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I have a 512MiB DDR2 SODIMM SDRAM lying about, after upgrading my brother's notebook's to 2GiB. Seeing that it is not being used, and it hardly has any value on the market, I'd love it if I can use it for placing page files. Since Windows Vista/7 has ReadyBoost through USB, I suppose I can use that if only I had a DIMM to USB convertor solution in the first place. Any ideas?

(Griping because my 1 slot MicroDIMM Fujitsu tablet has 1GiB, and a 2GiB wafer costs at least $100, and I'm broke and NEET)

4 Answers 4

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I have never heard of a USB RamDisk. I know you can get SATA ones:

http://techreport.com/articles.x/16255

so I guess there's no reason why you couldn't get a SATA one and put it in an external USB housing.

Not cheap though and most I have seen use DIMM not SODIMM.

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    Cool, first time I've seen one! Now if only I know how to make my own board...
    – syockit
    Mar 1, 2011 at 17:24
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Interesting idea, however the short answer No. There is more needed then just a simple converter for RAM to actually remember the data that is stored on it. Flash media != Memory.

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  • Now that you mention it, does USB keep on powering its device even if host is in sleep/suspend mode? If so, it might cause havoc when the page file is suddenly gone. I wonder how ReadyBoost handles it when USB drive is removed during sleep.
    – syockit
    Mar 1, 2011 at 17:19
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    @syockit. It depends on the machine and the state. I know certain devices will continue charging even if in sleep, but not suspend. Macs will continue giving power to the port, but reduces it over a period of time. Mar 1, 2011 at 18:50
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Yes your correct it is flash... Is there a converter no... DIMM RAM has all kinds of certifications and needs firmware to run correctly with the USB interfaces on your machinene... also thinking on the bigger scale your converting 100 - 240 pins just down to 2 cables inside the USB cable... firmware and an arm controller would defo be needed.

^.^

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I doubt such a thing exists, and also ReadyBoost needs non-volatile storage, rather than RAM that would forget it's contents. Thirdly the cost of a 4GB USB key to use with ReadyBoost would likely be cheaper than almost any device you could buy anyway ;)

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  • Since it is just for paging, it does not need to be non-volatile. I agree on the third (?) though, such a specialized device may be expensive if it exists.
    – syockit
    Mar 1, 2011 at 17:21
  • ReadyBoost isn't for paging though it's a kind of cache for small files read from your hard drive. Mar 2, 2011 at 2:05

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