Solved general advice on using readyboost

[carl424]

Hello everyone

I needed a usb flash drive, so i thought i would order one that was compatable with vistas readyboost.

I have been reading about about it breifly, and it seems to work for some people but not others, but i take it, thats going by everybodys machine is different, but doe's it generally work, like if you are using big resoruces like aero with transparancy, as i am not sure where the performance gains will be, or what you you can run before noticing any performance boost.

just some general advice really or any tips.

I have currently got 2gb of ram

 

[Brink]

Hello Carl,

ReadyBoost could help with your computer's performance some, but adding more RAM, up to 4GB total in your case, or faster RAM would add the best performance increase instead though. It depends on your motherboard for what you could add though.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[carl424]

Hello Carl,

ReadyBoost could help with your computer's performance some, but adding more RAM, up to 4GB total in your case, or faster RAM would add the best performance increase instead though. It depends on your motherboard for what you could add though.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Hello Brink

Yes adding more system ram is the best option, which i am planning to do at some point.
But just curious over this readyboost, you say it "could help with your computers performance some" ?.

When i come to give it a try, and thats all it is for now, just wanting to try it out.
I would be sitting at the computer and thinking how do i know if this is benifitting me in some way.

Is there something you can do or somewhere to look to see if you are getting any benifit, i could be using it and it is not making no difference what so ever. and i woulden't know it

Would doing a sysytem health check before and after show anything

 

[Brink]

I suppose that if you run some benchmarking type programs you may see a slight increase in performance in the results.

 

[carl424]

I suppose that if you run some benchmarking type programs you may see a slight increase in performance in the results.

OK brink. i can only give this a try, just to see what its like or not like.....

There are a few things i am still not sure of if you are using readyboost though, like shutting the compter down, do you have to start the computer up again with the usb flash drive already inserted, or can you insert it at anytime.?

And does this work with the hibernation feature..?


(sorry to be going on a bit brink)

I just like to make a lot of notes before i try these things

 

[Brink]

No problem Carl.

Vista will make use of ReadyBoost as long as you have the USB drive connected, but before you disconnect it, you will need to use the Safely Remove Hardware icon in your notification area (right corner on taskbar) to disconnect the USB drive first to make sure nothing is being saved to or read from the USB drive.

The hibernation file is always only stored on the hard drive.

 

[carl424]

OK brink

Thankyou for your help and advice (as always)

I look forward to trying this out, if i have any problems i will post back

 

[carl424]

No problem Carl.

Vista will make use of ReadyBoost as long as you have the USB drive connected, but before you disconnect it, you will need to use the Safely Remove Hardware icon in your notification area (right corner on taskbar) to disconnect the USB drive first to make sure nothing is being saved to or read from the USB drive.

Not sure about this, but i plugged in the usb i use for readyboost, and the readyboost cache file was still there automatically on screen.

But today it had disappeared and i had to go through "use this device again"and set whatever memory i wanted to allocate to the usb is this normal. or maybe i should have waited a minute or two.

I have read that this does happen, and people have been reformatting there usb
But i'am not sure you have to do this and why.

as you know the usb is FAT32, so reformatting it to NTFS would this still be ok to use for readyboost.

But as i said , this might not be the problem...


Any idea's i'll see how it goes today........Thanks brink and other member;s

O by the way what do these horizontal numbers mean

 

[Brink]

Carl,

You may have just needed to refresh the Computer window for it to it was being used for ReadyBoost still. I ejected mine, then reconnected it and had to refresh to see that it was in use.

The numbers on the left side are % of use.

 

[carl424]

Carl,

You may have just needed to refresh the Computer window for it to it was being used for ReadyBoost still. I ejected mine, then reconnected it and had to refresh to see that it was in use.

The numbers on the left side are % of use.

great brink its been ok today, but i will remember this.
Once you remove the usb, are the contents of the cache file deleted

 

[Brink]

The cache on the USB key will remain. It's like a temp buffer though, so Windows will add and remove what it needs from it at will. If you remove it, then some may still be in the cache on the USB key. It will most likely just get overwritten the next time you use it with what Windows needs it for at that time though.

 

[carl424]

Vista will make use of ReadyBoost as long as you have the USB drive connected,

thankyou for that last reply brink..

Can leaving the usb plugged in , and using the hibernation feature cause any problems.

I think it did once if i remember, but that might have been put right by now

 

[Brink]

If you are going to have the USB key dedicated for ReadyBoost, then yes it would be best to just leave it plugged. You might plug it in one of the USB ports on the back of the computer case so it would help to not be removed by mistake. It will not cause any problems to leave it connected.

 

[whs]

The cache file is also on your OS partition - as security when you remove the stick. When the stick is removed, the system will continue to work from there. On your stick, the files are not deleted, but they are "old news" when you put it back in - so they are useless.
BTW: with 2GB of RAM, you should not expect any performance wonders adding Ready Boost. But it will reduce your disk activity.

 

[carl424]

If you are going to have the USB key dedicated for ReadyBoost, then yes it would be best to just leave it plugged..

Sorry brink, i could have worded that better.
Yes leaving it plugged in all the time, but if your putting your computer into hibernation with the usb still plugged in, would this cause any problems

I am having a few probles all of a sudden.
the usb was plugged in all the time, and i had been looking at the bytes cached in the performance monitor, that was fine, and went on to do something else...
The computer was still left on all the time, i then come to remove the usb using safely remove hardware, but got the usual "please close any other program that maybe using this device" try again later.. this kept on all the time..

So i had a look at the D: drive and there was no such readyboost cache file there, the drive was completely empty, showing 8gb as available
How bizzare.

I have set it up again, and it working fine at the moment, i keep having a look to see if its there.:D

.
BTW: with 2GB of RAM, you should not expect any performance wonders adding Ready Boost. But it will reduce your disk activity.

Thanks whs

Yes i gathered as much from what i have been reading, but at least i am gaining a bit of knowledge about readyboost..

 

[Brink]

Carl,

You can click on Continue to still safely remove the USB drive.

​

 

[carl424]

Carl,

You can click on Continue to still safely remove the USB drive.

View attachment 16809
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that dialog brink, is different than mine, i am sure i only have the OK option

 

[MilesAhead]

If you are going to have the USB key dedicated for ReadyBoost, then yes it would be best to just leave it plugged. You might plug it in one of the USB ports on the back of the computer case so it would help to not be removed by mistake. It will not cause any problems to leave it connected.

I don't use ReadyBoost. Just tried it for a few seconds to see if the key drive would work. But I'm curious. Supposedly these key drives only have so many writes until they die. Has anyone "ReadyBoosted" their USB Key to death yet?

 

[Brink]

Carl,

You can click on Continue to still safely remove the USB drive.

View attachment 16809
​

that dialog brink, is different than mine, i am sure i only have the OK option

Sorry, that was from Windows 7, so yes you would probably have Yes or OK instead to click on.

 

[Brink]

If you are going to have the USB key dedicated for ReadyBoost, then yes it would be best to just leave it plugged. You might plug it in one of the USB ports on the back of the computer case so it would help to not be removed by mistake. It will not cause any problems to leave it connected.

I don't use ReadyBoost. Just tried it for a few seconds to see if the key drive would work. But I'm curious. Supposedly these key drives only have so many writes until they die. Has anyone "ReadyBoosted" their USB Key to death yet?

To be honest, with RAM as cheap as it is, I just don't see the point of using ReadyBoost since you do not gain much or any noticable difference in performance (other than a bit less hard drive activity) when you have 3GB or more of RAM installed.

I have not heard of anyone ReadyBoosting their USB key to death yet, but they may have thought it was something else that caused it as well.