ReadyBoost drive question.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Big Rick
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Big Rick

Hello Folks

Please can someone verify this or not.

If I were to purchase a 4 gig ReadyBoost enabled pen drive an plugged it
into my PC, Vista will look on this as 4 gig of internal working memory.

Or is it not that simple?

Your help is and always has been very much appreciated.
Thanking you in anticipation.
 
Hello Stephan

Thanks, but this was not the info I required. I am simply trying to
understand how Vista works, and wanted to know if I understood this feature
correctly or not.

Please can you help further
 
It would not function like actual Ram added to the system. The Vista OS has
a 4 Gig limit, and uses 'Virtual Memory' to add to that. ReadyBoost is a way
to have very speedy virtual ram, unlike hard drive access for the same
purpose.
Virtual Memory in Windows XP: http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.php
ReadyBoost is simply a way to use 'flash ram' for virtual memory. (Some
people hate it that flash ram can be written to only so many times, till it
reverts to 'static ram' and cannot be re-written. This is a very large
number of times)
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ReadyBoost uses a USB pen drive as 'virtual memory' just like Vista uses
virtual memory in the form of a paging file. If you have 1GB of RAM or less
in your machine then you may see a slight increase in performance, if you
have 2GB or more then ReadyBoost won't make any difference, or, if it does,
it will only be marginal.

ReadyBoost was only really incorporated into Vista to help people with PCs
running 1GB or less of RAM. In the long run, if you machine can take it, it
is far better to buy more RAM than use ReadyBoost.

--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org
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use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..
 
Big Rick - I n addition to Richards reply - ReadyBoost works in conjunction
with Superfetch in providing "storage" and "access" to information the OS
determines that most likely you will ask for presently.

As a solid state device (no motor, etc.) it has (generally) faster
read/write specs than a hard drive - so non-sequential read/writes (slowest
type) are directed to the ReadyBoost device and sequential to the HD thereby
speeding performance.

Vista checks the device's read/write specs to determine suitability for
ReadyBoost. Of note is that with the specs of today's newer HDs, ReadyBoost
may not be of major value on a desktops - however it is a good addition to
laptops.

ReadyBoost does perform another function - over a period of time Vista
monitors how the computer is being used - regarding application usage - the
OS attempts to initially load the ReadyBoost device with "stuff" based on
the monitoring with the goal of faster boot times.
 
John said:
ReadyBoost uses a USB pen drive as 'virtual memory' just like Vista uses
virtual memory in the form of a paging file. If you have 1GB of RAM or
less in your machine then you may see a slight increase in performance,
if you have 2GB or more then ReadyBoost won't make any difference, or,
if it does, it will only be marginal.

ReadyBoost was only really incorporated into Vista to help people with
PCs running 1GB or less of RAM. In the long run, if you machine can take
it, it is far better to buy more RAM than use ReadyBoost.
Click to expand...

In my case with 2 gig of RAM and using Readyboost my PC seemed to slow
down! Everything I've read says Readyboost improves performance only if
you have less than 1 gig of RAM.

gls858
 
Quote
"Your computer apparently doesn't have access to Google, huh?
For the Google-impaired:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReadyBoost"


Yes it does, but the key part of my question was "or is it not that simple".
I simply wanted someone in the know to to confirm if I understood it all
correctly.

As to the rest of you, Thank you very much for your help.
It really is appreciated


<-><-><-><->
Big Rick
 
Big Rick said:
Hello Folks

Please can someone verify this or not.

If I were to purchase a 4 gig ReadyBoost enabled pen drive an plugged it
into my PC, Vista will look on this as 4 gig of internal working memory.

Or is it not that simple?

Your help is and always has been very much appreciated.
Thanking you in anticipation.
Click to expand...


ReadyBoost acts as a place for the page filing instead of the slower
harddrive. Supposedly it will speed up a laptoop with one GB RAM or less.
Nice idea but ..

In my attempt, it actually seemed to slow performance. So, instead, I went
out upgraded my laptop from 1GB RAM to 2 and the performance of the computer
improved a lot. Forget ReadyBoost and get RAM.

Saucy
 
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