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From: dennisg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Dennis E. Griesser)
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac
Subject: Re: New Product Idea: external ram disk
Message-ID: <1934@sdcrdcf.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 29-Apr-85 21:29:44 EDT
Article-I.D.: sdcrdcf.1934
Posted: Mon Apr 29 21:29:44 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 3-May-85 05:13:15 EDT
References: <1255@eagle.UUCP> <1088@cbosgd.UUCP> <4967@Shasta.ARPA>
Reply-To: dennisg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Dennis E. Griesser)
Distribution: net
Organization: System Development Corp. R+D, Santa Monica
Lines: 16
Summary: 

In article <4967@Shasta.ARPA> gus@Shasta.ARPA writes:
>> I agree that an external ram disk would be a good idea....
>I don't. The whole idea of a RAMdisk is that it is just that...
>RAM. An external ramdisk would still have to go through the external
>serial ports, and thus not be any faster than the AppleTalk fileserver.
>(I don't think anyone will create a product like this that would not be
>compatible with AppleTalk.)

Actually, external RAM-disks have been around for quite awhile.  I remember
seeing an ad about five years ago for one that had an interesting twist.
It had a diskette-style interface.  This made it hardware and software
compatible with any machine that could talk to a standard drive, while 
preserving most of the speed benefits.

I think that a RAM-disk that connects like a diskette is a clever idea, but
impractical for a number of reasons.