Hello everyone over the next few weeks I will be posting a couple of screencasts a week starting with this one on Windows Vista ReadyBoost.  ReadyBoost is a simply fantastic new feature that makes improving the speed of your system very easy without all the hassle and cost of adding system memory.  

ReadyBoost allows the use of non-volatile flash memory, such as that on a universal serial bus (USB) flash drive, to improve performance.  Basically the flash device serves as additional cache and the ReadyBoost technology is built on the intelligent memory management of Windows SuperFetch which helps to improve system responsiveness. 

With a ReadyBoost-capable flash memory devices for caching allows Windows Vista to service random disk reads with performance that is typically 8-10 times faster than random reads from traditional hard drives. 

What is a ReadyBoost capable device?

The following are requirements for USB flash devices enhanced for ReadyBoost:

• USB flash drives themselves and the host controllers they are inserted into must both use the USB 2.0 standard.
• USB flash drives must have at least 230 MB of free space and you can use up to 4GB.  With a recommend ration pf at least a 1:1 ratio of ReadyBoost cache size to main memory (RAM) capacity. Higher ratios up to 3:1 will realize the optimal performance benefits

Performance requirements:

• Flash storage devices must meet minimum performance requirements to support ReadyBoost, including 2.5 MB/s throughput for random 4K reads and 1.75 MB/s for random 512‑K writes.
• Higher performance requirements must be met for the device to be designated as “enhanced for ReadyBoost”: 5 MB/s for random 4K reads and 3 MB/s for random 512‑K writes.

Watch the Screencast here:

Screencast: Improved responsiveness - ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive

Enjoy and please comment if you have any questions and let me know what you think!