=RAM or Random Access Memory is the workspace of your computer. Any file that you open creates an instance in RAM for you to work on; when you save that file, it is copied in the Read Only Memory-your hard drive. It is also the medium, along with the operating system, on which your program is run. A fast and adequately sized RAM is your answer to a high-performance computing system.

Like us human beings, computers also have a short term memory(RAM) and a long term memory(ROM). When we are experiencing or working on something, we use our short term memory to keep a limited number of facts. The larger and deeper pool of facts and memories is stored in our long-term memory, from where we can recall a few or store new ones from our recent experience(the RAM of our brain). RAM is a smaller and quicker memory storage; a typical RAM these days is usually 8 gigabytes, whereas, hard disks these days can store upto 10 terabytes of data. The data stored in RAM is volatile ,i.e., when you shutdown your system, the data is erased from RAM and the RAM is refreshed for later use.

RAM exists, in the form of integrated circuits, in your computer’s motherboard. It holds memory in the form of multiple modules. An electrical path or ‘bus’ is responsible for transferring data from the motherboard to computer’s processor. The purpose of RAM is to temporarily keep the data in use, the operating system and the application software for faster access by the computer’s processor. Since it is faster to fetch components stored in RAM than on the system’s hard drive or optical storage, the speed and performance of your system greatly depends on a reliable RAM.

A larger RAM means that you get to run more number of tasks at a time on your computer. This multi-tasking capability enables you to work faster without your operating system having to make a lot of trips to the permanent storage. This is especially helpful for software engineers in developing, testing and deploying their applications. Even for users of RAM-hogging applications like advance photo and video editors, multi-tab web browsers, and virtual machines, a larger RAM is faster and more helpful. While opting for a RAM upgrade, please keep in mind that single task applications, like video games, will usually perform the same on a larger RAM. A larger RAM means more tasks at a time not a singular faster task.

With the world moving to virtualization of resources, its penetration in the field of memory storage can not be overlooked. One way to optimize the RAM of your system is through virtualization; it means running a virtual instance of a computer component on a layer that has been extracted from the actual hardware itself. Virtualization of RAM means you take part of your RAM and use it as a virtual storage device. In a clustered environment, you decouple the volatile RAM from your system and integrate it with a central memory pool of a virtual storage. This new pool of storage acts as your new larger-sized RAM that can be accessed through operating systems and applications running on a single computer or a cluster.

StarWind software caters to your RAM virtualization needs by providing a high-performing storage called the RAM Disk Tool. It is a free mechanism to take part of your RAM and convert it in an ultra-performance virtual storage device. This new mechanism is especially helpful for software engineers in testing, deployment and troubleshooting their systems. The significance of RAM can not be ignored in a testing environment where you need to run multiple instances of the system simultaneously. StarWind’s RAM disk tool is also important in niche deployments, like online payment services and on-the-fly encryption where data volatility doesn’t matter. You don’t even need to worry about the urgent availability and additional costs as all systems already come with a built-in RAM.