Is it possible to retrieve info from RAM?

[Crimsonnaire]

Can someone please tell me if files that are accessed directly from a CD, memory card, or USB flash drive without copying/dragging them to the desktop PC are automatically copied onto the RAM of the system?

I was thinking this should be the case given the very function of RAM even though they're not necessarily saved onto the HDD. If this is the case, then is it theoretically possible to retrieve a file accessed from a proprietary source from the RAM if that source is either lost or damaged?

Another angle from which this question could be looked at is the context of security. If you wanted to access a file (say a simple text file) with the minimum risk of unconsented duplication (by a malware), is there a more secure method of access other than direct access from the proprietary source or is it simply that you never open the files from the computer in question?

Any clarification is greatly appreciated.

 

[johnb35]

Ram storage is only temporary and all data is pushed back onto the hard drive at shutdown. When a program is open, the data it uses is stored in ram. So technically its not like a hard drive. You can create ram disks though using your installed ram. Not sure exactly where you are going with this though.

 

[Crimsonnaire]

Hi John.

When you say that data is "pushed back" to the HDD at shutdown, do you mean that the RAM saves the progress of all open data onto the HDD for future access? If so, does that mean that a simple notepad text file opened from an external drive is saved onto the HDD at shutdown even if you don't manually save/copy it to the HDD yourself?

What I hope to accomplish--if it's not already standard operating procedure--is to be able to access files from an external drive with zero duplication onto the system whereby I accessed them from the drive.

My concern was raised from having learned about newly exposed malwares, some which specifically spawn from compromised USB drives and target new USB drives as hosts while relaying sensitive data through the internet.

Thanks very much for clarifying.

 

[johnb35]

Some malware can move from drive to drive but its rare. This article may explain how ram works better then I can explain it.

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/ram.htm

Say for example you open a file from an external drive like a text file... While the file is open, its stored in memory, you can edit it or whatever. If you close it, then it goes back to being stored on external and will no longer be in memory. To me its self explanatory but a lot of people are confused on how it works.