What kinds of USB memory stick are suitable for use as Vista memory

[frankfriend]

Hi,
I understand Vista has a feature which enables you to plug in a USB memory stick, so that half the capacity becomes usable as RAM. So for example if you use an empty 8gb stick, you add 4gb to your ram. But what kinds of memory stick are suitable for this?
Can anyone help with this?

Best regards

 

[Brandon]

Any type of certified USB sticks are I think. Did you have anything specific in mind?

 

[TechAsh]

I think any USB stick would work. But make sure is is not too old (USB 1.1 is very slow.)
Also USB memory sticks can have a limited life so the repeated writing/re-writing could drastically shorten its life.

 

[Spartan Erik]

From what I know, the USB has to have "ready-boost" enabled to have it add as RAM to Vista.

You're better off upgrading RAM usually..

 

[componentwarehouse]

I think any USB stick would work. But make sure is is not too old (USB 1.1 is very slow.)
Also USB memory sticks can have a limited life so the repeated writing/re-writing could drastically shorten its life.

It only works with USB2.0 I believe. I also think it has to have at least 50% of your RAM in free space (eg. if you have 4GB RAM you would have to use a USB stick with at least 2GB free space), but Im not sure on this.

Alex

 

[TechAsh]

I've just been reading more about this and it seems that to be able to use ReadyBoost with any USB drive you need to make a couple of registry changes (Tutorial Here).

 

[alexandgruntz]

You can use any drive that is faster than 2.5MB/s for 4KB random reads, and it needs a seek time of less than 1ms. See http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/12428141-2e4c-43ab-8dd2-a6ed6e3b87761033.mspx or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReadyBoost.

 

[frankfriend]

Hi,

Thank you all for the feedback. I had heard that some of the low cost 'Own label' memory sticks did not work with Readyboost. I'll try some out.
Best regards

 

[zapperpost]

256mb Usb 2.0

 

[alexandgruntz]

BTW Vista will test your drive to see if it is compatible with ReadyBoost.

 

[xxll_martin_llxx]

Yup,

I tried this with a memory stick from school. To be honest because it was the lowest it could have been (it was empty, deleted everything off it) it didn't really make much difference to my system.

Just get the 'real' stuff.

 

[fireput]

beside vista, i think there are other softwares that allows you to make use of your usb to improve memory speed.

 

[DragonMaster]

You'd need a fast USB key to make a difference, but even there, I've read reviews and benchmarks about the ReadyBoost feature, and it didn't change anything to Windows' performance.

 

[componentwarehouse]

You'd need a fast USB key to make a difference, but even there, I've read reviews and benchmarks about the ReadyBoost feature, and it didn't change anything to Windows' performance.

It depends - if you had just 768MB RAM or something, and were trying to run many programs at once it would make a difference, but the performance gain would not be as good as adding the same amount of RAM.

Alex

 

[lachlanlindsay]

It dose make a difference how ever I would not recomend buying a usb just for doing this buy some RAM

 

[GBH187]

Hi,
I understand Vista has a feature which enables you to plug in a USB memory stick, so that half the capacity becomes usable as RAM.

Its not usable as RAM it is used instead of virtual memory stored on the hard drive

 

[DragonMaster]

It just makes access times to virtual ram faster. It would only be useful on a laptop with a slow 1.8" drive maybe. Anyways, with the price of DDR2, it's NOT worth it.