ReadyBoost – speed up the system and applications

Windows ReadyBoost is an operating system feature based on Microsoft software technology that helps speed up your computer. After applying this system tool, the performance of a low-power device increases: a laptop or a stationary PC.

Many computers that use the Windows operating system have rather weak hardware. Because of this, users experience inconvenience during the operation of their PC.

Often, the weakest link on a device is a slow computer hard drive or lack of RAM. Therefore, many users need to improve the speed of loading Windows and applications.

ReadyBoost technology is designed to solve some of the problems that arise when using “weak” computers. But first you need to understand about Windows ReadyBoost, what it is and when to use this tool.

ReadyBoost: what is it

The ReadyBoost function in Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7 uses free space on an external drive: USB drive or memory card, to speed up the launch of the OS and software on the computer.

Due to the characteristics of its device, the hard disk drive (HDD) quickly reads information written sequentially, and when reading data scattered across the disk, the speed of work is significantly reduced. This slows down the startup speed and software response.

To partially solve the problem, Windows uses defragmentation, which allows you to combine fragments of data on the HDD in one place. When performing optimization, separate parts of files scattered on the disk are connected together in one place. As a result, the performance of the computer is increased somewhat due to faster access to data on the disk.

Flash drives, when reading data located in different places on the disk, are much faster compared to hard drives. This feature is used by ReadyBoost technology (Redi Boost, Ready Boost), which, in parallel with the HDD, caches disk operations on a USB flash drive, SD or CF memory card.

Thanks to ReadyBoost (EMDMgmt), part of the data is stored on an external drive (flash drive or memory card) for a certain time. This allows you to speed up the software by using the free space on the external drive.

During PC operation, SuperFetch, a disk cache management system, automatically loads some application data into random access memory (RAM), which helps programs launch faster. Interacting with each other, SuperFetch (this service is enabled by default) and ReadyBoost manage the application cache.

The cache of serial data is stored in the RAM of the computer, and when using ReadyBoost, inconsistent information is cached to an external device (all this data is also stored in parallel on the hard disk), while freeing up space in the RAM.

For ReadyBoost to work, you need an additional device – an external drive: a flash drive or a memory card. The technology is built into the operating system, so there is no need to enter queries like “download ReadyBoost” into the search engine and download something to the PC.

At first, ReadyBoost began to be used in the Windows Vista operating system with some restrictions. The technology is fully supported in Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7 operating systems. Starting with Windows 7, more than one USB flash drive (up to 8 external drives) can be used to operate the ReadyBoost function.

Let’s take a look at what ReadyBoost does while the computer is in use.

How Ready Boost Works

In case of lack of memory, the computer uses a paging file located on the hard disk, into which some data is placed if they do not have enough space in RAM.

On slower PCs, ReadyBoost is used to expand the random access memory (RAM) using the internal virtual memory feature. When using ReadyBoost technology, as a result of performing disk operations, there are significantly lower delays in reading and writing information than with the paging file.

This is a significant advantage of this technology over the paging file. In fact, ReadyBoost is a kind of swap file located on an external connected drive, only faster.

On an external device (USB flash drive or SD card) connected to the computer, a “ReadyBoost.sfcache” file is created, which is not system or hidden. A certain amount of disk space is reserved on the drive, necessary for caching, on which you cannot store your files.

All cached information located on the drive is encrypted using the AES-128 algorithm.

Which flash drives are suitable for ReadyBoost

ReadyBoost is mainly used on laptops or netbooks, because these PCs often lack technical specifications due to their compactness. On a laptop, you can use an SD card slot, or connect a USB flash drive to a USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 port. It is desirable that the connector for an external device be soldered directly on the motherboard, this will slightly increase the speed of data exchange.

Almost any modern flash drive is suitable for ReadyBoost technology, but there are some nuances in using external devices due to the following limitations:

• The flash drive must have at least 256 MB of free disk space.
• For flash memory with the FAT32 file system, up to 4 GB of disk space can be used.
• You can use up to 32 GB of free space on a single USB flash drive or SD card with NTFS or exFAT file system.
• Flash memory must have a read speed of at least 2.5 MB/s and a write speed of at least 1.5 MB/s.
• It is advisable to use high-speed memory cards and USB flash drives.
• On 32-bit OS (x86), the ReadyBoost buffer size is up to 4 GB, and on 64-bit Windows (x64), up to 32 GB.

Microsoft recommends using flash memory and random access memory (RAM) in ratios of 1:1 to 2.5:1.

If necessary, the user can format their USB flash drive to a different file system in order to use more of the available free space on that drive. This must be done in advance.

Please note that due to the frequent overwriting of data on the media used in ReadyBoost technology, the life of a flash drive or memory card is reduced, this must be taken into account.

With a large amount of RAM or sufficient speed of the hard drive, the operating system can independently disable ReadyBoost technology for a specific device.

How to enable ReadyBoost Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7

If necessary, the user can use ReadyBoost technology on his PC, so the question arises of how to enable this tool.

There are two ways to run the ReadyBoost software technology on Microsoft Windows:

• When autorun of removable drives is enabled.
• With autorun disabled for external storage media.

If the autorun feature is enabled on the computer, when you connect a removable device, a window will open prompting you to perform certain actions. Among other options, it will offer “Speed ​​up the system using Windows ReadyBoost”.

Next, the properties window of the external drive will open in the “ReadyBoost” tab.

Another option to enable ReadyBoost Windows 10, 8, 7:

1. Insert a USB flash drive or memory card into the appropriate slot of a laptop or desktop PC.
2. In the Explorer window, right-click on the connected drive.
3. Select “Properties” from the context menu.
4. In the “Properties: external drive name” window, open the “ReadyBoost” tab.

The Windows operating system will analyze the flash drive to determine whether ReadyBoost can be used on this device. In some cases, the message “This device cannot be used for ReadyBoost” appears because the speed of the system disk is fast enough and using this function on a computer will not be useful. In this case, Windows disables this technology on its own.

5. Select Grant this device for ReadyBoost. As a result, all free space on the flash drive corresponding to the file system will be occupied.

The operating system will automatically reserve the space needed to speed up the work. Due to file system limitations, FAT32 uses up to 4 GB of free space, and up to 32 GB for an NTFS drive.

You can independently specify the amount of disk space used by ReadyBoost by moving the slider along the scale to the desired value. To do this, use the item “Use this device”.

6. Click on the “OK” button.
7. The device is being configured, which takes a short time.

A device appeared on the computer with a ReadyBoost cache file inside.

On the free unreserved space of the flash drive, you can store other user data. Be careful when removing removable media that is used as a ReadyBoost device so as not to disrupt the Windows operating system. Use the Safely Remove Devices and Drives tool from the notification area.

How to disable ReadyBoost

Now let’s see how to remove ReadyBoost from a flash drive or memory card if there is no need to use this tool, or if the technology is ineffective on a particular computer.

Do the following:

1. Open File Explorer.
2. Right-click on the disk (flash drive or memory card).
3. In the properties window of the external drive, go to the “ReadyBoost” tab.
4. Activate the “Do not use this device” option.
5. Click on the “OK” button.
6. In the window that opens, the specified changes are applied.

As a result, the technology will be disabled, and the reserved space on the flash drive will be freed up.

What gives ReadyBoost: is it worth using the technology

The user needs to independently figure out by experience whether ReadyBoost technology works on a particular PC. Run the computer for a month and then turn off ReadyBoost to see the difference.

Advanced users, in addition to subjective visual impressions, can check the operation of ReadyBoost technology in the System Monitor system tool.

You should not use ReadyBoost due to the inefficiency of the technology on PCs that have the following characteristics:

• If your computer has an SSD installed, because the SSD is a fast device that is much faster than this system tool.
• If your computer has 8 GB or more of RAM.

According to user feedback, the ReadyBoost tool helps speed up computers with low RAM and other weak hardware characteristics. As a result, the time spent on launching programs and loading the OS is somewhat reduced, and access to small files becomes faster.

In other cases, using ReadyBoost does not speed up Windows and applications.

Article Conclusions

ReadyBoost is a technology used in the Windows operating system to speed up a computer that has weak hardware. Due to hardware limitations, the computer is slow, so it makes sense for the user to try to speed up the system and programs using the Windows ReadyBoost function, which caches data on a connected external drive: a flash drive or memory card.