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Does using an SD card with ReadyBoost help? Would I notice any difference on a 32-bit netbook with 1 GB of RAM, running Windows 7 Starter? Should I use an 8 GB SD card, or more?

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What do you suppose will happen if you accidentally bump the USB drive out of position while using it with ReadyBoost? – wez Aug 23 '10 at 14:13
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As I would be using a SD card, nothing would happen, if I would bump the USB drive out of position. :-) – kiamlaluno Aug 23 '10 at 23:50
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@wez ReadyBoost is designed to make use of removable devices, so it has been written to handle disconnected scenarios - you may remove the device at will. – icelava Nov 19 '10 at 9:11
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Don't look at the speed, look at the latency. ;-) – Tom Wijsman Apr 11 '11 at 19:53
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@jet, the seek time is much lower on memory based drives. Hence if the file is small it can be retrieved faster anyway. – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen May 31 '11 at 13:26
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Yes, it works really good. But you have to get a 'fast enough' storage for this. It helps me a lot in my notebook. And it's good since I don't have to use a 7200rpm HDD, nor waste money on SSD or something like this. I'm not made from money and a fast enough pendrive is dirt cheap now. Try it out with a friend's pendrive.

(I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate with 4GB DDR3 1066 low-holo Gepida memory (IBM-Lenovo ThinkPad T500), dual-channel. YET, it helps a lot.)

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I guess that it would help even more on a netbook with less memory, and running on a 32-bit CPU. I saw an SD card with a transfer rate of 15 MB/sec; I hope it helps. – kiamlaluno Aug 20 '10 at 14:56
Indeed. It'd give a huge boost if you find a good card. Faster = Better. They are all dirt cheap, so just search for them. The Wiki article gives an explanation about the 133x and so on marks on them. (Here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital) – Shiki Aug 20 '10 at 17:11
When you say "it works really good", what are you basing this on? Have you used a stopwatch to test doing the same thing with and without readyboost? Or, does it "seem" faster and therefore you say with certainty that it is faster? I have researched ReadyBoost a lot and everything I have found says it is not much help at all if you have 2GB of RAM or more. – Graphth Jan 2 at 3:23
It seems much faster. Didn't do any test, and I don't really care about tests (why would I? I don't want to boast about benchmark scores, I want to use my computer.) Anyway, try it for yourself, with a fairly good pendrive. Also, a slower HDD counts too (laptop 5400rpm that is.) – Shiki Jan 2 at 11:31
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up vote 7 down vote

Yes, Readyboost will help.

But I think an 8GB card will likely be overkill - with ReadyBoost, more is not always better. Readyboost works as an optimization for your existing RAM and page file. You're not storing or caching more information anywhere, you're putting the same information in a faster location.

Your page file rarely grows as large as 8GB. It does happen, but most of the time it's sitting much closer to 4GB, and so I recommend looking for a faster 4GB card. That will be a closer match for your actual use. Check reputable reviewers for actual benchmark data, as the faster the card, the more the speed boost.

Even better, most netbooks support up to 2GB of real memory. Readyboost will help, but the 2GB upgrade will help more.

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up vote 5 down vote

It can help but only if you have minimal RAM.

Benchmark tests by various sources have been done to show its effect:

Toms Hardware Windows Vista's SuperFetch and ReadyBoost Analyzed

As you can see if you have 512MB RAM readyboost can really help. If you have 2GB or more it probably will go un-noticed.

For you with 1GB readyboost would help slightly, a 4gb or 8gb stick would work best(see the other link in my comments), although for the same price you could probably get a 1gb RAM upgrade which would be better.

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AnandTech Readyboost performance tests: anandtech.com/show/2163/6 – Mark Aug 20 '10 at 15:48
Are there any performance tests for Win7? All the ones I find seem to be Vista, and I wonder if Win7 offers any improvement over Vista in this area? – DMA57361♦ Aug 20 '10 at 15:56
@DMA57361 Not really, its pretty much going to be similar to Vista tbh, the only updates for readyboost with win7 were supporting more than 4gb, supporting more than 1 readyboost devices, and support to use it during boot up to improve start speed. – Mark Aug 20 '10 at 16:35
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up vote 2 down vote

Yes. It helps as you will be able to open many more softwares on your computer at the same time. But you will have to wait several minutes each time you turn on your computer. In my case with a vista laptop (2go ram) + 4 go in readyboost , I need to wait around 15 minutes before having the full power of my computer (I can see that because the hard drive led doesn't stop running when readyboost is on contrary if it is off). Hope this helps. ;)

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I'm not sure this is correct. ReadyBoost does not increase memory space (and so does not allow additional programs to run). What it does do is cache things so they can be loaded faster when the relevant program starts. If your ReadyBoost cache has to rebuild itself on every boot (I'm guessing this is the delay) then you have a configuration problem, or you keep removing/reconnecting the ReadyBoost drive. – DMA57361♦ Aug 20 '10 at 15:12
@DMA57361 Can you give a source for your claim? I read that readyboost doesn't keep data from removable drives between reboots because of security concerns and that such behavior is normal. The rebuilds are reason I'm not using it at the moment. If they are result of bad configuration, I'm interested in fixing that. – AndrejaKo Aug 20 '10 at 15:25
@Andreja RB cache is both compressed and encrypted to mitigate security concerns. My RB cache is not rebuilt on boot - if it was it would be pretty useless (FYI, mine's an SD card that is always plugged in to the machine, and I don't know what would regularly cause cache rebuild as reported by David). Have a read of the Wikipedia article, it's a fairly useful overview. This is an aging (it doesn't include improvements brought by Win7) but useful post as well. – DMA57361♦ Aug 20 '10 at 15:33
@DMA57361 I know that it's both compressed and encrypted. I too used to use an SD card and I got rebuilds after every boot on two computers. I'll take a look at articles. Now I at least know that I'm experiencing exceptional condition which needs to be solved. Thanks a lot! – AndrejaKo Aug 20 '10 at 15:41
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Since this discussion is not related to the question asked here, I asked separate question about preserving RB cache after reboot. Link: superuser.com/questions/178386 – AndrejaKo Aug 20 '10 at 16:18
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up vote 0 down vote

Not really. Instead replace the disk of your netbook with a SSD drive. That will give you a lot more speed for all applications plus a longer battery life.

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With only 1GB of RAM, ReadyBoost will help. Plus, the cost of an SSD it much greater (overall, not per GB), especially as it's a netbook an SSD will have to replace currently working hardware. A cheap or spare SD/USB is drastically cheaper. – DMA57361♦ Aug 20 '10 at 15:02
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