How to Speed up your computer with Windows 7 ReadyBoost ?
On the post Can I use a Pendrive/Flash drive/USB stick as RAM to increase system memory? I explained why a pen drive cannot increase system memory . But some confused it with Readyboost facility provided by Microsoft.Ready boost does not increase RAM but uses a different technology.I'll explain you how ready boost works.
Every system uses a process called caching which makes system perform at feasible speed.In caching, system stores frequently accessed data in high speed memory(Cache memory).There are two types of caching
- CPU Caching : Small memories on or close to the CPU can operate faster than the much larger main memory.This principle is used in CPU caching.
- Disk Caching : Here the difference is that there is no separate memory area or a device but it is a part of main memory that is used for caching data from Hard disk.(Remember Hard disk is 1000x slower than RAM aka main memory)
Some USB storage devices contain both slow and fast flash memory, and Windows
can only use fast flash memory to speed up your computer. So if your
device contains both slow and fast memory, keep in mind that you can
only use the fast memory portion for this purpose.
The recommended amount of memory to use for Windows
ReadyBoost acceleration is one to three times the amount of random
access memory (RAM) installed in your computer. For instance, if your
computer has 512 megabytes (MB) of RAM and you plug in a 4 gigabyte
(GB) USB flash drive, setting aside from 512 MB to 1.5 GB of that drive
will offer the best performance boost. The minimum size for any USB
flash drive to work with Windows ReadyBoost is 256 MB.
How to Turn ReadyBoost on or off for a removable storage device ?
1.Plug a USB drive into the computer and it should autoplay(if not click here to trouble shoot).
2.Under General Options, click Speed up my system
3.Click the ReadyBoost tab, and then do one of the following and click OK:
- To turn ReadyBoost off, click Do not use this device
- To turn ReadyBoost on, click Use this device, and then move the slider to choose how much of the available space on your flash drive you want to reserve for boosting your system speed.
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