Use ReadyBoost to Speed up Vista
ReadyBoost (a feature new to Windows Vista) uses a USB flash drive or a secure digital (SD) memory card to cache data that would otherwise need to be read from the much slower hard disk. Windows Vista uses SuperFetch technology to automatically determine which data to cache. Instructions after the jump, or read my ReadyBoost performance test results.
Some day, hard disks will have a ReadyBoost cache built into them. The disks have already been announced, but not many of us have them in our hands yet. Until then, you can use ReadyBoost by connecting a fast USB flash drive or SD card. Some will show the phrase “Enhanced for Windows ReadyBoost” on the packaging, but this isn’t required.
After connecting your flash storage, AutoPlay will automatically ask whether to enable ReadyBoost. Just click Speed up my system. If this isn’t an option, Vista decided your flash drive or the bus you connected it to wasn’t fast enough to make it worthwhile. Get something faster, and be sure to connect it to a USB 2.0 port. To use ReadyBoost, the device must support USB 2.0, be at least 256MB (with 64KB free) and less than 4GB, and have at least a 2.5MB/sec throughput for 4k random reads, and a 1.75MB/sec throughput for 512k random writes. Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell ahead of time whether a device will be fast enough, but most new thumbdrives will be fine. Here are some flash drive performance tests that can help you choose. Ignore what the device says about its performance–that’s measured sequentially. Hard disks are much faster than flash memory for sequential reads, so ReadyBoost won’t use your flash drive unless it needs to read non-sequentially.
Windows Vista will display the storage properties dialog box. Click Use this device, and select the amount of space you want to dedicate–more is better. Then, click OK.
You probably won’t notice a huge performace difference. ReadyBoost can only help improve disk I/O performance, so it won’t make your games any faster.
If you take out the flash drive, ReadyBoost will be disabled. Your computer will be fine, though, because the files stored on the flash memory are only temporary copies. Data on the flash memory is encrypted to protect privacy using AES-128 encryption.
In the future, hard disks with flash memory built-in will help improve disk performance, but more importantly, they’ll reduce power usage on portable computers. It takes less power to access flash memory than a hard disk, and Vista should be able to power down the hard disk and use flash memory exclusively some of the time. In response to this article, a reader asked a detailed question about ReadyBoost performance.
For more information, read the Windows Vista Resource Kit (co-authored by your very own Tony Northrup). Got a question for Tony? Send an e-mail to qa@vistaclues.com.
Posted: December 13th, 2006 under Performance.
Comments: 7
Comments
Pingback from Vista Clues » Reader Question: ReadyBoost size - Windows Vista help
Time: December 14, 2006, 3:53 am
[…] Indera writes (in response to my original ReadyBoost article): […]
Pingback from Vista Clues » ReadyBoost Performance Test - Windows Vista help
Time: December 14, 2006, 3:09 pm
[…] If you have a slow hard disk, ReadyBoost (see instructions for setting up ReadyBoost) offers a significant performance boost. In my tests, adding a standard USB flash drive to a computer with a WEI disk rating of 3.7 reduced startup time about 30%. Adding ReadyBoost to computers with a WEI disk rating of 5.0 or higher did not improve startup time, but might slightly improve performance after startup. Future “Enhanded for ReadyBoost” flash drives will probably make more of a difference. […]
Pingback from Examining ReadyBoost Performance - Windows Vista help
Time: January 3, 2007, 11:25 pm
[…] The idea behind ReadyBoost is that you can plug in a USB flash drive and make your computer a little faster. You really shouldn’t obsess on it. After all, any performance gains you realize will quickly be lost if you spend hours analyzing whether it’s working or not. […]
Comment from Sudhir
Time: October 8, 2007, 1:30 pm
If I leave my flash drive even after I shut it down and re-start it, vista is not automatically allocating the memory on the flash drive on boot-up. I am having to once again go to the properties of the drive and change settings. Is there some way I can use readyboost right from startup.
Comment from Nick
Time: March 2, 2008, 5:58 pm
This is undoubtedly NOT a good idea. Flash memory, especially flash memory on usb drives, is quite slow. 7200 RPM hard drives are much fater, although laptop 5400 RPM drives are about equal. You might as well use a normal pagefile. In fact, you could do this long before Vista with a tad more technical knowledge.
The other reason this is dumb is because unlike hard drives, flash memory has LIMITED WRITE CYCLES! If you write to flash too much, it will wear out and stop working. Think of all the random files Vista is caching on your flash drive. It is sure to wear out within a few weeks. At that rate, you might as well spend the $50 or so to get enough RAM and have a truly faster computer.
In fact, if you care about money anyway, you should either: a. use XP because you don’t need as much RAM, or b. use linux because it needs even less and is free to download and install.
Also, if you need a faster hard drive, you cold simply install a second one and set them up in a RAID 1 configuration to effectively double speed. Then ReadyBoost will have no effect anyway.
I’m surprised that Microsoft came up with an idea this stupid (NOT!).
Comment from jeff
Time: March 2, 2008, 6:49 pm
Wouldn’t it be easier to just go back to windows XP?
Comment from hamzeh
Time: March 2, 2008, 9:12 pm
i cant use Readyboost beckuse i dont have usb 2.0
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