I am wondering if it is possible to use a memory stick in an ultra portable as a hard drive to run certain games/programs. I know there are certain games that do not need the game CD to run and downloading these games to a 1 GB memory stick could cause the game to run much faster than if the game was downloaded to the hard drive. Any thoughts on this? Back in the days of MAC OS9 they had something called a RAM DISK that could do this and programs could run faster than on the hard drive. This could come in handy with 4200 RPM internal HD’s.

Ramdisk is just that: a virtual mounted disk that stores in ram.  They would not work with memory cards, obviously, because memory cards and ram are two completely different things.  Ramdisks cannot benefit modern programs much (except in special scenarios) because the relevant data has to be able to fit in the ramdisk (I guess if you had multiple gigs of ram that might be plausible).

As for memory cards, they are treated by windows as removable storage.  They get their own mount points, so technically its possible to install any normal program to a mc.  Emulators can let you simulate having the disc in the drive ::insert diatribe about the futility of playing games on ultraportable computers here::

A caveat: flash memory has a limited write/rewrite lifespan (1 million or so write/rewrites), so you might not want to start using costly memory sticks in the function of a hard drive.  There are flash drives which fit in the pcmcia slot, and are specifically designed to be used as drives .  They are costly.