Does "Ready Boost" work at all?

[Guest]

My laptop is an HP ProBook 4530s with 4GB DDR3 RAM and a Core i3 processor (2 cores 4 threads 64 bit, 2.10GHz * 4, windows experience rating 6.4 ) running Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64 bit) (Fully updated, i have automatic microsoft updates turned on since purchase) on a Toshiba MK3261GSYN 7200RPM notebook internal HDD (win Exp Index for HDD= 5.9, RAM=5.9 as well).
It's not really slow like my last vista computer was, but as an experiment, i purchased the HP v210W 8GB flash drive, plugged it in on the USB3 port, and dedicated the whole drive to "ready boost". Guess what, no speed improvement, none at all, ZERO. Of course i don't have numbers, didn't run benchmarks, and this is 'anecdotal', never the less, it doesn't feel any faster or any slower. It's as if the 8GB cache had no effect at all. Is this "ready boost" thing a scam?

 

[perfectblue]

Does "Ready Boost" work at all? No.

 

[runswindows95]

Overall, I think so. It was a "duct tape" fix for low RAM based systems that Vista first shipped on, which had low as 512MB of RAM. Every time I worked on a system like that, I just had them purchase more RAM to at least 2GB, and they were fine. Now, with 4GB of RAM being standard these days, you can turn it off, and it won't hurt or help performance.

 

[RetiredChief]

As runwindows95 indicated, Readyboost was a lowcost bandaid approach.
With Win 7 and the decreased cost of ram, and the improvements in drives - it is not realvent and would not provide a boost.
..Typical ram has rapaidly gone fro 1 gig -> 2 gigs -> 4 gigs standard.
.. Drives:
...... Seagate has released a HDD that has an internal 8 gig SLC SSD. Believe you can chatch on sell for around $250->$150 for 750 gig version. Blows the door off of a 5400 RPM typical 2 1/2 in HDD.
..... Then you have the SSD, for a single HDD Bay laptop - Recommend min size of 120/128 gig. Also when looking at $$$/Gig is current at $1+ per gig, Much more that a HDD - NOTE HDDs are still overpriced due to the Flooding.

Bottom Line, Let Readyboost die off.

 

[computernerdforlife]

As a former employee from HP, anything that is supposed to improve performance that is specific to HP ONLY, does f** all. That's a good rule of thumb to follow.

 

[ibdilbert]

"Does "Ready Boost" work at all?"

Yes, but only on machines that are suffering from low memory. A 2 gig machine running Windows 7 will definitely see performance improvements with a 4 gig flash drive configured for ready-boost. However a machine with 4 gig of ram will likely not benefit at all from ready-boost. Also keep in mind flash drives vary in speed, and if the machine is using a solid state harddrive, chances are you'll loose performance with ready-boost.

 

[tim2dope]

from what i understand all it does is interface between the ram and hard drive putting the cache on the usb stick so if you have a older drive that actually spins it makes the cache faster and really the only advantage i see to using it is your drive wont have to cache as often saving wear and tear its not supposed to be like adding more ram at all even if thats what you heard from some *** at best buy when you bought your computer if you have a solid state you wouldnt even need it and you wont see an instant change because windows still has to put the data on the stick and then when it uses that same data again it will just pull it off the stick so over time you should notice a difference but only if you have a slow hard drive

owned

 

[pegleg1960]

My laptop is an HP ProBook 4530s with 4GB DDR3 RAM and a Core i3 processor (2 cores 4 threads 64 bit, 2.10GHz * 4, windows experience rating 6.4 ) running Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64 bit) (Fully updated, i have automatic microsoft updates turned on since purchase) on a Toshiba MK3261GSYN 7200RPM notebook internal HDD (win Exp Index for HDD= 5.9, RAM=5.9 as well).
It's not really slow like my last vista computer was, but as an experiment, i purchased the HP v210W 8GB flash drive, plugged it in on the USB3 port, and dedicated the whole drive to "ready boost". Guess what, no speed improvement, none at all, ZERO. Of course i don't have numbers, didn't run benchmarks, and this is 'anecdotal', never the less, it doesn't feel any faster or any slower. It's as if the 8GB cache had no effect at all. Is this "ready boost" thing a scam?

It is absolutely not a scam and it absolutely works great.
I use an HP 8GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive and this drive is dedicated to Ready Boost.
Here is essentially how it works...Windows uses HDD space to store active content being used in the system RAM. A Hard Disk Drive is mechanical. A Flash Drive is Solid State. Mechanical will never work as fast as Solid State. Ready Boost uses the Flash Drive to store the active content and it will store more of it.
Based on my personal experience I am saying that it does work, and works great.
There is one thing about Ready Boost that you might want to know...If you have a SSD as your Boot Drive, Ready Boost will not work. Why? Because the active content can be retrieved faster from your SSD than from the USB Flash Drive. When trying to use Ready Boost with a SSD the "system" will tell you that you would not see a significant increase in performance and it doesn't allow the function.