Fastest USB Readyboost drives?

I've been doing some research into Vista Readyboost and it's so hard to find comparisons between different USB drives.

From what I've read, the cheapest drives probably aren't going to be the fastest (duh!), and also the official "read / write times" don't really correspond to the performance gain for Readyboost purposes - instead we need to get details on the random access times.

So I'm wondering if anybody has an absolute "gem" of a USB drive that they are using for Readyboost? Could you post your system specifications and your performance improvements please - e.g. windows; games(!!!)

I think Readyboost also has greater rewards for slower hard drives - e.g. 5,400?

Also, does Readyboost (via USB drive) work at the same time as an Intel Turbomemory module (1GB Robson I think).

 

You wont see much gains if you have 2gb RAM or more. Waste of money, you would get alot more performance buying real RAM

 

If you have 2GB of RAM or more, ReadyBoost does not matter. You are better off buying RAM.

ReadyBoost is a technology meant to give older computers a chance to run Vista.

 

Agreed with messages above, but to answer the OPs question. Corsair Voyager GT USB drives are likely the fastest.

 

Unfortunately they don't seem to be as fast as they used to be, supposedly the recent production has brought the speed down from 30MB/s to the somewhat 'norm' 22MB/s.

Supposedly the switch from SLC to MLC killed speed.

Picking up a Patriot Xplorist 8GB tonight for $30 gonna see what it has to offer.

 

People seem to say that 2GB of RAM makes Readyboost fairly pointless, and I've read articles saying the same thing, but also articles saying the opposite!

I guess it depends on the actual quality of the USB drive too, and from what I've read you need to look at the "random access times" rather than the posted maximum read / write speeds.

Given that USB memory is so simple to use (I'm a little unsure about RAM upgrades - opening the hood and all the static blah blah - and also buying faulty RAM), I would pay the £10-20 if I got a performance boost in games.

 

OCZ claims that it the Rally 2 stick is fast. It's somewhere up close to the limit for USB 2 (see the attached HD Tune plot).

John

 

Infact, readyboost makes your comp. slower because its Runs in the background & consumes 10% CPU ..

So you better buy RAM instead of USB drive..

 

That's at about 50% of the actual speed USB can attain. I've had a few devices top out at around 40MB/s.

 

I'd love to know how you get that to happen. Even my external HDDs only reach around 25MB/s when I know the peak performance is double that.

John

 

Below is the benchmark for my 4gb Sandisk cruzer, the drive was full when i bench'd it so i dont know if its accurate.



My external HDD reached 27mbps maximum aswell

 

Me to Greg..espescially with Vista. I find that speed drops for every USB device added using HDTune.

 

That sandisk seems to have good specs for Readyboost - the 0.9 access time is probably the most important thing I guess, since it's the random read / write speeds (not the sequential read / write speeds) that make the difference. I might have a look at getting one!

 

That is because the main controller/chipset can only handle so much data throughput. Not surprising.

Again, get more RAM. You'll get a better performing computer than had you purchased the USB stick.

 

Dont buy a usb stick just to use for Readyboost. Invest it in real RAM if your after performance

I bought mine for storage use

 

Well I'm not really much of an *ace* once it comes to opening up my laptop and fiddling around with it. I would also need to get my hands on at least one, probably two 2GB sticks of 667MHz good quality and reliable RAM (because I don't think I want to go through the trauma of defective sticks). So I hadn't really looked into it as a real possibility :S But maybe I'll take a closer look now. I agree that RAM would be a lot lot better, I just fancied the Readyboost for the easy solution!

 

To answer the OP's question - the fastest USB drive I know of is the OCZ ATV Turbo at 30-35 MB/s in read speed.

Here's a review of it:
http://www.everythingusb.com/ocz_atv_turbo_4gb_13894.html

But as others have said, memory is fairly cheap these days and this USB drive, while fast, will set you back close to $80.

 

The max ive seen on USB 2.0 was 31mbps with my external 2.5" HDD

 

You could train a monkey to change the RAM for you. Its very easy, its usually a small compartment beneath your notebook with a cover held on by 2 screws

 

weren't all of those tests on Readyboost vs. 2GB real RAM done prior to Vista SP1?

SP1 is supposed to fix some Readyboost issues.


http://technet2.microsoft.com/Windo...283a-4341-9a8a-ca6eb86ac8a41033.mspx?mfr=true

 

I don't have much experience with ReadyBoost, but about the fastest USB drive, when I was shopping for one, I did some search and looked at some comparison tests. The ATP ToughDrive came out on top of Corsair and OCZ.

http://flash.atpinc.com/products/view.php?product_id=1178

Also, this thing is water resistant.

 

Since this thread was revived here was the test from that Patriot Xporter XT 8GB I bought;


The my Voyager GT 2GB;


Kinda dissapointing as my old GT was much faster over 30MB/s, unfortunately I gave that to my sister to take on holiday because it's rugged and easy to carry (unlike most rugged ones), may ask to swap back in the summer.

(My OCZ Rally2 is in the LG SuperBlu player and I don't want to bother taking it out, but it was slower than the GT [which is why it's in the BR player] it hovered just under/over 20 MB/s).

Anywhoo just to add info to the thread since it was reborn.