ReadyBoost Settings

[nailgunner]

New poster here. I'm not interested in the pros or cons of using ReadyBoost. I'm playing with it on my DESKTOP to see if I notice any change. I don't think I will, but what the heck, I have time to kill. What I can't find are answers to specific questions as I play with the system. I am dedicating a flash drive for the ReadyBoost function. P.S., I know just enough about computers to be dangerous.
Not fully understanding exactly how the process works, and not really caring for that matter, on my USB drive settings, should I check:
1) "Compress this drive..." (Guess is no)
2) "Allow files...to have contents indexed..." (Guess is yes)

and under "Policies" in device manager, should I check:
3) "Better Performance" / "Enable write caching in windows..." I don't have power backup, but since I have no other files on the USB, I wasn't sure if the risk was still high with only ReadyBoost cache on it. (Guess is don't check)

Thanks for the help.

 

[Raykor]

How I got my computer to recognize my 4gb flash drive was I went to properties the click on the hardware tab and found my device and clicked on properties then went to volumes tab and clicked populate this brought up another window where I could configure the policies and I selected the best performance then clicked ok and then went back right-clicked on my flash drive properties from computer and went to readyboost and retested it and viola, it passed the test and I am now able to use it to boost my ram. I hope this helps you. Have a good one.

 

[nailgunner]

Thanks. I had no problem in getting it to set up and work, it's been doing so for over a week now. I was curious about what options I should choose on the USB drive, should I check the "compress this drive to save disk space" and/or "allow files on this drive to have contents indexed..." options under the general tab of the drive. And the third question was is it SAFE to have the Better Performance checked with no power backup. All recommendations are that shouldn't be done on drives with no power backup, but is it ok if all I'm using the drive for is the Ready Boost?

 

[Raykor]

I would not recommend having data on the drive for ready boost. Thus no file compression would be needed. It is safe to dedicate the drive for better performance since ready boost will max out at 4gb on a drive. Anything bigger would not be suitable. I hope this intel serves you further. You are most welcomed for the intel. Have a good one.

 

[nailgunner]

Keeping in mind my lack of knowledge, that does makes sense. No other data, so no file compression needed. I assume there would be no benefit to compress whatever data ready boost is writing/keeping on the drive. Do you have any opinion on whether there would be any ready boost change, good or bad, in having the allow file indexing box checked? Mine was checked by default or it wasn't automatically unchecked when I dedicated the drive to ready boost. And I did find somewhere else that said in the event the drive is pulled out that Windows will default to the hard drive, so I'm assuming the "best performance" policy won't cause the usb drive to be corrupted in a power glitch. Lastly, not trying to argue, but I question the 4gb limit floating around. Microsoft for Windows 7 has allowed 8 devices for a total of 256gb to be dedicated to ready boost. I'm not a huge fan of Microsoft, but I can't believe they would allow a 256 configuration when only 4 would work. I suppose they could be trying to increase usb sales with a secret agreement with third party vendors, not that I believe in conspiracies. Thanks for the input in any regards. I'm finally deciding on: 1) No on compressing the drive, 2) No on indexing the drive and 3) Yes on better performance policy. So 2 out of 3 wrong guesses from my starting point. Not too good.

 

[Raykor]

I understand how you must feel about the 4gb issue but that is what my research has turned up from the Microsoft programming team. Now I have a 1tb external hard drive and readyboost will not allow me to use it for virtual memory due to this limitation. I believe that in actual application it depends upon how the device can be configured. The indexing is probably for the readyboost files I would imagine. If you have managed to get 256 gb device to work with readyboost then my hat is off to you. As far as the power glitch issue well I can see how that could corrupt or damage the drive and this way that I have been using is going outside of the readyboost test. The test is to ensure that your device is readyboost capable so you will not experience the corruption problem. You may have a lack of knowledge concerning this issue but obviously you are an experienced computer person. I also use linux os in a dual boot mode in case windows is failing or compromised. I have only 35 years in the computer science field and I am still learning stuff everyday. If they have indexing as a default then I would go ahead and leave it as a precautionary measure. Please do not be hard on your guesses as they are very well put and it shows that you are quite intelligent.remember it is readyboost that does not allow the larger capacity devices for this and not windows 7. Readyboost is just a tool that is a part of windows 7. I am happy to have been of service to you in this matter.

 

[nailgunner]

Thanks for the input. No, I have no intention of ever even buying a 256 gb drive. I had a 16gb drive that was no longer being used, so I dedicated the whole drive to ready boost. My desktop has 4gb which I understand is all that's really needed for average Windows 7 usage. Ready Boost is using all 16gb of the usb (14.9, but who's counting). From everything I've read, this is overkill on the ready boost but assume that overkill won't make ready boost perform worse. It does exceed the 1 -3 multiple that Microsoft suggests, so it still begs the question, why they set it up to allow 256gb. You would need 85 installed to reach 256 with a 3 multiplier. Maybe there is something on the horizon that will make it all usable.

 

[wkw427]

If you enable readyboost for the whole drive, via "dedicate this drive to readyboost", then you don't need to do anything else to make it work; windows will do that all for you.

 

[nailgunner]

Thanks. I was good with that. Just wanted to make sure my settings were at their optimum since window defaults aren't always the best to go with. It worked from the start, just looking for that last little boost.

 

[Layback Bear]

How much ram do you have. Please fill out you system specs more complete.

 

[nailgunner]

4gb, and I know there will be little if any improvement with ready boost with 4gb. But while I play with it, I want correct drive settings.