pcworld.com — Windows Vista's Windows ReadyBoost sounds too good to be true, and based on our extensive lab tests, it is. The technology promises to let you speed up Windows by plugging an inexpensive USB flash drive into your PC. But we found that while ReadyBoost may speed up Vista a tiny bit, it can also slow it down in some instances.
May 16, 2007 View in Crawl 4
cynicistMay 17, 2007
I would rather just buy more/faster system memory...
Closed AccountMay 17, 2007
I used it and it caused several apps to crash often. I finally just formatted and use ubuntu now. *will never go back* I guess if vista didnt eat over 60% of my 2gb at idle, i wouldn't of needed ready boost to start with.
edlesmannMay 17, 2007
"Just because other OSes does not have this feature...."Umm, I have never used Ready Boost so maybe I am off on this but the concept, as I understand it from reading the white papers, has been available for years under Linux. It is a pretty trivial task to mount a swap partition on a USB stick. There are even GUI programs out there that do this for you.About 3 years ago I got my hands on several USB flash drives and set up a striped RAID0 swap partition on them based on a conversation I had with someone I met who told me of this idea. It was pretty cool and all but at the time hard drives were cheaper and faster so I eventually abandoned the idea and used the memory sticks for other purposes.Nevertheless the concept has been around for a long time in other OS's. Unless Microsoft has some new clever algorithm that makes their version far superior to other implementations, then Microsoft is way late to this game.
erikerikerikMay 17, 2007
MS even says a "2-1 ratio" is a good rule of thumb. 2megs of readyboost to 1 meg of real ram. However after 4gigs of RAM, ready boost just might not be needed any more.
erikerikerikMay 17, 2007
You forgot the Linux folks. oh oh, lets not forget the BSD while I'm at it.or the OSxBut what about the guys that Run and XP-Box running Virtual-Machine -> OSx running and instant of Vista AND Red-hat at the same time.Muhahhaah.. oh my poor CPU hates me.-----I know, me ranting, dig down freely.but god will hate you if you!
grumpyrainMay 17, 2007
Don't mind me, just testing out the block user button.
kazrogMay 17, 2007
Reminds me of those silly PCMCIA RAM upgrades back in the early 90s. This seems like a massive step backwards. Screw Vista, get a Mac!
robmillJul 1, 2007
Well, have to put my 2 cents in. When I first read about this I was also questioning, ya right. But what the heck. 2gb USB drive 20 bucks, and I can always use the storage if it does not work.I have an Dell Inspiron 8500, P4 2.20ghz with 1 1gb and 1 256mg chip. 40 gb harddrive. When I loaded Vista for the first time I only had 512 in the machine, and immediately went out and to a 1gb chip, but at 75 to 150 bucks, man. I basically run strait windows apps.Other apps I use are SonicStage, Slingplayer, VLC. Slingplayer takes the longest to load.Well, after inserting the Sandisk 2gb USB drive, it took me about 2 minutes to get everything set up. Started up SlingPlayer, and it loaded much quicker. The Standard Windows apps Outlook was the slowest loader. and again, much much quicker.I'm satisified.
ren1999Apr 8, 2009
ReadyBoost created a 3.6 Gigabyte file on my woman's 4 Gigabyte Memory Stick. Microsoft Vista sucks!