Flash drive ram

spidersandsprinkles

Does this really make much of a difference? I have a Dell computer that is almost impossible to upgrade due to lack of slots so I am using a 1GB flash drive as RAM.
According to the win7 desktop gadget I'm not experiencing anymore RAM while I'm using it. Pointless?

closed

No. It doesn't work as a replacement for ram.

robmar0se

What sytem are you using? If it is a 32 bit system you are maxed out at 3 - 3.5gb Ram anyways (assuming the mobo can take that). Secondly USB speeds are so slow compared to Dimm slots, I wouldn't have thought you would get much speed improvement. But to be honest I haven't tried it nor have I seen anyone else try it.

For XP I wouldn't think the RAM restriction on yr Dell should be a problem. For Win 7, I can't see that Dell would limit you to that extent, cos even thought he mobo has only 2 slots, Ram is relativly cheap, and even the cheapest come with a workable 2gb RAM. Its only Vista that I can see you having probs - but then again RAM can be acquired quite cheaply via Ebay. If you are on Vista, just make sure you are on SP2, and you have cleaned up the system - see Closed's sticky above......

robmar0se

closed wrote: »

No. It doesn't work as a replacement for ram.

Is this bullsh*t?

http://www.ehow.com/how_4431896_use-flash-drive-as-ram.html

I'll answer my own question - here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReadyBoost

So not Ram in the typical sense, appears to have only very specific benefits....

John_Gray

Why not check your Dell model on http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/drammemory.aspx for the sizes of memory available? Either look it up or run the small System Scanner program.

almillar

USB is FAR slower than RAM is, so ReadyBoost in Windows 7 is a cache that can be used on Flash memory storing often used system files, but this is to make up for the slower mechanical hard disk drives. The only way to add RAM, is to add RAM! After that, Windows will have a page file, but when you're using that, you're gonna get a bog slow down. Win 7 can run with 1GB just fine for basic stuff, what is your computer, how much RAM do you have and what is the max it will take?

esuhl

I remember reading a few articles on ReadyBoost when Vista/7 came out. If I remember rightly, you need reasonably fast USB memory to get any improvement, and even then it might only make a small difference if you're short of RAM...

almillar

I use Readyboost, don't think of it as a replacement for RAM, think of it as a fast hard drive, or a RAMdrive, the USB stick is FAR slower than RAM, but has less latency than an HDD - so Windows puts lots of often used files in it, which are quicker to access and don't use up RAM. I've got a 4gb Drive on Readyboost, and 2GB of RAM. I'm told it's not much use if you've got 4GB or more of RAM.