Using ReadyBoost with SD Memory feature won't stay on

I guess you could say I'm relatively new to Windows 7. After having read up on ReadyBoost and slipping a 2GB SD Memory card into the SD slot of my laptop, I enable the feature through the ReadyBoost tab of its properties panel.

Specifically I select the radio button: "Dedicate this device to ReadyBoost."

After hitting Apply > Ok, the Explorer GUI indicates that the memory is all utilized (in red) by ReadyBoost (ie I cannot use it for storing misc files anymore).... Perfect! Right?

So here's the problem.

The feature seems to stay on for a couple days or so. Then some day later, I'll happen to notice the SD is no longer dedicated (or used whatsoever) by ReadyBoost. So I'll re-enable it.

I have performed reboots, shutdowns, hibernations, sleeps, you name it and it always seems to work fine coming back to life. But without fail, given a few days, I'll be browsing the computer sometime and notice, "Hey, look at that. It's turned off again."

I'd love to hear from anyone that might know why this is happening. I'm sure there is a simple explanation, but I have no idea what that might be...

Thanks for any feedback.

 

I'm going to suggest you post this one in the Windows Sub-Fora. They'll be able to get you a better answer over there. Actually though, readyboost is a feature I've never used.

 

Is the Readyboost cache file still in the SD card when it disables?

Personally ive found this feature to be useless. I suggest you just increase your RAM if needed be.

 

Is the card formatted for FAT, FAT32, exFAT or NTFS. If you have another card I would try this out to see if it fails also. I would stay away from formatting it for NTFS because this can cause malfunctions with some card readers. I have my cards formatted for exFAT.

 

Formatted as FAT

Again today, ReadyBoost turns itself off it seems. No, there was no paging file present on the SD memory. Not until I re-enabled ReadyBoost. Then there was a file called ReadyBoost.sfcache...

I still don't know why it keeps disabling this feature.

 

I looked at two other discussions where they have had the same problem. The only one that claimed they had solved the problem set the card for optimize for performance in policy settings. I would still try another card and use only 90% of its capacity. I would also not use any card below a class 6. Ready boost continues to check a card even after it has accepted it as compatible. If it finds a problem it will shut it down.

 

Your SD card will likely be slower to access than your hard drive, even random access. Thus making ReadyBoost with it pretty much useless.

 

There is allot of misinformation going around about ReadyBoost. Here is a TR article that explains its real purpose and how it works. You can also keep tabs on its performance in windows 7. Keep tabs on ReadyBoost with Windows 7's Performance Monitor | Microsoft Windows | TechRepublic.com

 

Very nice link.

It's been one week since my last post, and ReadyBoost has been enabled and working fine all week. Last night I saw that it was indeed, still on. Today, I noticed it has turned itself off yet again!

Only thing that I can remember doing since last night was putting my laptop into Hibernate, and I'm sure I've done it many times before, no problem.

I will try using 90% of the card and see if that changes anything. I don't have a different card to try. I'm not sure if it's class 6 or not, and I'm not sure how to tell.

I don't think that is the case.

via reb1's link:
"During nonsequential read operations, ReadyBoost will jump in and essentially redirect SuperFetch to use the cache on the flash-based drive since a flash-based drive can outperform a hard disk for these types of read operations."