RAM disk does not work anymore

[Martin Vieregg]

ArcaOS RAM disk does not work anymore. A hardware problem is possible, I had two other programs which does not run anymore (and I could fix it by re-copying the content of C). Four files are used:

c:\os2ldr.cfg (hidden)
file content:
RAMDISK = HPFS PERSIST *:
RAMDISKNAME = Z

c:\os2\boot\HD4DISK.ADD
c:\os2\boot\MEMDISK.ADD

Then there's a setup program with user interface:
C:\sys\bin\HIDISK.EXE

Any ideas what is also needed ? How can I find out why it fails?

[Martin Vieregg]

I have realized that the RAM disk is working, but there's a wrong drive letter. os2ldr.cfg holds:
RAMDISK = HPFS PERSIST Z:
RAMDISKNAME = Ramdisk Z

Drive Z seems to be occupied. Any ideas? Drive Y works.

[David Graser]

I have realized that the RAM disk is working, but there's a wrong drive letter. os2ldr.cfg holds:
RAMDISK = HPFS PERSIST Z:
RAMDISKNAME = Ramdisk Z

Drive Z seems to be occupied. Any ideas? Drive Y works.

Did you go into System Setup and select RAMDISK and assign it a drive letter?  You set up the RAMDISk with the RAMDISK icon

[Doug Bissett]

c:\os2\boot\MEMDISK.ADD

Why do you have this? MEMDISK is a completely different RAMDISK, normally only used for running the installer (and it uses drive Z:).

Drive Z seems to be occupied. Any ideas? Drive Y works.

Probably because MEMDISK took drive Z:. Z: is not a good drive letter to use for anything, but it should work. Take MEMDISK out of CONFIG.SYS.

[Martin Vieregg]

Now it works again, I did not understand why. MEMDISK is not part of my Config.sys, this was a failure in the post. Of course I selected the drive letter in the setup program.

[Dave Yeo]

If you have "Preserve contents after warm reboot" ticked and you do a short power off, the ram disk can get broken. Fix is a longer power off.
Here the ramdisk can survive a few seconds of power off, slightly longer and it can be formatted and come back to live, slightly longer and it is unusable, slightly longer again and it comes up empty. Kind of surprised me how long the ram preserves its contents.