Recommendation for tiny flash drive for ReadyBoost?

May 18, 2009 10:52 AM

What's a good, *tiny* flash drive for use as a dedicated ReadyBoost drive with my laptop? Tiny, as in similar to, say the Logitech VX Nano receiver
posted by arathorn to computers & internet (5 comments total)

E.g., the VX Nano:
Logitech VX Nano
posted by arathorn at 10:54 AM on May 18

I use an SD card since I have a built-in reader in my laptop. Sometimes after I have been using the computer for a while, I realize that the card is not plugged all the way in and so I am not getting any ReadyBoost from it. I never notice the performance difference. The laptop is pretty underpowered for Vista though, so YMMV.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:58 AM on May 18

I've heard that Readyboost generally isn't helpful unless the system is already seriously lacking RAM, where the benefits are marginal and XP or Windows 7 might be a better idea.

This site has a list of compatible drives. In general, it seems that random write speed is the key benchmark, something the cheapest thumb drives and SD cards usually lack, which could explain Rock Steady's results.

It might be more cost effective to upgrade your RAM, if your laptop has room for more. Doubling the RAM usually has a greater effect than adding a drive for Readyboost, and the ram would probably cost the same, and it's an easy upgrade on nearly every machine that would leave nothing sticking off the side of your laptop like a USB drive would. In addition, you may want to try installing the Windows 7 Release Candidate, which is free for a year, has the features of Vista, but a lighter demand on system resources. I'm pretty happy with it, although migrating a system to a new OS is a bit of work.

What are the exact specs of your laptop? If it's just a base configuration, you could just say the model number, and I'm sure I or other Mefites would be glad to look it up.
posted by mccarty.tim at 11:36 AM on May 18

PS: Here are some benchmarks of Readyboost and its performance with varying amounts of RAM (see the bottom chart). As you can tell, it's much less useful with higher amounts of RAM.

Also, what specific tasks do you want to do that you think ReadyBoost would help with?
posted by mccarty.tim at 11:39 AM on May 18

You might have some luck with A very small MicroSD reader, which Yahoo Answers seems to think works with ReadyBoost. Personally, I'm going to side with the chorus of 'BUY MORE RAM', though.
posted by Orb2069 at 1:09 PM on May 18