I have 3325MB of RAM and a page file of 6865MB. So I stuck in a 4GB USB stick and set up Ready Boost (the system allocated 3760MB on the USB stick for that). With this said, I believe my C: disk gets very little use. In fact I noticed, that a function (e.g. Recycle Bin) that was not used for a long time, seems to fall off the radar screen of the page file. But then when you open it, I can hear the HDD to start up and it takes a little delay before the recycle Bin folder is displayed. So my conclusion is, that this setup gives my HDD a lot of resting time. Or do I draw the wrong conclusion?
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Save your HDD with Ready Boost
(4 posts)
There is an excellent write up on Ready Boost and Super Fetch on Anandtech here http://forums.anandtech.com/me.....erthread=y but in a nutshell, ready boost basically becomes your new disk cache and/or paging file thereby reducing disk reads/writes and providing a decent performance boost over the HDD in these situations.
whs, I think you have it exactly right. I also notice that there is less hard drive activity when my USB flash drive is installed and used for RB. From what I have read about ReadyBoost, the SuperFetch and Readyboot data are written to the flash drive. So, when it comes time to access that data, it's can be read from the flash drive instead of the hard drive. Also, data being fetched from the hard drive is cached in the RB flash drive, so subsequent hard drive accesses can be avoided when the data is cached. In this way, it acts much like a hybrid drive.
Since the Western Digital hard drive in my system is noisy enough for me to hear it seeking, I can tell that there is far less activity with ReadyBoost enabled. It cuts down on the noise and the hard drive will probably last longer.
@Budohorseman, thanks for the answer, I think I have this link. Here is an additional one http://blogs.technet.com/askpe.....boost.aspx
@ScottW, nice to hear that you had the same experience. So we are on the right track. In my case, the paging file does not exceed the sum of RAM+RB. I think that is an essential element. Also interesting to note is that everything they cache on the RB is also cache (mirror) on the HDD. So if some dummy pulls out the RB, the cache is not lost.
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