Flash as RAM?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Michael
  • Start date Start date
M

Michael

I remember reading Vista has a feature to use Flash memory (ex. USB memory
stick) as (extra)RAM. I tried to find this feature in RC1 - USB attached but
no sign of it in Task Manager/Physical Memory.
Michael
 
first you must use the Motherboards direct USB 2.0 ports ( e.g. No
PCI-Addon-Card with USB-Extraports )

second : this feature is only available at some USB-thumbdrives.
If you plug a Readyboost-compatible USB-Flashdrive in, then Windows will
present the Autoplay-window which offers ( depends on what is on the stick )
:

* "Open files"
* "Play Mp3s" etc.. and
* "Speed up my system"

you can also do a rightclick on the USB-drive's icon and see under
properties the tab "ReadyBoost" - there you can see if this is an option or
not.

I have a 500MB Stick from LG that uses this technology, but another no-name
1GB-stick doesn't offer this.

My System (Duron 1800/ 512 DDR-RAM/Geforce 6200 AGP with Aero) is indeed a
bit faster than without the stick inserted, specially when running games I
feel it.

Also it depends on various factors : how much RAM has your System already
and how much space is on the stick.

So far these one have been tested :

ReadyBoost-compatible USB flash drives:
- 512MB Kungston U3 Datatraveler
-512MB LG Electronics "Silverline" Thumbdrive
- 1GB Verbatim Store'n'Go U3
- 2GB Verbatim Store'n'Go Pro
- 2GB Patriot Xporter XT
- 2GB Samsung Mighty Drive

ReadyBoost-incompatible USB flash drives:
- 1GB Corsair Voyager
- 1GB Corsair Readout
- 1GB PQI Cool Drive
- 8GB TrekStor

more info :
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/features/foreveryone/performance.mspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/tomarcher/archive/2006/04/14/576548.aspx
http://hwspirit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=398

SBJ
 
Sascha,
I have seen it posted before that you cannot use an USB 2.0 Add-On card
however I indeed am using one along with a supported flash drive and it
works great! Do you happen to know the reason for this claim that add-on
cards are not supported? I know that the *speed* of the flash drive has to
been fast enough in order to be supported but I don't see any reason why an
add-on card would eliminate it's support.
dotcom
 
Ok, if it is so than I will in future not claim this to be a fact.

On my own PC it is indeed not working on a PCI Card with Viachipset with 4 x
USB 2.0 Ports,
but on the Mainboards own Ports ( 6x USB 2.0 - also Viachipset )
That means I have 10 USB Ports total ( 2 on the front, 4 native ones on the
I/O shield and the 4 extraones ).

Also I have read that somewhere on the Web while searching for Vistas
special features ;)

But alright then, as usual when new tech is aproaching - one is the lucky
guy, others have to struggle a bit .

### ########## The may we say so from now on :
###################
********* try ALL your USB2.0 ports out - if at least one of them enables
this or not. ********
############################################################################

Happy crawling under your desks :-}

SBJ
 
It's not really RAM. It's alternative storage for the pagefile. You can use
a flash drive it its capacity and random I/O are fast to enough to justify
using it for that purpose. Some motherboard and hybrid hard drives will have
tha built in.
 
Were do you look to see if Vista reconizes the ram? I chose "Speed up my
system" but don't see where it is using it. Task
manager/Performance/Physical Memory still shows the 1 gig of ram installed in
my laptop.
 
Were do you look to see if Vista reconizes the ram? I chose "Speed up my
system" but don't see where it is using it. Task
manager/Performance/Physical Memory still shows the 1 gig of ram installed in
my laptop.
 
Were do you look to see if Vista reconizes the ram? I chose "Speed up my
system" but don't see where it is using it. Task
manager/Performance/Physical Memory still shows the 1 gig of ram installed in
my laptop.
 
Were do you look to see if Vista reconizes the ram? I chose "Speed up my
system" but don't see where it is using it. Task
manager/Performance/Physical Memory still shows the 1 gig of ram installed in
my laptop.
 
Were do you look to see if Vista reconizes the ram? I chose "Speed up my
system" but don't see where it is using it. Task
manager/Performance/Physical Memory still shows the 1 gig of ram installed in
my laptop.
 
One way: Widows Explorer/YourFlasDrive/Properties/ReadyBoost tab.
Your flash drive *must* be formatted NTFS, otherwise it shows as "unusable."
Hence, format it NTFS first - you'll lose all files on it. Guess you need at
least a 512 MB flash drive. I tried a PNY Attache 512MB and build 5728
accepts to use it even if it does not meet the read/write speed
requirements; in 5600 I couldn't even see the flash drive as a 'driver was
required.
Michael
 
Hmm, is your OS drive formated NTFS or FAT32? I assume both the hard-drive
and the flash drive must be formated the same way.
Michael
 
"Your flash drive *must* be formatted NTFS"

Not true!

Anyone having trouble getting a flash/thumb drive
ReadyBoost able, do this:

Go into Device Manager, find your flash drive under
Disk Drives, select Properties for the flash drive, then
under the "Policies" tab- make sure "Optimize for performance"
is checked.


-Michael
 
One more tip:

You can also try using another USB slot. If it is plugged into
a USB hub, take it out and plug it directly into the computer.


-Michael
 
but what if when I connect my usb flash and the autorun feature said "Speed
up my system" but when I do it then the software says that my USB drive have
not the required performance to speed up my system??

I have tried with this:

USB 2.0 Kingstong Datatraveler 512MB
and with a Kingston U3 Datatraveler 1GB
 
One way: Widows Explorer/YourFlasDrive/Properties/ReadyBoost tab.
Your flash drive *must* be formatted NTFS, otherwise it shows as "unusable."
Hence, format it NTFS first - you'll lose all files on it. Guess you
need at least a 512 MB flash drive. I tried a PNY Attache 512MB and
build 5728 accepts to use it even if it does not meet the read/write
speed requirements; in 5600 I couldn't even see the flash drive as a
'driver was required.
Michael
Click to expand...

Where did you get this information from?

1) You don't need to format a drive as NTFS to use readyboost. I've got
FAT32 drives working just fine.
2) You don't need to use 512Mb drives, I've used a 256Mb one.
 
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