What is ReadyBoost and why should I (not) care?
ReadyBoost is an advanced disk caching technique tied into Windows Superfetch for Windows Vista and Windows 7. It can dramatically speed up the performance of computers with little RAM, especially those with 1GB or less. Because flash memory is able to handle random non-sequential reads faster than a conventional hard drive would, it’s better suited for caching small bits of data while larger chunks are still left to the hard drive’s faster throughput. ReadyBoost can be activated on any flash drive greater than 256MB in size, provided that the USB flash drive can manage at least 2.5MB/s for random 4kB reads and at least 1.75MB/s for random 512kB writes. Nearly all high performance flash drives meet this requirement, and some are even labeled to show they’re enhanced for ReadyBoost. On Vista, up to 4GB can be used for ReadyBoost caching, whereas on Windows 7 there is no limit. Any cached files written to the flash drive are both compressed and encrypted with 128-bit AES. An alternative
