***Ready Boost Gotcha***

[Richard Urban]

This is an informational post. If you don't use Ready Boost, in a dual boot
situation, there is no reason to read further.


Parameters:
2 gig of PC3200 Crucial RAM
2 gig Ready Boost enhanced SanDisk Micro (no U3 capabilities)

I was noticing yesterday (Sunday) that Ready Boost did not seem to be doing
anything, as opposed to actually seeing a decrease in application load time
over the past couple of weeks.

I have a Ready Boots USB stick plugged permanently into an interior port in
my computer.

I dual boot between Vista and Windows XP. I use, and boot into Vista almost
exclusively - going into XP to use my flat bed scanner (no Vista drivers and
none to be available).

I have the USB stick configured to be Drive S: when booted into either
operating system. I just don't touch it al all when booted into Windows XP.
Unfortunately, something DOES touch it.

I noticed yesterday that the USB stick showed empty when booted into Windows
XP. Something is clearing/deleting the ReadyBoost.sfcache file from the
stick whenever I boot into Windows XP.

This, of course, means that the next time I boot into Vista the cache has to
be re-established and repopulated - causing an initial performance hit on
the system. When once the cache has been established/populated, I can
shutdown and reboot into Vista and the cache is doing what it is intended to
do.

So, if Ready Boost does not seem to be doing anything for you, and you dual
boot, this may be the answer you are seeking!


--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[jim]

yet another blundering mistake by microsoft!

Not only did MS break compatibility with thousands of software and hardware,
but it broke compatibility with its own products!

Reminds me of the other blundering MS mistake (xp deleting vista restore
points
when you dual boot the 2 OS)

 

[Dustin Harper]

So if you want to use your flash drive in XP, which does not support
Ready Boost, you have this huge temp tile on there. So, you would
manually delete it? For the average joe, they'd just see it as almost
full and not know why. It IS compatible, and it is doing what it is
supposed to do. It just wasn't documented.

 

[Richard Urban]

I don't agree with you.

Nothing should be deleting files automatically. That is up to the end user
to decide.

It is just something that was not picked up on during the beta's. Guess we
all weren't as good as we thought we were. Buy hey, you never catch
everything.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[jim]

errr did you actually read what he wa saying...

I repeat what ge said>>
" Something is clearing/deleting the ReadyBoost.sfcache file from the
stick whenever I boot into Windows XP."

and now you say>

It IS compatible, and it is doing what it is supposed to do.

LOL!!!! Vista smucks!

 

[Richard Urban]

Reading comprehension problem I see! (-:

It is Windows XP that is deleting the file pal - not Vista!

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[jim]

it was vaught and reported, just like the restore point deletion was caught
and reported.. but guess what?

MS didnt care!!! you got it! MS says that it supports only 1 OS per
computer...
the dual boot scenarios are unsupported, and out of grace they have a
bootloader
that can even work in a basic way.

 

[Dustin Harper]

Huh? So, if it deleted the Vista only cache file when using XP (which
can't use the Ready Boost), why isn't that doing what it is supposed to
do. Perhaps it is a bug, and it should stay there regardless of what
OS... But, for Mr. Just learned how to turn on a PC with his new USB
stick going from work to home, and he uses Ready Boost at home, and goes
to work with a full USB stick and no idea why, it would be a good idea.

But, I do agree it should be up to the end user, and it may be a bug.
I'm just trying to keep an open mind on things. There IS a use for
the way that it is doing things, just not for the power user.

 

[jim]

I know PAL that XP is deleting the file....

It is the way VISTA created the file that maked XP want to delete it! PAL

if they had brains they would have made it in such a way that XP would leave
it alone PAL

same problem with the vista restore points.. it is XP deleting them.. but
they could
have found around the problem when they were making stupid vista PAL

 

[Richard Urban]

Ready Boost is supposed to survive a reboot so that the normally used
applications start up faster in the future. Remember, Ready Boost is an
extension to the pagefile - just very much faster.

If a previously loaded program (or a major part of it's code) is stored in
Ready Boost, the next time you load the program on your computer it should
load from the USB stick and not from the hard drive. If you reboot 100 times
into Vista, this DOES occur. If you reboot into Windows XP and then back
into Vista, the Ready Boost cache has to repopulate all over again.

Most people do not clear the pagefile at shutdown, unless they are worried
about security.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Guest]

Umm jim I hate to rain on your parade here, but you attacked the wrong person.

Richard is the original person who created the thread.

Dustin Harper was the person you were arguing with.

Richard came back and quoted you and was stating that Dustin had a reading
comprehension problem and Dustin was the person he was calling pal
sarcastically.

You then ripped Richard a new one with this post, and he wasn't even the
right person to be attacking.

So now you get the reward of knowing you attacked the wrong person and look
like a fool

 

[Richard Urban]

I think that I just stumbled upon something that was unanticipated and not
tested for. I know that when I was beta testing I had Vista on a dedicated
box. Therefore I could not have, even accidently, found this condition. It
may turn out to be something that can not be solved for.

This makes it all the more necessary for the hardware manufacturers to get
their drivers out.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[jim]

wtf are you talking about. Have you been using vista too long and you are
delirious?

My thread is correct... I don't care about Dustin ... I am responding only
to the "urban" myth.

 

[Roscoe]

Umm jim I hate to rain on your parade here, but you attacked the wrong
person.

Richard is the original person who created the thread.

Dustin Harper was the person you were arguing with.

Richard came back and quoted you and was stating that Dustin had a reading
comprehension problem and Dustin was the person he was calling pal
sarcastically.

Check again.

 

[Justin]

Most people do not clear the pagefile at shutdown, unless they are worried
about security.

....and most people will not bounce their VISTA Ready Boost flash drive
between XP and Vista. This would certainly be one of the farthest things
down on MSs list of concerns.

 

[bp]

yet another blundering mistake by microsoft!

Not only did MS break compatibility with thousands of software and hardware,
but it broke compatibility with its own products!

Reminds me of the other blundering MS mistake (xp deleting vista restore
points
when you dual boot the 2 OS)

Dude this is a NEW major OS. it is like every NEW major OS in the past
and must likely the future. They break stuff it's NOTHING new.

 

[bp]

Huh? So, if it deleted the Vista only cache file when using XP (which
can't use the Ready Boost), why isn't that doing what it is supposed to
do. Perhaps it is a bug, and it should stay there regardless of what
OS... But, for Mr. Just learned how to turn on a PC with his new USB
stick going from work to home, and he uses Ready Boost at home, and goes
to work with a full USB stick and no idea why, it would be a good idea.

But, I do agree it should be up to the end user, and it may be a bug.
I'm just trying to keep an open mind on things. There IS a use for
the way that it is doing things, just not for the power user.

Does it seem like there are some that are just looking for any excuse
to jump up and down a start screaming that MS/VISTA sucks?

 

[Richard Urban]

That's why it was missed.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Dustin Harper]

Chris Avis actually brought this up at the Vista Launch in Portland. It
is due to a security issue. If you have your memory stick and it gets
stolen, someone can't get into it and get information from the page file.

It would be erased even on another Vista installation. Therefore, it is
doing what it was made to do, and not a bug.

 

[Richard Urban]

Thank you Dustin.

It seems like it is more an excuse than a reason if that is what Microsoft's
position is. The cache file is retained as long as you reboot into Vista. So
now, someone steals the USB stick. See where I'm going with
this........................!

If MS were worried about security, the USB stick should be cleared at
shutdown. If this were done the whole concept of the Ready Boost utility
would be useless. If it has to be rebuilt each and every time you boot into
Vista you have a net loss - not a net gain.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!