ReadyBoost - what is it? ReadyBoost for Windows XP

Do you remember Moore's famous law? Of course, the past years have proved its actual inconsistency, but the power of the computer technology we use really increases very quickly.

Unfortunately, not all of us are making progress. Someone "in the service" is still old computers, the power of which is far from as significant as one would like. Several things can be fixed by ReadyBoost. What it is? Our article is devoted to the consideration of this issue.

Basic information

For the first time, support for this technology in Microsoft was announced immediately after the release of Windows Vista. This option was to become a "killer of features", but for several reasons this did not happen. Interest in technology has returned only in recent years. The fact is that modern software requires for its normal operation a lot of RAM, the limits of which on 64-bit systems is practically nonexistent.

This is where ReadyBoost comes into play. What does it mean? The fact is that this option allows you to use a USB flash drive as a kind of a substitute for RAM.

Ready Boost allows you to simultaneously connect to a computer up to eight drives. Important! If you are going to use a removable disk in such a role, it is not necessary to delete important information: all free space will be reserved for system purposes.

Specifications of a removable disk

Many users in due time "have burnt" on that for high-grade work of the given option "not necessary what" a flash card is necessary. Simply put, the device should have a decent speed of operation, so that the USB "whistle" bought in the nearest stall certainly will not pull.

Minimum reading speed - from 2.5 Mb / s, blocks of 4 kb. At a speed of 1.75 Mb / s, the device should be able to write blocks of 512 kb. The minimum amount of free space on a removable disk is at least 256 MB. Manufacturers recommend comparing the recommended size of the drive, based on a simple formula 1: 1. Simply put, on 1 GB of "RAM" should be an equal volume of flash drive, using technology ReadyBoost. What does this give?

In this case, Windows writes a file named ReadyBoost.sfcache to a removable disk, and the document is protected by encryption with the AES-128 key, so that even if you steal or lose a flash drive with your data, no one can do anything.

Enable ReadyBoost via Autoplay

Connect the device to the computer, right-click on it, then select the item "Speed up the system using Windows ReadyBoost" in the pop-up menu .

The system in this case will automatically determine the amount of space used. If the amount of disk space is less than 256 MB, then you can not use this function until you delete unnecessary files from the device.

We turn on our own

To do this, right-click on the connected Flash-drive, and select the "Properties" item in the pop-up menu . Go to the ReadyBoost tab, then select the "Use this device" option. It should be noted that all these items will be active only if the flash drive itself supports ReadyBoost technology. How to enable the technology using only a certain amount of USB flash drive?

To do this, you need to specify the amount of disk space that will be used to speed up the system. Click on the "OK" button. Next, the system automatically configures the cache. Depending on the characteristics of the device, this process takes from 10 to 15 seconds. After that, the system connects the prepared device to work. The indicator of the success of all your actions is just the same file ReadyBoost.sfcache, which must necessarily appear on the used disk.

Do not forget to properly disconnect ReadyBoost. What does it mean?

Correct disabling of technology

The computer must be connected to the removable disk that you use for this purpose. Again, right-click on the desired removable disk, then select the "Properties" item in the context menu. Select the ReadyBoost tab.

Before removing ReadyBoost from the USB flash drive, select "Do not use this device". Click OK. Attention! In some cases, after disabling the option, the device issues a read error message. In this case, you need to press the "Test device" button, which is in the dialog box that appears. As a rule, the system automatically corrects all existing errors, after which the disk can again be used for data storage.

Since to remove ReadyBoost from a flash drive in this way is rather dreary, many prefer to simply erase the disk cache file, as a result of which one often encounters numerous errors in the system operation. Do not do that!

Windows writes that the drive can not use the Ready Boost

Important! If you see this message, then do not try to work around this system limitation. In any case, all further steps you take only at your own peril and risk.

To get the wrong stick to work, you'll have to edit some registry keys. To do this, you must first connect a removable disk. After that, click on the "Start" button, look for the drop-down menu item "Run", then enter the RegEdit command there. The Registry Editor window opens, in which you need to find the branch of the form: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ EMDMgmt].

It is there that stores all the parameters that are responsible for the possibility of using a flash drive as RAM. In particular, CacheSizeInMB shows how much disk space the option can "bite" under the cache. If you plan to use a 2GB flash drive, then you need to set the value 2048 in this field. CacheStatus set 1. In the DeviceStatus field, specify the number 2.

In DoRetestDevice, you must write a value of 0, since this parameter is responsible for testing the speed indicators of the disk (by default it is launched every time it is connected). This is especially important if we talk about ReadyBoost in Windows 7, because in Windows Vista the requirements for the speed of the drive used are not so strict.

ReadSpeedKBs and WriteSpeedKBs - these parameters need to be paid special attention. In the corresponding fields, you can write values that are slightly higher than the minimum recommended for ReadyBoost. We advise you to put the number 3600 for ReadSpeedKBs, and for WriteSpeedKBs to choose 2500. Important! All numeric fields must be specified as Decimal. All, the basic setup is finished.

What if you no longer need acceleration? We've already talked about how to uninstall ReadyBoost. All the above recommendations are also valid for this case.

Other tuning recommendations

Again go to the ReadyBoost tab: after your actions there you should see all the changes for which you and "shaman" with the registry. If everything is in order, select the item "Use this device", then click on "OK".

Important: despite the modifications you made in the registry, the real characteristics of your removable drive did not change. Roughly speaking, what a slow flash drive was, so it remained, because there are no miracles. Do not count on real acceleration of the system.

So do not use too slow drives, because the effect from them will be exactly the opposite: the speed of the OS due to Windows ReadyBoost will slow down, and you'll be puzzled, where do resources go.

Can I use a removable hard drive as a flash drive?

To answer this question, click on the device icon, then select the "Properties" item. If the ReadyBoost option is active in it, you can connect it.

Of course, you can try to connect a removable disk with the help of the "bypass maneuver", which we described above. But in this case you need to clearly understand that you will not receive any acceleration of the system as a result. In practice, professionals advise and do not use removable hard disks at all, since the speed of reading and random access to files is small. Simply put, you only slow down the system.

ReadyBoost for Windows XP

If you carefully read all of the above, then you probably could have an idea of how to use this technology to breathe a second life into an old computer running Windows XP. Alas, but dreams in this case are far from reality, since ReadyBoost for Windows XP is officially not supported by developers.

First, you'll have to download a third-party utility that adds the above option to the system, since it was not originally there. Secondly, access to the disk will occur through a third-party program, and not through the functions of the system itself. This will inevitably lead to a decrease in the speed and overall uselessness of ReadyBoost for XP.

Important! Developers initially this functionality for the system was not provided, and even in SP3 its support was not implemented. So do not try to increase the performance in this way, because you will not get any real effect. In short, ReadyBoost for Windows XP is a chimera, the effectiveness of which is a myth.

conclusions

So what is the final verdict? In which cases is this technology really justified? Alas, but practice shows its actual uselessness. The fact is that the real performance gain can be seen only in such a system, where a powerful processor is installed, but there is not enough RAM. Given the current cost of the latter, it is virtually impossible to find something similar in real conditions.

In addition, it is necessary to take into account the high performance characteristics of the flash drive, which is necessary in this case. The cost of it can be such that it is easier to add RAM.