OS X RAM Disk

Need really fast Java IDE or browser? Then keep reading.

This app will create a RAM disk in OS-X with specified size to store the apps cache in RAM, which is known as SSD optimization - reducing disk IO or making browsing the web and programming using IntelliJ more enjoyable.

Supported apps (you can add yours):

• IntelliJ Idea 14/15
• Google Chrome
• Google Canary
• Safari
• iTunes
• Android studio
• WebShtorm
• Clion
• AppCode
• Xcode
• PHP Storm
• [your_app_goes_here]

The IntelliJ Idea (or JetBrains IDEs) are really fast after this. Be aware that for the large code base you will need to have larger RAM Disk. I don't have exact numbers, sorry, it can vary because of many factors. Mine machine have 16GB - it works very good for small code bases.

If you observing performance degradation - revise how much memory you are using and may be adding more can help. By default script will create RAM disk of 1/4 size of your RAM. If you need to change the size - edit startupRAMDiskandCacheMover.sh header section. The RAM disk works with hibernate option - you don't need to worry about this part.

Have something to discuss?

If you have any issues (compatibility etc) - I am glad to have them reported in the issues tab.

Compatibility

Works on

• MAC OS X 10.10.2 Yosemite
• MAC OS X 10.11 EI Capitan
• MAC OS X 10.12 Sierra

Note that you have to re-run the script in order to get the ram disk back after machine restart. Currently it does not place it on startup - I'm working on it.

Give it a try before installing

$ curl -o startupRAMDiskandCacheMover.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zafarella/OSX-RAMDisk/master/Contents/MacOS/startupRAMDiskandCacheMover.sh &&
chmod +x startupRAMDiskandCacheMover.sh &&
./startupRAMDiskandCacheMover.sh

or

git clone git@github.com:zafarella/OSX-RAMDisk.git &&
OSX-RAMDisk/Contents/MacOS/startupRAMDiskandCacheMover.sh

Jetbrains IDE notes (IntelliJ)

In order to speed up the compilation and responsiveness of the IDE you can change "Project compiler output" and point it to ram disk:

echo /Volumes/ramdisk/${USER}/compileroutput

and in your project/module settings (Command+down) point to this directory. You can also set this setting by default for your projects at the main menu, choose File | Other Settings | Default Settings

In addition to above you can tune jvm with following flags vim /Applications/IntelliJ\ IDEA\ 15.app/Contents/bin/idea.vmoptions

Installation

Do not use it now - the startup script does not work yet - work in progress

git clone git@github.com:zafarella/OSX-RAMDisk.git
cd OSX-RAMDisk
make install

Manual Installation

cp OSXRamDisk.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents
cp startupRAMDiskandCacheMover.sh /usr/local/bin
# note - it will close Chrome, safari idea
/usr/local/bin/startupRAMDiskandCacheMover.sh

Uninstall

Run make uninstall or manually do following

Close the chrome, idea or any other application you configured to use ram disk.

   rm /usr/local/bin/startupRAMDiskandCacheMover.sh
   launchctl unload -w ~/Library/LaunchAgents/OSXRamDisk.plist
   rm ~/Library/LaunchAgents/OSXRamDisk.plist

Alternatives

If you are Linux user use

• https://github.com/graysky2/profile-sync-daemon

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