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Once a popular option in the early days of the Mac, RAM disks, which were used to speed up the performance of a Mac, have fallen by the wayside.
External Ram For Macbook Pro 2015
Conceptually, RAM disks are a simple idea: a chunk of RAM set aside that looks, to the Mac system, like just another storage drive. The system, as well as any installed apps, can write files to or read files from the RAM disk, just as if it really were another storage drive mounted on your Mac.
But unlike any storage drive, a RAM disk can operate at the speed of RAM, which is usually many times faster than most drive storage systems.
How to upgrade RAM on a Mac Mini. Due to the form factor of the Mac Mini, it is one of the more challenging devices to upgrade. We recommend getting help from professionals or someone that has experience upgrading Mac Mini RAM. The final word on Mac RAM upgrades. 5 ways to eject an external drive from a Mac. Pick your favorite way to eject disk volumes from your Mac and put an end to the Disk Not Ejected Properly warnings.
RAM Disk History
RAM disks existed before the Macintosh ever hit the market, but we’re going to predominantly explore how RAM disks were used with the Mac.
RAM disks existed before the Macintosh ever hit the market, but we’re going to predominantly explore how RAM disks were used with the Mac.
The Mac Plus, released in 1986, had quite a few new features, including the use of SIM (Single Inline Memory) modules that users could easily upgrade. The Mac Plus shipped with 1 MB of RAM, but users could increase the memory size to 4 MB. That was an amazing amount of RAM in 1986, and begged the question: What can I do with all this memory space?
At the same time, many users were asking how they could speed up their Macs. And while many users were happy to just max out the RAM, and enjoy the performance gain of having more memory, which let them run more applications concurrently, some users discovered the joys of using a RAM disk to speed up the system and apps. Other users discovered that a RAM disk could be used to create an amazingly fast storage system. Remember, back then, most Mac Plus users were getting by with a single 800 KB floppy drive, while those who felt like splurging could add an additional external floppy drive. If you really had cash to burn, you could hook up a 20MB SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) hard drive, which would likely set you back well over $1,200.
The first prominent use of a RAM disk was to copy the Mac’s slow ROM (Read Only Memory), which contained many of the system’s core components, along with the operating system, which was stored on a floppy drive, and move them both to a RAM disk where they could operate at the speed of RAM; many, many times faster than either the floppy disk or the ROM.
The performance increase was amazing, and was achieved for just the cost of a RAM disk utility app.
The second common use of a RAM disk back in the Mac Plus days was to create a tiered storage system. Floppy drives weren’t fast enough for professionals or avid amateurs to work with new rich media editing systems, such as audio editors, image editors, or page layout apps. SCSI drives could meet the needs of image editing and page layout, but audio editing was at best iffy, with most SCSI drives being too slow to provide the needed bandwidth for audio or other real-time editing.
RAM disks, on the other hand, were very fast, and could easily meet the needs of real-time editing with their ability to write or read files as quickly as the RAM could be accessed, without the mechanical latency inherent in SCSI or floppy disks.
(RAM disks can be very fast. In my case, over 10x faster than my Mac’s startup drive.)The only disadvantage to RAM disks was that the data stored in them was lost every time you turned your Mac off, or the power went out. You had to remember to copy the content of the RAM disk to your main storage system or your work would be lost.
Modern Uses for RAM Disks
RAM disks are likely to be the fastest storage location available on a Mac, easily outperforming any hard drive, and in most cases, beating out SSDs. If you can live with the downside of RAM disks, primarily their small sizes, and the issue of not being able to retain data when power to your Mac is turned off, then there are still plenty of good uses for them.
RAM disks are likely to be the fastest storage location available on a Mac, easily outperforming any hard drive, and in most cases, beating out SSDs. If you can live with the downside of RAM disks, primarily their small sizes, and the issue of not being able to retain data when power to your Mac is turned off, then there are still plenty of good uses for them.
- Scratch space and temp files: Assigning RAM disk space for use with a multimedia app as scratch space can increase the app’s performance. This assumes the app in question prefers to use disk space for its temporary files.
- Games: Try loading your favorite game, or for small RAM disks, just the saved game files to a RAM disk. You should see faster load times and rendering speeds, and smoother play.
- Video or audio editing/rendering: Load textures, images, audio loops, or other media assets you’ll be using onto a RAM disk for better overall performance.
- Compression: If you need to compress a large number of files as part of your workflow, moving them to a RAM disk can speed up the compression time.
- Batch file processing: If you’re converting a number of image, audio, or video files from one format to another, moving the files to your RAM disk can increase performance.
Creating a RAM Disk
There are two ways to create a RAM disk; you can use the Terminal app to manually create a RAM disk, or you can make use of a third-party utility for creating a RAM disk.
(You can use Activity Monitor to get a handle on how much free RAM you have available.)There are two ways to create a RAM disk; you can use the Terminal app to manually create a RAM disk, or you can make use of a third-party utility for creating a RAM disk.
It’s a good idea to start the process of creating a RAM disk by knowing how much free RAM space you have available to work with:
Launch Activity Monitor, located at /Applications/Utilities/.
Select the Memory button in the Activity Monitor window.
At the bottom of the window is a summary of how the RAM is being used. You should see entries for Physical Memory, and Memory Used. Subtract Memory Used from Physical Memory to figure out how much free memory is available to you.
It’s a good idea not to use all of the free memory; your Mac always needs some free memory to work with. Apps like web browsers can quickly swallow up free memory, not to mention the RAM disk you’re about to create. I suggest you leave the Activity Monitor app open, so you can see how memory is being used on your Mac as you experiment with creating and using RAM disks.
Note: The RAM disk you create will not affect the Memory Used entry until you actually use the RAM disk to store data.
Let’s start with using the included Terminal app:
Launch Terminal, located at /Applications/Utilities/.
The following command will create the RAM disk:
diskutil erasevolume HFS+ “RAMDisk”
hdiutil attach -nomount ram://2048
The command has a number of parameters you’ll likely wish to change; the first is the name of the RAM disk, which in the example is “RAMDisk”. You can use any name you wish; just be sure the name is contained within the double quotes.
(Terminal can create a RAM disk and mount it on the desktop, ready to use.)The second option you may wish to change is the size of the RAM disk; in this example, the entry ram://2048 will create a 1 MB RAM disk. The size you enter is how many memory blocks to use in the RAM disk; 2048 blocks will create a 1 MB RAM disk. Multiply the 2048 value by the number of MB you wish to use for the RAM disk; some examples:
- 256 MB = 524288
- 512 MB = 1048576
- 1 GB = 2097152
- 2 GB = 4194304
The last note about the command is the accent grave ` character used before hdiutil and after the size parameter. The character is not a single quote; the accent grave character is found at the top left of most QWERTY keyboards; the accent grave character is usually on the same key as the tilde (~) character.
With all the notes taken into account, if you wished to create a 1 GB RAM disk, you would enter the following at the Terminal prompt:
![Can you get external ram for mac Can you get external ram for mac](https://img.newfrog.com/products/1/1/9/119975/119975-5.jpg)
diskutil erasevolume HFS+ “RAMDisk”
hdiutil attach -nomount ram://2097152
Home design software for mac.and then press enter or return.
After a moment or two, the RAM disk will be mounted on your Mac’s desktop, ready for you to work with.
Third-Party RAM Disk Utilities
There are a number of utilities that make creating and managing a RAM disk a bit easier than using Terminal.
There are a number of utilities that make creating and managing a RAM disk a bit easier than using Terminal.
- TmpDisk: Available at github.com/imothee/tmpdisk, TmpDisk is a simple Open Source RAM disk management app. It allows you to create RAM disks by simply filling in a few fields. It installs as a menu bar item and includes the ability to create RAM disks automatically at startup.
- Ultra RAM Disk: Available from the Mac App Store, Ultra RAM Disk installs as a menu bar item that allows you to create RAM disks when needed.
- RAMDisk: Available from the Mac App Store, RAMDisk is an app for creating as well as backing up RAM disks, to allow you to save their contents as well as restore RAM disks when you restart your Mac.
Using the RAM Disk
Now that you have a RAM disk mounted on your Mac you can use it just as if it were another drive. Try copying an image file to the RAM disk and then open it in your favorite editor. You may be amazed at how fast it opens, as well as how fast you can perform edits and save the image.
Now that you have a RAM disk mounted on your Mac you can use it just as if it were another drive. Try copying an image file to the RAM disk and then open it in your favorite editor. You may be amazed at how fast it opens, as well as how fast you can perform edits and save the image.
If you have a favorite game, and enough free memory to house the game, try using the RAM disk to run the game from. You may be racking up points faster than ever.
Remember: The key to using a RAM disk is that the information stored within it is volatile. It won’t survive a shutdown or power loss. Make sure you copy any information you need from the RAM disk before shutting down.
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MacBook Air Q&A
Revision Published August 10, 2019
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What processors do the MacBook Air models use? Is it upgradable?
Officially, Apple only revealed that the original MacBook Air has a 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor (P7500 or P7700) and was 'custom-built to fit within the compact dimensions of the MacBook Air.' Apple also provided the following image to compare the size of the standard Intel Core 2 Duo processor to the one in the MacBook Air.
The always excellent AnandTech did some digging and discovered that the 'packaging technology used for this CPU is what makes it unique; the CPU comes in a package that was originally reserved for mobile Penryn due out in the second half of 2008 with the Montevina SFF Centrino platform. Intel accelerated the introduction of the packaging technology specifically for Apple it seems.'
After AnandTech published their initial speculation, Intel followed up with their own statement, noting that the original MacBook Air uses 'existing Core 2 Duo technology with a lower voltage spec in a new miniaturized packaging design.'
Subsequent MacBook Air models are far less mysterious, although Apple has not released the actual Intel processor number for any of the systems. EveryMac.com documents the Intel processor number for all MacBook Air models on the main MacBook Air specs page as well as on the specs page for each model.
All MacBook Air models have a soldered processor and it cannot be upgraded after the time of initial purchase.
How do you upgrade the RAM in the MacBook Air models? How much RAM of what type does each support?
The short answer to this question is you cannot upgrade the RAM in the MacBook Air models as it soldered in place.
The longer answer is that some models could be upgraded with twice as much RAM as stock at the time of purchase at additional cost, but cannot be upgraded at all afterwards. Different lines use different types of soldered RAM.
Specifically, MacBook Air RAM details include:
MacBook Air | RAM Type | Standard | Max* |
Original | 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM | 2 GB | 2 GB |
'Late 2008' | 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM | 2 GB | 2 GB |
'Mid-2009' | 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM | 2 GB | 2 GB |
'Late 2010' | 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM | 2 GB | 4 GB |
'Mid-2011' | 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM | 2 GB/4 GB† | 4 GB |
'Mid-2012' | 1600 MHz DDR3L SDRAM | 4 GB | 8 GB |
'Mid-2013' | 1600 MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM | 4 GB | 8 GB |
'Early 2014' | 1600 MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM | 4 GB | 8 GB |
'Early 2015' | 1600 MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM | 4 GB | 8 GB |
'Mid-2017' | 1600 MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM | 4 GB | 8 GB |
* Maximum RAM applies to the maximum that could be installed at the initial time of notebook purchase for an extra US$100. It cannot be upgraded subsequently.
† The entry-level 'Mid-2011' MacBook Air model -- the MC968LL/A configuration of the MacBook Air 'Core i5' 1.6 11-Inch (Mid-2011) -- has 2 GB of RAM standard and could be upgraded to 4 GB at the time of purchase. All other 'Mid-2011' MacBook Air models have 4 GB of RAM soldered in place and cannot be upgraded at all.
External Ram Drive
What are the capabilities of the external SuperDrive available for the MacBook Air? What other Macs does it support?
The external SuperDrive that is available for the MacBook Air writes DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL at 4X, DVD-R and DVD+R at 8X, DVD-RW at 6X, and DVD+RW at 8X. It reads DVD at 8X, writes CD-R at 24X, writes CD-RW at 16X, and reads CD at 24X.
When first introduced in 2008, the external MacBook Air SuperDrive only was intended to work with the MacBook Air models, although Apple has offered it subsequently for the optical drive-less aluminum Mac mini models, 'Tapered Edge' aluminum iMac models, Retina Display MacBook Pro models, the Cylinder Mac Pro line, and other Macs that do not have internal optical drives.
At the time the MacBook Air SuperDrive was released, somespeculated that the USB 2.0 port(s) in the pre-'Mid-2012' MacBook Air models had been 'boosted' to provide extra power beyond that provided by most other Macs. Further speculation from AppleInsider concluded that the MacBook Air SuperDrive could work with other Macs if not for software restrictions and states that it is possible 'Apple is offering the drive as a loss leader convenience for Air users, and doesn't want to support the drive on other systems because it's not making any money on it.'
However, after a truly 'überleet' hardware hacking session, tnkgrleliminated 'power boosting' and software restrictions as possible variables -- as well as others -- and discovered that replacing the IDE to USB bridge with another one (for US$9) made it possible to use the MacBook Air SuperDrive with older Macs as well as other computers. More recently, Lukas Zelller first discovered a software method that simply involves editing a single line in a text file. This simple edit still could cause problems with operating system updates, however.
Ultimately, the external MacBook Air SuperDrive will not work with incompatible Macs without hacking and Apple obviously does not support hacking whether hardware or software, either one.
Photo Credit: Apple, Inc. (SuperDrive - Left), OWC (Blu-ray Options - Right)
However, the MacBook Air SuperDrive will work with all Macs that do not have an internal optical drive, just not earlier Macs, and the MacBook Air also can support just about any USB-based optical drive that has OS X drivers.
Site sponsor Adorama has the official aluminum Apple SuperDrive for US$79 and Other World Computing has a variety of compact external optical drive options, as well.
External Ram For Mac Mini
In Australia, site sponsor Macfixit has a number of external optical drives for sale, too. S3 browser for mac download.
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