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Comments on: Speed up Windows Vista with a flash drive

If you use Windows Vista, you can make it less sluggish with an old USB drive you may have lying around.

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by paul.saulnier August 11, 2008 12:27 PM PDT

In all honesty, is this even worth taking up a USB port for? I've read that ReadyBoost doesn't offer much of a speed boost, and can even slow your system down in some cases. In all instances, you're probably better off just installing more RAM.

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by Lerianis August 11, 2008 3:18 PM PDT: Believe me, it gives a HUGE speed boost, in all honesty, and for a good price with the 2-4GB SD Memory cards and USB Flash drives that are out now.; Like this

by Nando67 August 11, 2008 1:07 PM PDT

Instead of using a USB drive, wouldn't it be much more convenient and FASTER to a computer's own internal drive or secondary drive (as in setting a paging file)? Also, when using the USB drive for extra memory, what happens if I eject it during use?

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by Lerianis August 11, 2008 3:14 PM PDT: You shouldn't do that. It will not mess things up, but it might get Windows a little 'confused' and that is not good.
But, unless you accidentally bump the thing (not an issue with SD memory cards), it shouldn't be a big problem.; Like this


by Cromagnon35 August 11, 2008 1:44 PM PDT: This works great on a laptop with a built-in card reader. And the performance increase I see is significant, particulary on loading of apps.; Like this Reply to this comment


by techguy00000 August 11, 2008 4:47 PM PDT: It can increase tasks somewhat greatly in some cases... mostly depending on your own system's current configuration. You can find out more online about certain results. And, *of course* installing new ram is better, faster, etc... but ReadyBoost offers a very convenient extra use for your USB drive (especially when adding RAM isn't possible (32-bit, costs dep. on current config.) Also.. you can use a just as fast SD card! (and it will be mostly hidden)

The second comment... HDD are only faster for sequential disk writes... otherwise flash is significantly faster... paging on a HDD is comparably much much slower and is still good but for a different situation.

Also, ReadyBoost stores the file ReadyBoost.sfcache on your flash drive which is the reference file, but also stores a dup copy directly on your HDD. If you remove the USB while in use? Nothing. The computer recognizes that it can't access that file any longer, and immediately reads from the dup'ed file.

And, like comment three.. it works great with SuperFetch.; Like this Reply to this comment


by tanweb August 11, 2008 5:35 PM PDT: I remember reading somewhere that it is only useful if you have under 2 gigs of ram.; Like this Reply to this comment


by i_am_still_wade August 11, 2008 6:01 PM PDT: RAM is cheaper and better. Anandtech did a review on ReadyBoost and found it to be a waste.; Like this Reply to this comment


by Forked_Tongue August 11, 2008 6:15 PM PDT: I think most people would be much better off upping their memory and going with a faster hard drive, most people's computers suffer more due to insufficient ram by not bumping up what came with the system.; Like this Reply to this comment


by j_a_s_p_e_r August 11, 2008 6:25 PM PDT: The sysadmin at my company did some experients and found a significant boost in speed with laptops (my RAID HDD system found no benefit). Please beware that not all USB flash drives are equal, do some research online to find the best for readyboost.; Like this Reply to this comment


by j_a_s_p_e_r August 11, 2008 7:25 PM PDT: missed the m in experiments; Like this Reply to this comment


by ckdex November 7, 2008 8:27 PM PST: i bought a kingston 8gb data traveler flash drive, plugged it in to a port, and attempted to boost my speed. i got the follwing message ..this device does not have the required performance characteristics for use in speeding up your systm"....the atricle does not specify that a 'specific type" of flash drive is needed. this doesnt work! Does any one have any suggestions?; Like this Reply to this comment


by dmcmanam February 26, 2009 6:29 PM PST: Vista is horribly bloated and slow. I gave up and switched to Linux and my PC runs fine again, a lot less waiting although I do miss the spinning circles on occasion.; Like this Reply to this comment

(13 Comments)

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