Shadow memory is a duplicate of the BIOS hosted in a protected area of RAM, used to protect against damage to read-only memory. It can use significant resources, but can be adjusted for specific operating systems. Its use is optional and debated among users.
Also known as shadow RAM, shadow memory is essentially a duplication of routines inherent in the basic input/output operating system or BIOS of a computer system. This duplicate or shadow memory pool is then hosted in a protected area of the system’s random access memory or RAM, making it easy to retrieve the copy as and when needed. Depending on the type of operating system being used, shadow memory may be used at startup and at certain times during device operation. Other operating systems do not require the use of this type of memory, and often users may also have the option to close duplicate memory as a means of allocating resources elsewhere.
The goal of shadow memory is to protect the system from possible damage to the read-only memory (ROM) which is part of the overall system configuration. Older operating systems usually included this particular feature as a means of copying the BIOS for easy retrieval when the system was powered on and sometimes even when specific tasks were performed during the session. While some newer operating systems no longer rely on this particular approach, it is not uncommon for the standard system settings to allow a copy of the BIOS to be created and stored in a protected area of RAM. The benefit of keeping this feature active is that in the unlikely event that the BIOS hosted in read-only memory becomes corrupted in some way, the copy saved in RAM can be used to overcome the problem and help repair the corruption.
Depending on the configuration of shadow memory, it can use a significant amount of resources or require only a small amount to operate efficiently. Experienced users of setting modifications can usually apply several methods related to specific operating systems to adjust the amount of random access memory used to house the bytes of copied data. This can be especially useful if the computer system involved has relatively little memory and more memory needs to be allocated for other programs to run.
While the use of shadow memory may be optional with some operating systems, there is a difference of opinion on whether to disable or allow the functionality of the feature. Proponents see continued use of this feature as a protective measure that may never actually be needed, but can be very important for system recovery in the unlikely event of a BIOS corruption. Others note that newer operating systems have additional protections that further reduce the potential for this type of problem, making shadow memory more or less obsolete.
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