris again

[crisnee]

RE saving the disk image. It is not necessary to set "save the disk image" at shutdown and it might not always be advantageous. I for instance prefer that my ramdisk be the same as when I set it up

This would be "wrong approach";
IOW, if this is your opinion, you use only a few of the functionalities in there; Working like that, the least you should do is denoting the XXData folder to somewhere on permanent storage. And then I think this is still not enough. So, what you call "clutter up" might be so, but it's necessary (though - and thus, depending on what you do).
The only thing I encountered so far as "doubtful" is the TemporaryData folder, which normally stays as long as possibe, and which indeed may overflow your RAMDisk. So, denote that to permanent storage and there's no problem, but it will be slower - depending on the type of track, useage of Normalized Volume (first time or not), HDCD, and some more. All 'n all, I always pointed that on a normal HDD (instead of SSD), and I thought to point that to the RAMDisk now. -> not good.

Peter, I really don't like the idea of saving the image file a shutdown every time, not because of length of shutdown and bootup but because you never really know what you're saving particularly if things went somewhat wrong at some point during the session. So to avoid saving the image, and to avoid possible problems I could create a batch file that would save the xxdata folder to the HD at shutdown and copy it back to ramdisk after start up. What else should I copy to and fro that might cause problems if I didn't?

Chris