Download Article
Download Article
This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Nicole Levine, MFA. Nicole Levine is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. She has more than 20 years of experience creating technical documentation and leading support teams at major web hosting and software companies. Nicole also holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Portland State University and teaches composition, fiction-writing, and zine-making at various institutions.
This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources.
This article has been viewed 233,637 times.
Learn more...
This wikiHow guide teaches you how to use extra space on your Solid State Drive (SSD) as virtual RAM on a Windows PC. To use your SSD as RAM, you need to move your virtual memory paging file to the SSD. While SSDs can be used as RAM in a pinch, they aren't as effective or fast as actual RAM, so it's always best to get an upgrade. If you have a Mac with an internal SSD drive, macOS automatically manages your virtual memory settings and already uses your SSD as RAM when needed.[1]
Using an SSD as RAM: Fast Facts
- On Windows, you can use an SSD as RAM by moving your paging file to the SSD.
- If Windows is installed on the SSD, it is likely already using it as RAM because it manages your virtual memory by default.
- While using an SSD as extra RAM is helpful if you don't have much RAM, actual RAM is much faster than an SSD.
Steps
Download Article
-
Open the System Properties panel. To do this, type sysdm.cpl into the Windows search bar and press Enter.- If Windows is installed on the SSD, it is likely already using it as RAM because Windows manages the paging file by default. However, if Windows is not installed on the SSD or you've added another SSD, you can use this method to move your paging file to the SSD to use it as RAM.
-
Click the Advanced tab. It's at the top of the System Properties panel.Advertisement -
Click Settings… under the “Performance” header. It’s the first “Settings” button on the “Advanced” tab. A list of performance options will appear.[2] -
Click the Advanced tab. It’s the second tab on the window. -
Click Change…. It’s under the “Virtual memory” header. This opens the Virtual Memory dialog, which is where you can configure how much of your SSD will be used as RAM.[3] -
Un-check “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives.” Now you can edit the options on this screen. -
Click your SSD drive. This selects the drive as the location for your paging file (virtual RAM). -
Select System managed size.- If you have specific instructions for how large of a page file you need, select Custom size instead, then enter the minimum and maximum page file size in the appropriate blanks.[4]
-
Click Set. -
Click OK and then OK again. A pop-up message will appear, letting you know that you’ll need to restart your computer before the changes take effect.[5] Click OK again, and your PC will shut down and restart. When it comes back up, it will use part of your SSD as virtual RAM.- If your PC is running slowly due to lack of RAM, installing more RAM is a better long-term solution.[6] RAM is also significantly faster than virtual memory, even if you're using an SSD.
Expert Q&A
Tips
-
If you don't have an SSD, you can use a USB flash drive as extra RAM using ReadyBoost.[7]Thanks
Video
References
- ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-ph/guide/mac-help/mh11852/mac
- ↑ https://www.windowscentral.com/how-change-virtual-memory-size-windows-10
- ↑ https://www.windowscentral.com/how-change-virtual-memory-size-windows-10
- ↑ https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001292.htm
- ↑ https://www.tomshardware.com/news/how-to-manage-virtual-memory-pagefile-windows-10,36929.html
- ↑ https://content.crucial.com/content/crucial/es-la/home/support/articles-faq-memory/virtual-memory-settings-suggestions.html
- ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/usb-and-sd-storage-media-readyboost-with-a-sd-card-or-a-flash-drive-f19ab915-5f8a-b131-e6d8-a6900154a42c
About This Article
