Topic: Is it possible to use a flash drive as extra ram?

[cobaltazule]

 Yesterday I went to a computer store to purchase a ram expansion card. While I was there the salesperson suggested I use a flash drive(Sandisc 2gig Titanium) as an extension of ram. Is it possible or was he just trying to sell me something?
He said I could just plug it in and have an extra 2 gigs of ram space. Has anyone out there in SCforumland heard of such a thing?
  Regards
    Robert

[Samker]

Yes, it is possible Robert.

"Windows Vista offers the ReadyBoost technology, letting a flash drive store part of your paging file to increase system performance when you're low on RAM, but:
1.) It is NOT available for Windows XP or previous versions.
2.) It is NOT a substitute for RAM, providing just a little extra boost."

"The key point is that the USB drive must have very fast seek times. Many USB flash memory devices, even those with high data transfer rates, don’t have sufficiently fast seek times to make them useful for ReadyBoost.  Unfortunately, manufacturers don’t normally publish random seek times for flash memory like they do for hard disks.  This makes shopping for a ReadyBoost compatible flash drive a bit of a lottery."

"It’s possible to force Windows to accept any device for ReadyBoost use via a registry hack.  However, this is not recommended, as the high latency will reduce system performance rather than improve it."

Anyway if you want to try this (I think that you almost for sure have some flash drive), take a look to this instructions:

- Plug any USB 2.0 flash memory drive that holds at least 256MB but no more than 4GB into your PC and Autoplay gives you a choice to invoke ReadyBoost, where Vista will use the drive's memory as an additional disk cache to speed things up. Just click Speed up My System and you're off and running.



- Also you have possibility to open Properties of your Flash drive and under ReadyBoost tab with slider change this value.




Hope this is enough explanation about this subject ?  

All the best,

Samker

[cobaltazule]

 Samker
Yes it was helpful. I had no idea the capability existed and I bet I was'nt the only one. Thank you for your input.
Yes, while I was at the store I did go ahead and purchase the flashdrive. I figured I would try it. It is like you said-it is a bit of a lottery. Vista tells me the devise is not fast enough to enhance as readyboost even though the box it came in says it does. Will formating it help?
Also...do you have a list of flasdrives that DO have fast enough seek times?
Always grateful for your help and advice.
Robert

[Samker]

Will formating it help?

No.

Also...do you have a list of flasdrives that DO have fast enough seek times?

Robert, take a look at this list: http://www.grantgibson.co.uk/misc/readyboost/


Also, We still expect your feedback from this topic: "How do I free more ram space?" http://scforum.info/index.php/topic,1135.0.html


All The Best,

Samker

[cobaltazule]

Yes I will do so
cya soon
Robert