ReadyBoost

[Lionwing 6]

I was recently doing a little maintenance on my PC and came across a Windows Vista / 7 feature called ReadyBoost.

 

This feature allows for either a USB Memory Stick / Card to be used by the system as a data cache.

 

The full details for ReadyBoost can be found here. ReadyBoost.

 

As I had a 8GB card, of sufficient spec, lying around I decided to give it a go. While I can't give figures as to how it has improved the general performance of my PC it just responds that little bit quicker and "feels" a little sharper.

 

Worth a shot if you have a spare memory card - tip format it with the NTFS option.

 

Good luck.

[SAAB340 28]

I believe windows different caching mechanisms can make a lot better use of 8GB of actual RAM given the low cost of if.

[Lionwing 6]

True - there is no substitute for RAM if the PC has the available slots etc.

[TechguyMaxC 516]

How much RAM does your system have? Readyboost is for low-end systems that lack RAM, it says as much in the description.

[Lionwing 6]

How much RAM does your system have? Readyboost is for low-end systems that lack RAM, it says as much in the description.

 

It has 4GB. I do not know the spec of the RAM in terms of speed etc..

[TechguyMaxC 516]

Must come down to seek times then, since a flash drive certainly doesn't provide more bandwidth than even a slow hard drive.

[Lionwing 6]

Must come down to seek times then, since a flash drive certainly doesn't provide more bandwidth than even a slow hard drive.

 

From a person with little knowledge of the inner workings of software / hardware I think that is at the core of Readyboost were data is moved to the flash drive, possibly from either the RAM or Hard Drive for a quick access when required.