Windows 7: Is it beneficial to use multiple ReadyBoost flash drives?

Having 4gb of physical ram and an 8gb flash drive (4gb used) for ReadyBoost. Would it be beneficial to use more flash drives for ready boost?

No, ReadyBoost is only effective on systems with around 1GB of RAM or less, don't use it as a replacement for RAM.

Ah, good to know. I wondered what the cut-off was for any benefits.

Seems that most computers made today (desktops) have a minimum of 4gb of ram which would make Ready Boost pointless.

I think this Guide explains it all.

ReadyBoost - Setup and Use

Readyboost isn't really about RAM (although if you have less than 2GB of RAM, it will indeed help as an additional Superfetch cache), it is more about the type, speed, and usage of the hard disk (it's not just for extending the superfetch cache, it can be used to supplement hard disk cache). If you have 8+GB of RAM, obviously you aren't very likely to need additional Superfetch cache - however, if you have slower hard disks (5400-7200RPM) with low amounts of cache (16MB or less), you might actually benefit from a Readyboost key or two. On Windows 7 you can use up to 32GB of a USB key for cache (and since it's 2:1 compressed, that ends up being more like 60-64MB of Readyboost cache), so a fast, big key is somewhat preferable to multiple small keys. However, if you don't do a lot of random I/O (other than during boot) as a normal usage pattern, do not have slow disks with small amounts of disk cache, or have 2GB of RAM or less in your system (especially an x64 install), you won't see much benefit from Readyboost. Also, since Readyboost is running off of a USB key, it's not as fast as main RAM, so adding more RAM (if possible) will be far more beneficial than adding USB keys for Readyboost.

With 4GB, forget it. In fact it will probably slow your system down because of the extra write operations. Use the stick for something else.

Thanks, I don't use it as a replacement for RAM, it can never be.

Recently, I've been doing a lot of research on Ready Boost, SSDs, & Ramdisks.

Many people believe that Ready Boost serves as added ram for users with small amounts of ram. This appears to be untrue, based on a test I ran. (I'm probably not the first to try this.) My system has 8GB of ram & I have NEVER maxed out my ram usage, soooo.....

I experimented with Ready Boost by creating a 1GB Ramdisk & dedicated it to Ready Boost. I then set up logging for Ready Boost & ran it for about 7 minutes while I was doing other things on my PC. Please note again that I still never even came close to maxing out my ram. I'm attaching the report from the log file.

As you can see, Ready Boost is performing caching functions. Win 7 is definitely making use of Ready Boost, regardless of the amount of available/unused ram. I believe their is some slight benefit. I'm thinking the new Rapid Storage Technology on the Z68 chipped motherboards may be a variation/refinement of Ready Boost.

Improvements from using Ready Boost will vary, based on the media used. Some flash memory is faster than others. Also, there is the speed difference between USB 2 & USB 3. A Ramdisk is much faster than the average flash drive, & should be the best option for Ready Boost.

Any corrections or comments are welcome, as - by my avatar/logo implies - I'm no expert. I just find this subject interesting.

Also - please note that Ready Boost will only be useful when your OS is on a mechanical HD.

Interesting - how do you generate that report? I got into the resource monitor, but I am lost after that...

Yeah, but a RAM disk is something completely different than a slow stick. And you only have to look into Resource Monitor > Memory tab > the graph on the bottom right to see that there are very few hard page faults (with 3GB of RAM or more). But yes, some programs generate faults even if there is plenty of available RAM. But for those rare occasions it is not necessary to install Ready Boost - especially not with a stick. It will only produce additional overhead.