Anyone tried using Evernote with a RAMDisk?

[Lemonope 6]

Hello, I dunno if anyone is aware, but recently I noticed a lot of the lag is actually is coming from the Hard Disk, where it stores your database, in one large filename

Then I thought of temporary moving the entire database folder onto to RAMDisk, and I must say it works fantastic, no longer had the slightest lag since.

From bootup it loads instantly, searches are instant, copy and paste, etc, and it's breeze to work with.

 

I'm unsure if this can be damaging, but as for data I guess you won't have really have much to worry about as it constantly uploading your data to the server anyway, but I still back it up time to time just in case. 

 

Just a suggestion that works great for me, and you don't want to experience anymore painful unexplained lag. 

[gazumped 12,227]

That's a good thought - I've noticed in the past few weeks that my Evernote is beginning to have long sessions of disk activity,  and from time to time will monopolise all access so other software slows right down too.  Some folks have solved lockup issues with SSD's,  so a RAM disk would seem to be a possible solution.  I'll give that a try.  There are two issues of course - you need to have enough storage to hold the database,  and if anything does lock up really bad things could happen to your account.  Database backups are definitely required!  I'll report back in a while is there's any progress...  though my database is currently 17GB and I don't (yet) have that much RAM. 

[JohnLongney 83]

Sorry, wrong approach altogether! 64 Bit application and not clinging onto 32Bit would be the answer. 

But of course, I do understand that such a 'revolutionary' idea would user support through votes because currently the overworked development are still absorbed with formatting issues.  

 

[DTLow 5,749]

57 minutes ago, JohnLongney said:

Sorry, wrong approach altogether! 64 Bit application and not clinging onto 32Bit would be the answer. 

I’m running 64 bIt Evernote (Mac/IOS) and still get lag on my Mac.  No RAM option, but my first solution would be to be SSD conversion

As per @gazumped; my impression is it wouldn't be failsafe if there's a crash

[Lemonope 6]

I thought my Database was one of the biggest as mine just over 500MB, but still many machines now have 32GIG of RAM, I only have 16GIG but plenty for me, but 32GIG RAM would easily hold onto a 17GIG Database, and you can safety leave just 8GIG for the system. Of course a 64bit OS is required. 

Only noticed the lag coming from the HD when my slave drive was dying where I had the database stored which slowed down Evernote even further.

I'm using SoftPerfect RAM Disk, it's very lightweight and its works from XP to 10, unfortunately it's become a paid program, but the last completely free version is 3.4.8, (you should find it somewhere) I have Configured it to save my data every hour to a disk image, also it saves it on shutdown and brings it back on bootup so I now set it and can forget it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gazumped 12,227]

Just tried UltraRAMdisk Lite (chosen,  appropriately randomly, from here: https://www.raymond.cc/blog/12-ram-disk-software-benchmarked-for-fastest-read-and-write-speed/)

But this laptop is a couple of years old and starts with 8GB of memory,  so the best I can do for now is a 2GB virtual drive - which still slows things down because with a browser and other goodies also running I'm using 86% of available ram and the Windows system is caching other stuff to the 'real' HD.

Will consider playing with much more memory - though SSD and hybrid prices are coming down,  and the HD is 2 years old now...

[FactMan 196]

I don't have a RAM disk - had forgotten all about them until seeing this thread - however, I have noticed an improvement since I changed the synchronization preferences: now all I have checked on the options page is Synchronize changes on exit, Synchronize shortcuts, and purge rarely viewed note content after 30 days. Coincidence? Maybe, but I'll take any improvement in performance that I see. Maybe I'll check out a RAM disk, but it won't be for a couple of weeks.

[JohnLongney 83]

6 hours ago, DTLow said:

I’m running 64 bIt Evernote (Mac/IOS) and still get lag on my Mac.  No RAM option, but my first solution would be to be SSD conversion

As per @gazumped; my impression is it wouldn't be failsafe if there's a crash

Thanx for your input because I never even considered the possibility of Evernote going 64 bit for just one operating system.

Under Windows, clearly enough, regardless of how much RAM the machine has, it is not used. My supposition is that the Mac/iOS conversion is a long way from being well done (optimised) to the 64 bit operating system. There are not that many 32 bit Win systems left, but for old times sake quite a number of applications are still  stuck on 32bit , hence Windows64 bit has 2 program folders, one for 64 and one for 32 bit applications.

Evernote, as far as the application goes, is still 'mediumweight'  but it cannot handle the database any more. What with all the changes and tweaks here and there I doubt everything is under control codewise. All  I know is that Evernote's programme behaviour is very untypical. RAM yes, CPU not much.

 

//

RAMdisk software for what use?  Emulating 32 GB 'RAM' instead of 16 GB?  Will not be addressed. 

Instead of forever trying to find workarounds that do not work,  why not for once address Evernote?

 Whatever users decide upon, my recommendation is to keep the database as small as possible. Even the best database backup will not be the answer if the actual software itself is the problem.