• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Ramdisk in vista? Movie player that will cache?

rivan

rivan

Diamond Member
I'm bringing my laptop on a flight for movie watching and considering ways to limit power use to stretch battery life.

If I can use a ramdisk, I could play the movie from the ramdisk. Or, if there's a player that I can set to cache the whole thing, I'd get the same effect.

Anyone have thoughts on either a player or a tutorial/software for a ramdisk in vista?
 
It's not quite the same as a ramdisk, but a USB flash drive would probably use less power than a regular hard drive. Looks like around 1 or 2 Watts for a flash drive. I'm not sure what a regular hard drive uses.
 
How much does a regular pata/sata hard drive actually consume? I'm guessing around 10-15W on idle but way more on start-up of a system?
 
Originally posted by: Ken g6
It's not quite the same as a ramdisk, but a USB flash drive would probably use less power than a regular hard drive. Looks like around 1 or 2 Watts for a flash drive. I'm not sure what a regular hard drive uses.
Click to expand...

That's a pretty good idea. You could even boot a small O/S off of a USB drive, and run the whole thing that way. Flash drives have gotten ridiculously cheap, so it's very feasible. Remove the HD completely so it can't even spin up(less chance of damage carting it around also)
 
Originally posted by: Ken g6
I finally found some charts. Looks like 2-4 Watts.
Click to expand...

Interesting - and interesting idea on the USB stick.

My drive wasn't on that chart, but it was reviewed here and it specifically mentioned it's efficiency while delivering a stream.

I'm not leaving until Tuesday - how do those reviews test energy usage? Is there a utility or are they just using a kill-a-watt or something and doing the math?

I know I'm seeming a little obsessive over a movie, but it's for my 2-year-old. Even if I can keep him occupied for an extra 20 minutes, it'll probably be a big win.
 
I have seen some slim batteries that would go under a laptop, maybe .5-1" thick, same width and depth as your average 15" laptop, came with multiple adapters so it would work with different machines. Depending on usage it could double your time.

Conversely, if you have the funds for it, a cheap portable DVD player with some extra batteries would be good too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top