RAM only computer???

[peachnut]

Hey guys, recently i have been wandering if its possible to run a computer just on RAM.

The idea is loading(installing) windows or linux on RAM disk and running only on that.

Is this possible? Have anyone done it?  without shutting down the system of course.

[TheRandomness]

Well, you'd need to create the RAMdisk without the OS. 

[8-Bit Ninja]

1 minute ago, TheRandomness said:

Well, you'd need to create the RAMdisk without the OS. 

which is possible, assuming you have a understanding of machine code

[byalexandr]

The memory is temporary so every time you shut down the PC for more than 5 minutes if I recall it wipes the RAM.

[KuJoe]

This is essentially how ESXi works. It loads the whole OS in RAM and only writes to disk to save configs and write logs which is why a lot of companies put ESXi on a SD card or USB flash drive.

 

There are quiet a few Linux distros that operate the same way, completely in RAM. Puppy Linux is one that comes to mind that can be loaded into RAM from a CD (you can use a USB flash drive or other storage if you want to save settings or files, but the OS itself is all loaded into RAM).

[8-Bit Ninja]

Just now, byalexandr said:

The memory is temporary so every time you shut down the PC for more than 5 minutes if I recall it wipes the RAM.

But its still possible which is the question he was asking

[Dabombinable]

Its possible, and actually what Linux Live USB's do when you install programs+drivers not inlcuded in the distro (gotta love 16GB RAM, although even after installing several programs+drivers+Minecraft RAM usage was under 2GB still)

[byalexandr]

6 minutes ago, 8-Bit Ninja said:

But its still possible which is the question he was asking

Not really, and the drawbacks would more than outweigh the advantages.

[sushisharkjl]

16 minutes ago, peachnut said:

loading(installing)

Which one? Both are different

Installing an OS on a ramdisk means you can't turn the system off.

Loading an OS on a ramdisk means you have an MSD that loads the OS entirely into RAM and runs from there.

[SaladFingers]

Back in the day there were those RAM->SATA adapters that also packed a battery (connected to a 3-pin plug on the mobo) that would last with the PC shut off for months before it erased the data. No configuring was needed elsewhere, the computer thought it was seeing a regular hard drive. Never actually tried it though so I'm not sure how well it works in practice or how relevant it is today.

[Coaxialgamer]

Well , since RAM ,is volatile , you would still need some kind of non volatile storage like USB or an sd card. In theory , if you had a way to keep the RAM constantly powered and refreshed , it would be possible.

[Wolf_Lbh]

Installing an os on a ramdisk is just bad juju. But even if you lost power and had to reinstall the os it wouldn't be too bad assuming you have a bootable backup of your current preferred setup so you can just reinstall it and go.

The main issue would be storage. If you used cloud based storage for all your files (which is just a hard drive on someone else's computer that you need an internet connection to view & is limited by your download speed and far inferior to just having your own damn storage.) it would only be a minor annoyance every time you wanted a large file or had connection issues. For this setup to actually work though and not make you lose your hair the only way I can see someone not getting fed up and ditching it would be if they had a different computer/external hd for storage. But in that case... why not just make the storage internal? Possibly if you just don't save things this would be okay but other than that.. nope.

A version of this sort of exists right now and that would be TAILS Linux which can be installed on a usb or cd and is designed to be an os that runs without leaving any traces. If you are okay with never saving anything ever then Tails os via cd installed on a ramdisk would be acceptable and fast to reinstall if/when things crashed.