Microsoft has claimed that Windows Vista has been designed to help older computers run Windows Vista better. This feature is ReadyBoost. It tries to give your computer a high-speed memory. Instead of copying data in Paging File on Hard Disk which is quite slow method, ReadyBoost uses a high speed alternative i.e. USB storage device. As a result, you get some boost in performance.
Minimum performance and space requirements:
- The removable media must be at least 256 MB (250 after formatting)
- Devices larger than 4 GB will have only 4 GB used for ReadyBoost
- The access time of device should be 1 ms or less
- Windows can only use fast flash memory to speed up your computer. The read speeds of device must be capable of 2.5 MB/s for 4 KB random reads.
- The removable device must contain at least 256 megabytes (MB) of space to work with Windows ReadyBoost.
- All File Systems like FAT16, FAT32 or NTFS are supported.
The system itself analyses your USB device for required performance characteristics, and if found suitable, it will use USB device rather than Paging File. If you are unsure of your USB device, just try before a you settle for a decision. To turn on ReadyBoost, follow these steps:
- Plug in USB storage device.
- Go to Computer and right click on the removable storage device and select Properties.
- You will see a ReadyBoost tab. Click on that.
- Select Use this device and select the amount of space on it you want to dedicate for the ReadyBoost system file.
- Click OK
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