Moving Browser Caches to the RAM Disk or SSD
Many
people use RAM disks to store their temporary Internet files, since a
RAM disk's volatile nature wipes the data when the computer shuts down.
(Unless you're automatically saving the disk image, of course.) Some
users say that storing files on a RAM disk speeds up browsing, too, but
I've never noticed a significant performance gain; if nothing else,
moving your caches to RAM keeps needless writes off of your SSDs.
Here's a more detailed explanation of how to move the caches of the big three browsers.
Internet Explorer: Microsoft keeps things fairly simple. Go to Tools > Internet Options > General, and then click the Settings button in the Browsing History portion. In the window that pops up, you'll see a Move Folder button in the Temporary Internet Files section. Click it, and then point IE toward a cache folder on your RAM disk.
Firefox: You can't change how Firefox stores its cache without tinkering with the browser's configuration. Type about:config in the address bar, press Enter, and click through the warning. Right-click anywhere on the Preferences list, and then select New String. Enter browser.cache.disk.parent_directory (note the underscore between "parent" and "directory") as the Preference name, and then list the file path to your RAM disk as the string value. (In my case, I would use I:\ as the value.)
A Cache folder containing Firefox's temporary files will appear in your RAM disk.
If you want to Undo or Delete your config Click RESET and restart Firefox.
Chrome: Since Chrome won't let you change the location of temporary Internet files, you'll have to change the way Windows handles the program. It's not as difficult as it sounds.
Right-click Chrome in the Start menu, and select Properties. In the Target: box, you'll see Chrome's file path, which ends in 'chrome.exe'. Place your cursor at the end of the path, press your keyboard's spacebar once—that's important—and then paste or type the following text at the end of your Target Directory:
--user-data-dir="your folder path" (myPath is I:\cache )
Replace "your folder path" with the path to a cache folder on your RAM disk, but leave the quotation marks intact. Here's an example of how the full Target box should look afterward:
"C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --disk-cache-dir="I:\cache"
Reboot your PC to Apply all settings.
Sample Cache
YOU CAN THO THIS TRICK WITH OTHER PROGRAMS OR GAMES.
Here's a more detailed explanation of how to move the caches of the big three browsers.
Internet Explorer: Microsoft keeps things fairly simple. Go to Tools > Internet Options > General, and then click the Settings button in the Browsing History portion. In the window that pops up, you'll see a Move Folder button in the Temporary Internet Files section. Click it, and then point IE toward a cache folder on your RAM disk.
Firefox: You can't change how Firefox stores its cache without tinkering with the browser's configuration. Type about:config in the address bar, press Enter, and click through the warning. Right-click anywhere on the Preferences list, and then select New String. Enter browser.cache.disk.parent_directory (note the underscore between "parent" and "directory") as the Preference name, and then list the file path to your RAM disk as the string value. (In my case, I would use I:\ as the value.)
If you want to Undo or Delete your config Click RESET and restart Firefox.
Chrome: Since Chrome won't let you change the location of temporary Internet files, you'll have to change the way Windows handles the program. It's not as difficult as it sounds.
Right-click Chrome in the Start menu, and select Properties. In the Target: box, you'll see Chrome's file path, which ends in 'chrome.exe'. Place your cursor at the end of the path, press your keyboard's spacebar once—that's important—and then paste or type the following text at the end of your Target Directory:
--user-data-dir="your folder path" (myPath is I:\cache )
Replace "your folder path" with the path to a cache folder on your RAM disk, but leave the quotation marks intact. Here's an example of how the full Target box should look afterward:
"C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --disk-cache-dir="I:\cache"
Reboot your PC to Apply all settings.
Sample Cache
YOU CAN THO THIS TRICK WITH OTHER PROGRAMS OR GAMES.
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