ReadyBoost USB or card reader?

tigerstyle · 4 Jun 2007 at 02:10

So I'm just about to equip myself with a notebook running vista premium, and would like to give Readyboost a go, as well it is a notebook with a typicaly slower than desktop HD. I've already upgraded to 2gig of ram so I'm not trying to cut corners using readyboost rather than a decent upgrade of system ram!

But I'm not sure if the best way to go is via external USB drive or internal card reader? The options for internal cards are MMC/ SD/ Mini-SD/Memory Sticks
I've been googling for a straight up test, but a lot of it is just hearsay I think? and lots of willy waving =/

So whats the OcUK verdict? USB or Internal?

tigerstyle · 5 Jun 2007 at 07:13

wrong forum maybe? maybe this could be moved if better suited elsewhere?

Lanz · 5 Jun 2007 at 15:55

Readyboost is a waist of time if you have enough proper RAM to begin with.

It's only good if you laptop has like 512MB, then you'll see some improvement, But with 2GB, you'll probably see zero performance increase.

cavemanoc · 5 Jun 2007 at 20:20

Well, it's funny you should ask... I've recently purchased a 4Gb sd card to act as Readyboost on my Dell m1710 (2gb Ram). I have a converter that lets me plug it into the USB ports, as well as internal card readers that take it direct.

If you can find a way for me to 'bench' it, I'll let you know -

Bobbler · 5 Jun 2007 at 20:55

Similarly I just installed a 2GB Sandisk Extreme III card in my lappy (Dell M1210) internal card reader.
Not noticed any discernible difference in performance whatsoever with Ready-Boost enabled on it.

tigerstyle · 6 Jun 2007 at 06:48

cavemanoc said:
Well, it's funny you should ask......

If you can find a way for me to 'bench' it, I'll let you know -

From the reading around I've done you have to stop wanting your laptop to be faster just cos you spent $$$'s 'upgrading' it, and then do some old skool type tests and just get a masive PSD file and time how long it takes to open and then close and then open/close together type thing.

Like opening big programs, closing big programs, reading/editing a big file for example, if you can get a watch out and kinda see, I know its not dead scientific, but it would be cool, maybe even map loading times in CS or similar if thats your bag. Woul be cool!

cavemanoc · 6 Jun 2007 at 08:53

Would be a little difficult to separate ReadyBoost and SuperFetch but I guess if I got a file that was a smidge under 6Gb that would require both.

Looking at the definition of ReadyBoost from MS's website:

memory that the computer can access much more quickly than it can access data on the hard disk drive.

I suspect this will only help for loads that require quick Random Access time, as the sustained read/write on the SD is slower than the HDD. I'd need to find an app that tests that and run it several times to convince Vista to precharge it's files. I really can't see any way of testing this - SuperFetch is relatively easy, but ReadyBoost... not so sure - next game I install I'll time load up and see how much it speeds up over time and let you know.

z0mbi3 · 6 Jun 2007 at 08:58

I noticed a descent increase in boot times. If you can pick up a 1 gig card for a few pounds then it can't hurt to have it sitting in the card slot.

ShakenNstirred · 6 Jun 2007 at 15:17

thepedster said:
So I'm just about to equip myself with a notebook running vista premium, and would like to give Readyboost a go, as well it is a notebook with a typicaly slower than desktop HD. I've already upgraded to 2gig of ram so I'm not trying to cut corners using readyboost rather than a decent upgrade of system ram!

But I'm not sure if the best way to go is via external USB drive or internal card reader? The options for internal cards are MMC/ SD/ Mini-SD/Memory Sticks
I've been googling for a straight up test, but a lot of it is just hearsay I think? and lots of willy waving =/

So whats the OcUK verdict? USB or Internal?

if its a notebook, then on most 2gig is as high as you can go on internal ram

cavemanoc · 6 Jun 2007 at 18:02

Have a read of the MS blog HERE

Q: Why don't you support SD on my USB2.0 external card reader?
A: We unfortunately don't support external card readers - there were some technical hurdles that we didn't have time to address. In general, if a card reader shows a drive without media in it (like a floppy drive or CD ROM does), we can't use it for ReadyBoost.

mmmm

I'll try booting my laptop with and without Readyboost and see what difference it makes - seems this is the biggest area of improvement which would be nice - boot is soooooo slooooooow

tigerstyle · 7 Jun 2007 at 07:11

I read on here I'm sure that it's not activated during boot, if yo uthink about it makes sense, it takes vista to ave loaded before it can work its magic, maybe while vista is booting not so muvch of a help? But hey, I'm not saying don't try!!!

gareth170 · 7 Jun 2007 at 11:17

readyboost doesn't improve the boot up speed. everytime u reboot/shutdown your pc or laptop, it deletes the readyboost crash file before rebooting or shuting down. it only improves the loading of programs...

cavemanoc · 7 Jun 2007 at 17:36

gareth170 said:
readyboost doesn't improve the boot up speed. everytime u reboot/shutdown your pc or laptop, it deletes the readyboost crash file before rebooting or shuting down. it only improves the loading of programs...

Simply not true - windows caches what it wants in the REadyboost and looks for it each time - if it doesn't find it, it then goes to HDD. There are quite a few videos on Youtube showing the improvement in boot up times - it's quite marked - I'll run it on mine and let you know if it makes a difference to mine.

Lanz · 7 Jun 2007 at 17:44

There has been proper reviews of this on anandtech etc, and its really only benificial on machines with 512MB, PCs with 1GB and over really dont show any performance improvements.

gareth170 · 7 Jun 2007 at 19:53

cavemanoc said:
Simply not true - windows caches what it wants in the REadyboost and looks for it each time - if it doesn't find it, it then goes to HDD. There are quite a few videos on Youtube showing the improvement in boot up times - it's quite marked - I'll run it on mine and let you know if it makes a difference to mine.

how can it improve bootup when windows deletes the crash file everytime u reboot or shutdown?