Not really a crashdrive, more of a power-outage drive. Some people have those big batteries that are connected to their computers so that in case of a crash, they have 15 minutes or so to shut down their computer.
They are expensive; try another technique instead.
Upon power outage, a smaller battery keeps the computer on for a minute or so (maybe more) while it saves the current RAM data & a list of the current running programs to an internal flashdrive, or similar object. Then, upon power-restoration, it reboots, loads the programs, and loads the RAM, returning it to its exact pre-power-outage state.-- DesertFox, Feb 22 2006 Sleep mode http://www.webopedi...M/S/sleep_mode.html [DesertFox, Feb 22 2006] Seems doable - after all, that must be pretty much how the Sleep function works on laptops. Perhaps it's been done with existing UPSs?-- DrCurry, Feb 22 2006 Yeah, you can do it with extant UPS. Most have a data cable that connects to the pc and software decides what to do with its last few minutes of life. Usually Shutdown -h 5 is a common choice.-- Galbinus_Caeli, Feb 22 2006 [DC] Laptops still consume power in sleep mode. It's just a trickle, but eventuall, it needs recharging. It shuts down the screen and other unneccesary items, but still uses energy for other things. [link] This idea eliminates the need for that "trickle" which will eventually run out.
Current UPS don't save RAM, they just provide enough energy to have some time to safely shut down your computer. Some are connected to the computer through software, and will automatically initiate a safe-shutdown.
It would be a good thing to integrate this idea with existing UPS; I looked and found nothing that would save the current RAM in case of a power interruption. No UPS, nothing.-- DesertFox, Feb 22 2006 I just rebooted after a 5 second blackout, and lost a very carefully worded annotation. It had piezoelectrics in it. Now I want one of these.
Cool Edit is a nicely crash-proofed program. Even after a sudden freeze in the middle of recording, you can resume next time you run the program. I've never lost anything, even when I've had a crash with gigabytes of unsaved files open. (I know that sounds reckless, but it's a situation that arises during long recording sessions). If more programs had this sort of protection this would be less of an issue. I wonder if this could be done on a system level - a low-priority process that uses spare processor and hard disc time to save the system state fairly frequently. Still, I like your idea.-- spidermother, Feb 22 2006 Cool Edit is a program of many virtues. It's noise suppression algorithms are superb. As for the idea, it's bakeable, much cheaper than a UPS and I can see no reason why it should not be standard in all non-budget PC's. Bun to [DF].-- wagster, Feb 22 2006 When my laptop detects a low battery it automatically enters hibernation mode, wherein in saves the current state of its RAM to the hard drive and shuts down, restoring said RAM upon reboot.
All it would take is something a detect a loss of voltage, maybe a 30 second supply of power, and a routine to enter hibernation when power is lost.-- Psudomorph, Feb 26 2007 random, halfbakery