A very simple feature added to all Windows Vista
products is "ReadyBoost". ReadyBoost is an exterior
add-on system memory (RAM) feature that uses your
USB drive to store commonly used files so that Vista
doesn't have to go looking for these files on your
hard drive. The flash drive that is used must meet
with some general performance specifications in
order to be used with ReadyBoost. ReadyBoost's
minimum performance and space requirements are as
follows:
-
The
device must be at least 64 MB
-
The
device must be USB 2.0
-
It
has to be able to read at 3.5 MB/s
-
It
has to be able to write at 2.5 MB/s
Once you install your USB flash drive, Windows Vista
will perform a performance check automatically to
ensure that it is fast enough to work with the
ReadyBoost feature. If it fails this test, you will
receive a prompt notifying you of this. If it
passes, you will be asked if you would like to use
this device with ReadyBoost. You are able to specify
how much of the flash drives storage you would like
to use with ReadyBoost. The rest of the memory would
of course be available for file transfers and such.
Currently, USB flash drive manufactures are not
producing any kind of "ReadyBoost" capable
notifications on their products, so it is impossible
to tell if the one that you've purchased will in
fact work with ReadyBoost. Just make sure that you
save your receipt so that you can return it.
Also, if you are running a machine that has decent
memory installed already. You may not notice much of
a benefit of using ReadyBoost. But, as your system
gets older and you have installed many more
applications on your hard drive, this feature may
save you from having to go under the hood and
install more internal random access memory (RAM).
[Top]
