3 ms·

RAM requires constant power. If you lose power, you lose data (more-or-less instantly). Not only would you need some kind of controller device to present the RA

RAM requires constant power. If you lose power, you lose data (more-or-less instantly). Not only would you need some kind of controller device to present the RAM as storage to the OS (abstracted NVMe, SATA, something), you would need to figure out how to supply absolutely consistent 100% power to the RAM modules. Such a device would need it's own battery, capacitor, something to continually power the RAM modules. This isn't without precedence - many hardware RAID/storage controllers have aggressive battery-backed caching to persist cache data in the event of power failure. I'm going to go out on a limb and say the approach you're considering is practically infeasible OR (best case) would need an oddball/bespoke device to pull this off. I'm not aware of such a device. Closest you could get is using tmpfs or similar on RAM in RAM slots but it kind of sounds like your existing RAM is electrically/physically incompatible with the system you're attempting this approach with.

simplotek 4y ago
> RAM requires constant power. If you lose power, you lose data (more-or-less instantly). It's perfectly fine for some uses, mine included. > I'm going to go out on a limb and say the approach you're considering is practically infeasible. To each his own, but I know for a fact that hardware RAM drives were indeed sold in the past, and after posting this Ask HN I've stumbled upon companies marketing them. https://ddramdisk.store/2023/01/19/the-ddr4-pcie-x8-lady-has-come-out/ https://ddramdisk.store/2023/01/19/the-ddr4-pcie-x8-lady-has...
- kkielhofner 4y ago
  Yep, can definitely make sense for some applications but important to callout explicitly. Yes! I saw that device from elsewhere in the thread. Wondering when it will be available and what use will look like. Also curious about the battery backup and what maintenance looks like on that.

simplotek 4y ago

> RAM requires constant power. If you lose power, you lose data (more-or-less instantly). It's perfectly fine for some uses, mine included. > I'm going to go out on a limb and say the approach you're considering is practically infeasible. To each his own, but I know for a fact that hardware RAM drives were indeed sold in the past, and after posting this Ask HN I've stumbled upon companies marketing them. https://ddramdisk.store/2023/01/19/the-ddr4-pcie-x8-lady-has-come-out/ https://ddramdisk.store/2023/01/19/the-ddr4-pcie-x8-lady-has...

kkielhofner 4y ago
Yep, can definitely make sense for some applications but important to callout explicitly. Yes! I saw that device from elsewhere in the thread. Wondering when it will be available and what use will look like. Also curious about the battery backup and what maintenance looks like on that.