devyant Posted May 19, 2007 Share Posted May 19, 2007 (edited) Readyboost, the new technology introduced by Windows Vista, the latest OS offering from Microsoft. In a nutshell, this technology allows you to speed up your computer with just a flash drive. Of course, that particular flash drive has to first, pass the hardware speed test Windows will automatically put it through upon plugging in. The ReadyBoost feature did enhance my experience; everything runs a little faster. But, just a little. Don't expect great things to happen with a thumbdrive. I did some personal research and present to you a simplified FAQ. These are things that I feel you should know before you actually consider plunging that money for a thumbdrive which you might not even have any secondary use for. ReadyBoost 1a. What is ReadyBoost? It is a unique technology (at this point of time) in Windows Vista that allows you to speed up your computer through a flash drive such as a USB thumbdrive/key or card. It is used to increase access speed to the Window's Page File by storing and then accessing it on the flash drive. 1b. What is ReadyBoost NOT? It is NOT extra RAM, which is what a lot of obnoxious computer salesman trying to sell off something will try to tell you. A flash drive can NEVER ever replace a RAM in terms of access speed. 2a. How does it work? Because flash drive has faster "seek" times than common hard drives, therefore it is faster compared to accessing the hard drive, even though hard drive has a faster transfer speed. In laymen's term: Your hard drive is like a huge library, having lots and lots of books, which is your data. It is much harder to look for a book in a big library than a small one, which would be your thumb drive. Even if the big library is nearer to you (faster), the time taken to actually find that one book doesn't compare to going further (slower) to the smaller library and finding the book in a shorter time. 2b. Is it Safe? If you're worrying about privacy, information stored in the ReadyBoost cache is encrypted. This means that only Windows can understand the data stored. If you're worrying about losing data or system stability, ReadyBoost is just acting as a faster cache. Nothing will happen even if you suddenly unplug it. (contributed by Tantawi) 3. So will I benefit or not? Depends. If you have a computer with more than 2GB of RAM. No. Even if it does, it would be too hard to spot the change that a thumbdrive is an unjustified purchase. If you're like me, having only mere 512 MB or even 1 GB of RAM, you might see significant performances. 4. So what do I look out for if I decide to go ahead with it? Just two things: SPEED and SIZE. I would recommend 2 GB as a minimum for you to see any significant effect. The minimum is 256mb and the maximum size you can go is 4 GB. To know the speed of the drive, you need to do some homework. Fire up Google and read up some of the articles or discussions on the drives. 5. What do I have to beware of? Flash drives have limited read/write cycles. Although the official FAQ claims how "cleverly"? it will choose to read/write to it so that the drive can last up to 10 years even if using ReadyBoost on it constantly, do NOT risk it. If you are to use this technology, dedicate one drive to it. WARNING!!! DO NOT STORE IMPORTANT FILES ON A READYBOOST DRIVE!> I suggest that you also read up the Official FAQ by Tom Archer if this FAQ still leaves some lingering questions, or you can post your question here. I wish you luck, and a good experience with ReadyBoost. Edited May 20, 2007 by devyant Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/561515-readyboost-simplified/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tantawi Posted May 19, 2007 Share Posted May 19, 2007 Excellent guide devyant, I'm sure many will find the answers of their questions here. Also I wish if you could clarify the point that the flash driver used by ReadyBoost will hold a "cached" version of a portion of the pagefile, not a part of the pagefile itself and not any file exclusively, which means that if you unplug it while Windows is on nothing will happen, the system will back to read all pagefile from HDD without using any caching. Good work! Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/561515-readyboost-simplified/#findComment-588563855 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Lyle Global Moderator Posted May 19, 2007 Global Moderator Share Posted May 19, 2007 thanks for the information.. people ask me about readyboost.. and i tell them i don't know the hard core facts.. but this makes things a little clearer Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/561515-readyboost-simplified/#findComment-588563874 Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBear5587 Posted May 19, 2007 Share Posted May 19, 2007 Great information devyant (Y) I saw absolutely no performance gain from using ReadyBoost with 2Gb of RAM. Performance actually decreased when I upgraded to 4. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/561515-readyboost-simplified/#findComment-588565312 Share on other sites More sharing options...
wmgc Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Well done devyant.. But I actually saw no difference when using a 1GB ReadyBoost flashdrive on my 1GB RAM system !! Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/561515-readyboost-simplified/#findComment-588569032 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo Razgriz Posted July 15, 2007 Share Posted July 15, 2007 So it's pretty much insignificant on a 2GB+ system? Understood. :) Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/561515-readyboost-simplified/#findComment-588705685 Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr.bisho Posted July 15, 2007 Share Posted July 15, 2007 i see.... actually even on a 1gb system... nothing was worth it either :p Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/561515-readyboost-simplified/#findComment-588705694 Share on other sites More sharing options...
nub Posted July 15, 2007 Share Posted July 15, 2007 So why can't they build ReadyBoost in computer? Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/561515-readyboost-simplified/#findComment-588705704 Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtnDewCodeRedFreak Posted July 15, 2007 Share Posted July 15, 2007 Same here; I have 2 GB RAM and I hardly see the difference. Might as well use the 2-GB USB flash drive for backups then. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/561515-readyboost-simplified/#findComment-588705705 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smigit Posted July 15, 2007 Share Posted July 15, 2007 (edited) http://www.grantgibson.co.uk/misc/readyboost/ Above is a compatibility list that users have contributed to. It used to all be on one page but it seems its since been sectioned so only about 30 devices on each page. None the less its a useful page I guess. Just be aware that being a user test results are also subject to conflict due to the fact some people may have had the memory formatted poorly or in a slow card reader or whatever. It should act as a decent guide but. From what I can see the "compatible" list is 794 entries long and the incompatible another 471 so chances are most drives will be covered even if the same drive has been submitted multiple times (might help to sort by manufacturer too btw if looking for a particular drive). anyway on a besides I'm using it because I had a spare 4GB SD card that wasnt compatible with my camera so I just leave it in my Laptops card reader. Startup might be a tad faster but I havent done any tests to prove either way. So why can't they build ReadyBoost in computer? They *could* but what would be the point? Having extra ram would likely be more beneficial due to the fact it would also be faster than any USB or Flash drive even if it was internal/integrated into the mobo. You may as well just add more RAM. Edited July 15, 2007 by Smigit Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/561515-readyboost-simplified/#findComment-588705712 Share on other sites More sharing options...
chconline Veteran Posted July 15, 2007 Veteran Share Posted July 15, 2007 So why can't they build ReadyBoost in computer? They do, I believe some Asus motherboards have built in flash memory for this very purpose. :) Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/561515-readyboost-simplified/#findComment-588705715 Share on other sites More sharing options...
well... Posted July 15, 2007 Share Posted July 15, 2007 yeah its called an 'acellerated propeller' 'A more intriguing feature of this Vista Edition motherboard is the integrated ReadyBoost module, which Asus calls the Asus Accelerated Propeller, or ASAP. It's essentially the guts of a 512MB flash drive soldered into a mid-board USB header.' Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/561515-readyboost-simplified/#findComment-588705725 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisSiteHasLostItsCharm Posted July 15, 2007 Share Posted July 15, 2007 i'd like to know if the following is true or false, can't remember where or who said this but someone said disabling readyboost would be bad as it's linked in some way to boot speed and disabling would cause vista to boot slower than usual, is that bs or fact? Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/561515-readyboost-simplified/#findComment-588705729 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisSiteHasLostItsCharm Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 hmmm.....lack of reply suggests this is bs then, or no body knows? Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/561515-readyboost-simplified/#findComment-588707728 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViperAFK Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 hmmm.....lack of reply suggests this is bs then, or no body knows? The readyboost service is also the readyboot service which speeds up booting by using a boot cache (In RAM) so you shouldn't disable it. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/561515-readyboost-simplified/#findComment-588708178 Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwjw1 Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 The readyboost service is also the readyboot service which speeds up booting by using a boot cache (In RAM) so you shouldn't disable it. sure your not confusing 'readyboost' with 'SuperFetch'....readyboost requires a flash drive....and wasn't there some talk about HDD's having 'flash chips' intergrated or something like that. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/561515-readyboost-simplified/#findComment-588708212 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViperAFK Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 sure your not confusing 'readyboost' with 'SuperFetch'....readyboost requires a flash drive....and wasn't there some talk about HDD's having 'flash chips' intergrated or something like that. No, readyboost, and readyboot ARE different, but they do share the same service, so disabling readyboost will disable readyboot also. http://forums.pcpitstop.com/index.php?showtopic=141804 http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetma...03/VistaKernel/ Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/561515-readyboost-simplified/#findComment-588714677 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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