I had a query from a client about a slow performing component of their infrastructure and it turned out to be an access database that was stored on a shared location. Access speed to the readonly data seemed to be the limiting factor and they wondered if there was any short term way of speeding up this element. After a period of testing and review it was found that the use of a ram disk would be an appropriate method of boosting the speed.
A RAM disk is a block of RAM (Random Access Memory) that a computer treats as if it were a locally attached Hard Disk Drive. It is sometimes referred to as a virtual RAM drive or software RAM drive.
In this case I was able to point them to Starwind’s free RAM Disk Emulator for windows here and they were able to add and configure the drive for use within their environment. A simple but effective solution to a disk speed bottleneck.