An Experiment

Access the forum all the time. First time I've decided to contribute. System Optimization is a huge hobby of mine. (aside from it being a major part of my career) Anyway, here's what I propose...

Two sdhc cards, one in each sd slot. Paging file on one, readyboost on the other. (Running Windows 7 btw)

Before I buy the cards and test this out. I would like to know the technical opinions of any other IT guys out there.
Possible cons? Suggestions to make this idea better? Maybe 2 readyboost drives, and keep paging file on hard drive?

The only issue I could think of is the read/write limit on flash media. Might have to replace card once every few years...

 

Anybody? Well, I did some research. According to my sources, current flash media can withstand constant read/writes (consistent with windows paging and ready boost) and last for an estimated 10 years. I can live with that. (Acer One will probably be obsolete by then)

I'm going to proceed on this experiment, and see how things work out. Will be sure to post progress. In the meantime, comments appreciated...

 

Timely enough, my sd card just arrived. For this experiment, I'm using an 8GB Class 6 SDHC card.

I've been doing some research since my last post. Turns out that it would be a bad idea to put the paging file on any flash media. (with the exception of a solid state drive naturally) One of the differences of the paging file and ready boost, is that the paging file requires fast read/write speeds. Therefore it should only be on a hard drive. (platter or otherwise)

The sdhc card fits in either port. (However on the right port it will stick out approximately two centimeters) You can use two cards at once with no problem. (In fact, using two readyboost drives at once will increase performance further. Example: two 2 GB drives is better than one 4 GB drive)

In order to use the full drive for readyboost, you must first format it using NTFS. Fat32 will only allow you to utilize up to four gigabytes. Also, Windows Vista users will have a four gigabyte ceiling by default. :cry: If you are using seven, the sky is the limit.

On another note, be sure to restart your machine after windows automatically installs the drivers for your flash drive. Otherwise you might run into some weird errors. The method I used was...

Insert drive, drivers load, restart, format drive, start readyboost, restart

Since I've enabled readyboost on my flash drive, (left port) I've noticed an immediate improvement on startup speed, application launch, and loading times. I'm going to test this out for about a week and repost.

Another side note, if your going to have a drive with readyboost, first look up how to make a contiguous paging file. Having a contiguous paging file really helps readyboost. Your paging file and readyboost work in tandem with each other. :geek:

 

hey
so this is probably not the reply you were hoping for since i actually do not know shit about the inner workings of a computer. sure, i can find my way around, but for instance...i had no idea what readyboost was until i googled it. and now i only have a very limited idea. it's used to cache some information?

regardless, how is it working out for you? is there a very noticeable difference?
so i know the higher class card you get, the better. but is an 8gb necessary?

cheers

 

thatguypursue ,

Well done with the readyboost. Just a shame that I can't use it on my XP machine. I downloaded Eboostr, which is supposed to be a very similar set up for non vista (and now also Win 7) and assume that it works on the same principles.

When I tried it a while ago I didn't really notice much of a difference, apart from having one less sd card! I can use either my Sandisk ultra or extreme's - both 4gb - and if it's worthwhile I'll buy a card specifically for the task. As they're only 4gb there'd be no need to format NTFS would there?

Cheers for the info about restarting and the contiguous paging file. Fingers crossed, I'll see some improvements. Is there a way to actually quantify the differences so I can see if it's worth it? (apart from a quicker boot up)