ReadyBoost - Do you use it?

I've been thinking that when I get my 1720 (whenever the heck Dell decides to finish making it) I'd be interested in using Vista's ReadyBoost feature. I know you can use SD cards and USB memory sticks, and of course they have to be certified for it, but I'm not sure which way I want to go, and I thought I'd see if anyone here uses it or knows about it. I'm thinking of going with a 4GB SD card, and I noted that on the side of the laptop is an 8-in-1 card reader. Does that mean I could just slip the SD card in that slot and be good to go?

 

I have a 16GB Flash Drive, will that work with Ready Boost? What performance enhancements does it give?

 

Apparently the maximum size for ReadyBoost is 4GB. Also, the memory stick has to operate at a minimum of 2.5GB/sec (I think) transfer rate. When you plug the memory in Vista is supposed to test it and see if it's fast enough, so it'll let you know, but several companies make sticks that are specifically for that function.

 

well for making the drive use te ready boost.. you right-click the drive and click properties, then click the readyboost tab... youll know what to do from there...

i read somewhere that the flash memory used is perfect for handling all the small bits of data as it has a sort of higher response speed... compared to the HDD, well that is slower at doing the smaller files but better for the bigger ones... something like that anyway...

 

I keep a SD card in my card reader for readyboost.

 

i've read that Readyboost isn't really effective once you have 2gigs or more of RAM.

 

You're talking about the 8-in-1 card slot on the side of the laptop?

 

It's also supposed to greatly increase bootup and shutdown times, and I think that's half the reason I want it.

 

yea i use a 1 gig sd micro card in the reader for ready boost also not sure it does anything but it would just sit in a drawer untill needed anyhow

 

I did some research - there is an excellent article to be found here:

Basically if you already have 2gb+ RAM in your computer, it's not going to do much for you.

 

Thanks Freshness. A quote from said article:

"For memory configurations 1GB or higher, ReadyBoost does not improve system performance, at least not enough for you to notice it.

So there you have it. ReadyBoost can slightly improve performance for users with minimal amounts of system RAM, particularly when it comes to application and boot time."

 

Interesting. Well, then I guess that's $40 or so I don't need to worry about spending. Thanks for the info!

 

It can also make a difference with slow hardrives, but 5400rpm or higher wont see much of an impact.

 

Seems to me like Ready Boost was an exercise in making sure that 'legacy' hardware could run an acceptable user experience through Windows Vista.

A nice touch, really.

 

yep, it worked rather well when i was heavy multi-tasking with Vista on my 1gig desktop. since i upgraded to 2 gigs of RAM, though, i've been much better off.

 

You really need to have 1GB or less in order for it to do anything, otherwise it either does nothing and just uses *that* much more power...or it actually DECREASES your system performance...

 

Readyboost doesn't do anything for a cold boot. It is not a hard disk cache (that's ReadyDrive, and Vista won't do Readydrive on a removable flash disk, only with built-in flash such as Intel Turbo Memory or hybrid hard drives).

There is a lot of confusion about Readyboost. It merely stores the pagefile in nonvolatile flash memory. If you are running more programs than you have RAM for, Windows (including previous versions) will dump sections of RAM out onto the hard disk. If you are switching programs a lot, this leads to hard disk thrashing. Readyboost writes the contents of RAM to flash AND HD (just in case you remove the flash drive), but it reads from flash and not from the HD.

There is nothing magic about 1GB vs 2GB RAM; these articles quote specific numbers only to simplify for the general populace. Readyboost has more benefit if you have a small amount of RAM but are running lots of programs and services. It may not have any benefit even if you have only 1GB RAM, if you have pruned your startup programs and services and don't open more than one or two windows at a time. Conversely, Readyboost may help even if you have 2GB or ~3.5GB RAM, if you have lots of programs and services loaded and like to keep lots of windows open.

Getting more RAM is better than getting a larger flash drive, because with enough RAM you may not need to write to the pagefile at all; but flash is cheaper.

An SD card is better than an USB key, because it doesn't stick out (much) and you can leave it there and forget about it.

 

I agree with Chuckles for the most part regarding readyboost. However, I prefer a USB key to the SD card (tried them both). The reason is with the USB key, I can see the LED flashing which means Readyboost is working. Because of a bug in Vista, sometimes the readyboost sfcache file gets deleted and you won't even notice that the readyboost is not working anymore unless you can see the LED going on and off.

I find readyboost gives an improvement when I run cache intensive applications such as VMWare.

 

For the 8 in 1 card readers on the vostros and inspirons which 8 formats does it support exactly?, I cant seem to find any info on dells site or google, thanks.

 

If you need a flashing light to indicate that it's working, I presume you cannot notice any tangible speed improvements and it's just a placebo effect?