RAM Folder Options

Q: How do I change an option?

Change it, then click Apply at the bottom right of the detail view. An option you changed but haven’t applied is marked with an asterisk (*). Discard reverts all pending changes. If you select another RAM folder, mount or eject with changes still pending, RAM Folder asks you to apply or discard them first. Changing an option never touches the RAM folder’s files, except for a resize while mounted (see Capacity ).

Q: How do I change the capacity?

Click the Total: label beside the capacity bar (with the pencil icon), enter the new size, and confirm with the checkmark ( Apply size change ). On a mounted RAM folder, RAM Folder warns that “The volume will be unmounted and remounted with its new size” : with Sync RAM folder on, your data is saved and restored around the remount ( “Your data will be automatically synchronized” ); with it off, the remount empties the RAM folder ( “All your data will be lost” ). You can’t shrink a RAM folder below the space its files use: RAM Folder shows the minimum size and blocks the change. See Memory & sizing .

Select a RAM folder in the sidebar: its detail view opens on the right. The Options section has two tabs: Normal, with the settings most people change, and Advanced, with the ones you rarely need.

How do I change an option?

Change it, then click Apply at the bottom right of the detail view. An option you changed but haven’t applied is marked with an asterisk (*). Discard reverts all pending changes.

If you select another RAM folder, mount or eject with changes still pending, RAM Folder asks you to apply or discard them first. Changing an option never touches the RAM folder’s files, except for a resize while mounted (see Capacity).

What are the default options?

Option	Tab	Default
Mount at launch	Normal	On
Hide from Desktop and Finder sidebar	Normal	On
Sync RAM folder	Normal	On
Save RAM folder periodically	Normal	Off (every 15 min when turned on)
Disable Filesystem Events (FSEvents)	Advanced	Off
File comparison method	Advanced	Size & Modification time
Store data on S3-compatible remote storage	Advanced	Off

How do I rename a RAM folder?

Click its name at the top of the detail view and type a new one. Names must be unique among your RAM folders, ignoring case. A RAM folder without a custom name shows its folder’s name, so renaming the folder in Finder renames it too.

How do I change the capacity?

Click the Total: label beside the capacity bar (with the pencil icon), enter the new size, and confirm with the checkmark (Apply size change). On a mounted RAM folder, RAM Folder warns that “The volume will be unmounted and remounted with its new size”:

with Sync RAM folder on, your data is saved and restored around the remount (“Your data will be automatically synchronized”);
with it off, the remount empties the RAM folder (“All your data will be lost”).

You can’t shrink a RAM folder below the space its files use: RAM Folder shows the minimum size and blocks the change. See Memory & sizing.

Normal options

Mount at launch

Mounts the RAM folder automatically each time RAM Folder starts. Combined with Open at login (settings popover), your RAM folders are ready at every login. It works only while the app runs: the command line alone never mounts anything automatically.

Keeps the RAM folder from appearing like a separate disk on the Desktop and in Finder’s sidebar (it uses the nobrowse mount option). It stays fully usable as a normal folder through its path. Turn it off if you’d like the RAM folder to appear as an ejectable volume in Finder. The change applies at the next mount.

Sync RAM folder

The most important switch: it decides whether your work survives an eject.

On (default): changes made in RAM are saved back into the folder when the RAM folder is unmounted: eject, quit, shutdown, or an eject from Finder or diskutil.
Off: the RAM folder is temporary. It still starts from the folder’s files at each mount, but everything written while mounted is discarded at unmount. Use it for caches and scratch files.

If a RAM folder holds anything you care about, keep “Sync RAM folder” on. Even then, the folder is updated only at unmount: a power cut or a kernel panic while mounted saves nothing. Turn on Save RAM folder periodically to narrow that window, and read Data safety.

The (Learn more…) link next to the Synchronization heading opens Persistence, which explains the whole mechanism. Once you have clicked it, an eye icon lets you hide the link for good.

Save RAM folder periodically

Available when Sync RAM folder is on. Saves the RAM contents into RAM Folder’s snapshot at the interval chosen in Sync every (5 min, 15 min, 30 min, 1 hour, 6 hours, 12 hours or 24 hours), to reduce what a crash or a forced unmount can cost you. It refreshes the snapshot, not your folder: see Persistence.

Periodic saves are scheduled by the app, so they run only while RAM Folder is open.

Advanced options

Disable Filesystem Events (FSEvents)

Turns off macOS’s file-change journal on the RAM folder, which saves a little I/O on write-heavy volumes. But apps that watch folders for changes rely on it: build watchers, sync clients, editors that reload changed files, git fsmonitor. Leave it off unless you know none of them watch this folder. The change applies at the next mount.

File comparison method

Available when Sync RAM folder is on. Decides how a save tells which files changed:

Size & Modification time (default): fast, and right for almost every workload. It can miss an edit that keeps both the size and the modification date unchanged.
File contents (checksum): compares a hash of every file, so it catches every edit. It reads every file in full, so saves are slower, and modification dates are not copied over.

Store data on S3-compatible remote storage

Available when Sync RAM folder is on. Saves the RAM folder’s contents to a cloud bucket you own instead of your local disk. Choose a Provider, fill in its fields, then click Validate connection. Once validated, the section shows the bucket the RAM folder is connected to, and a Disconnect button. Apply stays blocked while the option is on but no connection is validated. See Remote storage.