I'm trying to prepare for when our USB drive usage at work becomes limited, i.e. if the USB ports become disabled or restricted. So I'm trying to put my portable apps on a CD. However, I noticed that some of the key porta-apps I use need an INI file to run properly. For some of them, I could probably come up with a wrapper batch file. But for most of them, an INI file is a must.
So I'm looking to see if it's possible to dynamically create/load/mount a RAM disk. If so, I could copy the porta-app I want over to the RAM disk and then run it from there. When I'm done using the porta-app, I can then just remove it from the RAM disk. Hopefully, this could all be done with a batch file.
I'm trying to avoid having to write on the hard disk because then I'll have to remove all traces of the apps after using them, i.e. random char overwrite of the sectors formerly occupied by the apps. For this purpose, I usually use Blowfish. But this takes me back to my original dilemma, because Blowfish is heavily dependent on its INI file. On the other hand, Ultrashredder doesn't use an INI file, but its simplicity limits its features and usability. Another app, Eraser, also doesn't use an INI file, but it's unable to permanently erase files when used as a portable app; it can only "erase" unused sections of the entire hard disk. Actually, I haven't been able to run Eraser from a CD.
To date, I've been able to enjoy "PortableGimp" and the recently made available "X Server" from a CD. These two do not have an INI dependency, so they don't even require the RAM disk solution, at all. These two porta-apps ROCK! They are "true portables".
So, is my RAM disk solution feasible? Is there a better way?