Cross-platform considerations
SoftPerfect RAM Disk works the same way on Windows, macOS and Linux. However, a few capabilities depend on the operating system, and on the filesystem you choose for a disk. This page summarises those differences.
| Feature | Windows | macOS | Linux |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mounted as | Drive letter, such as R: |
Folder under /Volumes |
Mount point directory |
| Filesystems | NTFS, FAT, FAT32, exFAT | APFS, HFS+, exFAT, FAT32 | ext2, ext4, XFS, Btrfs, exFAT, FAT32 |
| Default filesystem | NTFS | HFS+ | ext4 |
| Memory reclaim (TRIM) | NTFS and exFAT | APFS and HFS+ only | All filesystems |
| Resizing a mounted disk | Yes (NTFS) | No | Yes, except FAT32 and exFAT |
| Compression | NTFS | Not available | Btrfs |
| Hard disk emulation | Yes | No | No |
| NUMA node selection | Yes | No | Yes |
Where disks appear
On Windows, a RAM disk is assigned a drive letter and appears in File Explorer. On macOS, it is mounted as a folder under /Volumes, named after the disk label. On Linux, it is mounted at a directory of your choice, defaulting to /mnt/ramdisk/ followed by the disk label. On macOS and Linux a background service manages the disks, and a custom mount point must lie within the folder that the service is configured to use.
Memory reclaim and TRIM
A dynamic disk with TRIM returns memory to the system when you delete files. The filesystem has to support this, and the support varies by platform. On Windows, NTFS and exFAT reclaim memory. On Linux, every supported filesystem reclaims memory. On macOS, only APFS and HFS+ reclaim memory, while exFAT and FAT32 keep it until the disk is deleted. HFS+ is the default on macOS because it is faster than APFS for a RAM disk and reclaims memory reliably.
Resizing
On Windows and Linux you can enlarge a mounted disk in place. On Windows this requires NTFS, while on Linux it works on every filesystem except FAT32 and exFAT. On macOS a disk cannot be resized on any filesystem.
User access
On macOS and Linux any user can create and manage RAM disks by default, and an administrator can restrict this so that only the root user may create or change disks. Windows works the same way and can be set to require an administrator too. See Global settings, or use ramdiskctl set-settings --admin-only=yes.