Activate new disk automatically as early as possible

hazcrew · 18 Nov 2012

I have a Gigabyte GC-Ramdisk (4GB) which regularly loses format when left overnight. (Despite new battery). I use it for temp and page files.
Is there any way I can activate the disk automatically on boot (running diskpart possibly) preferably before logon.
Ideally I'd like to run a script to format as well.
If not possible before logon then where is the best startup location to trigger a script to ensure it is done early.
Any help or suggestions are appreciated.

PS. My best guess so far is to use a powershell script on startup.
All I've got to do now is learn how. - I'm a Dos man.

whs · 18 Nov 2012

Why would you put a pagefile on a RAM-disk. That pagefile is probably never used because you apparently have a lot of RAM. You can easily reduce the pagefile to 1 or 2GB and leave it with the system.

PS: Sorry, I have no solution for your initialization problem.

hazcrew · 18 Nov 2012

The GC-Ramdisk is not a virtual disk, its a hard disk connected to SATA port. It uses its own ram sticks over and above the 16GB conventional ram.

Makes a very fast electronic drive for scratch files

whs · 18 Nov 2012

I understand that. But the pagefile is the last file I would put there. It is never used.

hazcrew · 18 Nov 2012

whs said:

I understand that. But the pagefile is the last file I would put there. It is never used.

I wouldn't say never, rarely perhaps :)

Either way I want to re-activate the drive as early as possible.

Looks like my best option is going to be a powershell script.
Better do some reading then.

gregrocker · 19 Nov 2012

Please post back a screenshot of your maximized Disk Management drive map and listings:

1. Type Disk Management in Start Search box.
2. Open Disk Mgmt. window and maximize it.
3. Type Snipping Tool in Start Search box.
4. Open Snipping Tool, choose Rectangular Snip, click New, draw a box around full drive map and all listings.
5, Save Snip, attach using paper clip in Reply Box.

Tell us what is on each partition.

hazcrew · 19 Nov 2012

Hi Gregrocker
Thanks for your help.
Not sure what relevance information that would give, only that I have 5 basic disks,
System Disk: 1, 2 NTFS partitions. System Reserved and C: drive.
Drives 0, 2,3 & 4 are each a Single NTFS partition.

Doesn't even identify which is the GC-Ramdisk as it is indistinguishable from a normal hard drive by Windows .
FYI it is drive 3 mapped as T: and used exclusively for scratch files.

The issue is with the actual storage media being RAM I have to regularly activate and reformat it on boot as the its internal battery (brand new) only maintains it for about 4 hours after switch off. It gets is power from the PCI slot and is supposed to be maintained by the 5v standby voltage but I presume this is not man enough to support the 4x 1GB Ram sticks
So Windows then treats it as a new non-activated drive

I currently activate and format it manually after logon then reboot to allow windows to automatically create pagefile, temp/scratch file directories etc. which is a real nuisance.

(In Linux I do not have the problem as I can automate it very early on during startup.)
If you think there is any other relevant info in the Disk Management window please ask or if required I will post a screenshot.

hazcrew · 19 Nov 2012

Have a look here.

GIGABYTE - PC Components - - Legacy - GC-RAMDISK

Picked this card up for less than 2 bucks on ebay, added 4 1GB of sticks which were lying around in a drawer.
Very fast drive, only limted by Sata 1, with a sustained read/write only matched by my SSD on SATA 3.

I use it for temp files
However being volatile memory it looses everything on power down, hence the onboard battery and supposed 5v standby use which doesn't work.
Not worried about the data, but would like to activate and format it automatically.
Not a problem with Linux, so why can't I do it in Windows.

bobafetthotmail · 19 Nov 2012

Yeah, that was an old attempt at making better hard drives. Failed, and it's kind of sad.
The main reason it failed? you can now install a buttload of ram on the motherboard which is much faster, and run some of it as virtual ramdisk. Now even with dynamic ram usage (although you have to pay some $).

Windows 7 has an integrated task scheduler for these kinds of things, but I frankly never used, so it's up to you tinker and get it working and do what you need. If the scheduler cannot be ordered to format on its own you may have to write a script, which should be relatively easy, as "format" is still a recognized console command.

hazcrew · 19 Nov 2012

at less than $2 to purchase, its of use - in addition to my "buttload of ram".
It should be possible to use a boot-loader such as grub4dos boot-loader to set it up before Windows loads but that seemed a bit extreme.
Ideally wanted initialise a script pre logon.
I think I'll try a powershell script anyway see what hapens