Vista - ready boost

[Alastair Brown]

Anyone got anything good/bad to say about using this feature with Vegas?

If you haven't heard of this, in Vista, if you plug in a USB memory stick, Vista will give you the option of using it for Ready Boost which basically utilisies it for additional memory. I think 4Gb is the size limit.

[Jeff Harper]

I researched it thoroughly last year, Alastair, don't remember all the details. However as I recall if you have 4GB of ram, ReadyBoost is of no value. It believe it is designed to assist with configurations with less than that amount of RAM.

There is detailed info about it on Microsoft's site, but I coudn't find it for you.

As I recall during my research no one raved about or thought it was anything special but some said it helped a little bit.

[Chris Barcellos]

So how do you ask Vista to do that ?

[Harold Brown]

Originally Posted by Chris Barcellos

So how do you ask Vista to do that ?

It's easy to use Windows ReadyBoost. When a removable memory device such as a USB flash drive or a secure digital (SD) memory card is first inserted into a port, Windows Vista checks to see if its performance is fast enough to work with Windows ReadyBoost. If so, you are asked if you want to use this device to speed up system performance. You can choose to allocate part of a USB drive's memory to speed up performance and use the remainder to store files.

Explore the features: Windows ReadyBoost

I have 4gig of memory and also 4gig ready boost. I really don't notice anything different when I tested it but I still have it installed. I think it basically helps programs launch faster.

[Chris Barcellos]

Thanks I just added a one gig to my 3 gig machine. We'll see how it goes.

[Jeff Harper]

I now remember after reading the article below that you need to use a USB stick that meets certain strict criteria, and that many, if not most do not meet these criteria. I also remember now, as the article says, if you have 1GB of RAM or more, there is virtually no difference made with the feature.

I also remember in my shopping for a USB stick for this purpose some of them are actually certified for ReadyBoost. Newegg lists this in the specs for USB sticks if the device is certified for ReadyBoost. FWIW I realized that after the stick arrived in the mail it was obvious it was not going to do much good, and I gave up on the whole deal. You could say it was, for me, much ado about nothing.

Chris: Below is a good review of the ready boost feature that goes into detail if you're interested.

Microsoft Windows Vista & ReadyBoost: Does it Make a Difference? - PCSTATS.com