How to use a removable disk for Windows's ReadyBoost? Increase your system performance by using your pen drive as an alternative to extra RAM

Run ahead, utilize your 8GB pen drive. Windows ReadyBoost can use storage space on some removable media devices, such as USB flash drives, to speed up your computer. When you insert a compatible device, the AutoPlay dialog box will offer you the option to speed up your system using Windows ReadyBoost.

This is all about speeding your system using Pen drive or any other memory stick that is supported by your Windows Vista or 7 or 8 machine. The functioning of ReadyBoost in Windows 8 and 7 is exactly the same as in Windows Vista as explained here.

Follow these very simple steps to ensure things going well.

1. Plug a flash drive or other removable media device into your computer. This should automatically open AutoPlay.If AutoPlay does not open, it might have been disabled. Visit control panel options or Troubleshoot AutoPlay problems in the control panel or help box, goto Control PanelAutoPlay.
2. Under General Options, click Speed up my system.This will display the Properties dialog box for your flash drive or other removable media device.
3. Click the ReadyBoost tab, and then do one of the following:
   • To turn ReadyBoost off, click Do not use this device.
   • To turn ReadyBoost on, click Use this device, and then move the slider to choose how much of the available space on your flash drive you want to reserve for boosting your system speed. (Maximum space allocated is indicated by the uppermost sliding end, in the illustration it’s 4090MB for a 8GB Transcend JetFlash V10 of which 7.31GB is free space.)
4. Click OK. And get ready to feel your  system’s running faster than before.

Some USB storage devices or media disks contain both slow and fast flash memory, and Windows can only use fast flash memory to speed up the machine. So ensure that your pen drive is fast memory type flash device and fortunately most of them are.

The recommended amount of memory to use for ReadyBoost acceleration is one to three times the amount of random access memory (RAM) installed in your computer. For instance, if your computer has 512 megabytes (MB) of RAM and you plug in a 4 gigabyte (GB) USB flash drive, setting aside from 512 MB to 1.5 GB of that drive will offer the best performance boost. And by now, you must have guessed that my system got memory lesser than 4GB, and yes it’s 3072MB RAM. And oviously, my 8GB pendrive would occupy for it 1/2 the size ie 4 GB around, as a rule of fact. And finally I consider my nett RAM as around 7GB though it’s virtually true.

Originally from How to use a removable disk for Windows Vista’s ReadyBoost? Increase your system performance by using your pen drive as an alternative to extra RAM from Ekendra’s blog.