Speed up Chrome with a ram disk

If you have at least 4gb of ram and you don’t use memory needy applications, this can speed up Chrome.

If you can sacrifice at least 1gb of installed ram to use with a ram disk, you can have Chrome use the ram disk to store its cache.

Test System  Dell Inspiron i3, 6gb ram, 5400rpm (standard drive)

Hard disk speed

Ram disk speed

So how can you install a ram disk and move Chrome’s cache?

• Download Softperfect’s RAM Disk (http://www.softperfect.com/products/ramdisk/)
• Create a 1 gb ram disk
• Change Chrome’s shortcut information

Creating a ram disk with Softperfect’s RAM Disk

1. Install the Softperfect software
2. Click on the + sign
3. Type 1024 mb, note your drive letter and use NTFS, click OK
4. Click on Tools, Settings and make sure Launch automatically with Windows is checked
   (You should see the drive as mounted)

   

Direct Chrome’s cache to your new drive

1. Close Chrome if it is open
2. Right Click on your Chrome shortcut, go to properties and add the following behind the Chrome.exe extension:
   –disk-cache-dir=E:           Substitute the drive letter with the ram drive you made
3. Click on Apply and then OK
4. Open Chrome and surf the web
5. Go to Computer and make sure cache is being added to your RAM disk

Remember that ram disks are volatile.  Once you reboot your computer, the Chrome cache will automatically clear out.   This will keep your computer clean however if you save passwords on the web, you will have to re-enter the passwords.

Benchmarking should show a 20%-40% gain in load times.  Remember, cache is used when a page or item is loaded after the first time.