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Speed up Firefox page loading time without using a RAM disk
Yesterday we wrote about moving the cache of Firefox or Chrome onto a RAM disk. Instead of loading cached images and data from the hard drive, it loads from memory, which is a lot faster. It turns out, though, that Firefox can do this without using a RAM disk -- you can simply do it with about:config.Just follow these instructions -- and don't worry, if you mess it up, you won't break anything.
- Type about:config into the address bar
- Type browser.cache into the Filter field
- Set browser.cache.disk.enable to false (double click it)
- Set browser.cache.memory.enable to true (double click it)
- Right click > New > Integer; type browser.cache.memory.capacity; press OK
- Type in 100000 (this is equivalent to 100 megabytes); press OK
- Close all Firefox tabs and windows, and then restart the browser
If you want more than 100 megabytes of cache -- if you have lots of spare memory, or you're prone to mammoth browsing sessions -- type in 500000 instead for 500 megabytes of cache. To confirm everything is working, visit about:cache and you should see some 'Memory cache device' information.
I'm currently unable to benchmark this change (Firebug doesn't work with FF4 Beta 7!) but in theory it should be just as fast or faster than the RAM disk approach.. Lee has been using it for a few hours and he says page loads are much faster. If you use Firefox, try it out and let us know whether it feels faster or not!
Thanks to commenter danielkza for the tip!
Comments
36
Subscribe to commentsVineeth ReddyNov 11th 2010 11:15AM
Can we notice the difference in speed only when we revisit a cached copy of the website ? or does the speed difference translate to startup time of the browser (Does not start any faster for me, i have set it to 500 MB)
Vineeth ReddyNov 11th 2010 11:19AM
Maybe its a placebo effect, but i notice a small increase in page load (already cached sites) times.
Sebastian AnthonyNov 11th 2010 12:01PM
I don't think it's the placebo effect :)
joNov 26th 2010 1:01AM
@(Unverified) I have changed the cache stuff as you directed and closed and re-opened firefox.
I went to check it by typing about:cache and it didn't show any of the changes I made. It was still all loading from the hard drive. What did I do wrong?
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
Joanne Striegler
jo@htcomp.net
Vineeth ReddyNov 11th 2010 11:20AM
Maybe a placebo effect, but i think i notice a small increase in page load times of already cached websites.
JonNov 11th 2010 11:26AM
It seems ... Slower for me .. noticeably slower .. Oh well time to set it back the way it was
Sebastian AnthonyNov 11th 2010 12:01PM
Did you do about:cache to see if it was working correctly?
MattNov 12th 2010 11:05AM
Probably because you just wiped out your cache and it had to redownload everything.
KrazyCalvinNov 11th 2010 12:00PM
yea, I don't know if its placebo but Gmail sure seemed to open faster than before.
JonNov 11th 2010 12:09PM
I did using Minefield 4.0b8pre.. But i am on a slow work network / Will test at home to see if its better ..
SasaNov 11th 2010 12:20PM
Firebug works with FF b8 ! Use http://getfirebug.com/releases/firebug/1.7X
Sebastian AnthonyNov 11th 2010 12:31PM
Wahay! It works! Thanks :)
TscharliNov 11th 2010 12:33PM
Perhaps its a placebo effect too: working on PaleMoon 3.6.3 I experienced three browser breakdowns within half an hour. Never realized similiar behavior of the browser before, thus I returned to the 'browser.cache.disk.enable' = 'true': Witching Hour has passed since then.
NidoNov 11th 2010 1:08PM
Wow, Gmail is blazing for me
SilverWaveNov 11th 2010 2:16PM
browser.sessionstore.max_concurrent_tabs preference in about:config. If set to 0, you get instant BarTab-like behaviour.
see this:
Firefox 4.0 beta 7 updates for BarTab and Vertical Tabs
https://philikon.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/firefox-4-0b7-updates/
Sebastian AnthonyNov 11th 2010 2:51PM
(I've never used BarTab -- is this relevant to Firefox cache stuffs....? :P)
SilverWaveNov 12th 2010 3:15AM
@Sebastian
>(I've never used BarTab -- is this relevant to Firefox cache stuffs....? :P)
Yeah because the cache stuff doesn't work :-P
If you want a speed up bartab does.
Jason ShelbrockNov 11th 2010 2:37PM
why aren't you setting browser.cache.memory.capacity to -1?
Sebastian AnthonyNov 11th 2010 2:49PM
Why would I?
Jason ShelbrockNov 11th 2010 4:10PM
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.cache.memory.capacity