Ready Boost missing in action?

[Programatix]

Hi,

I'm installed Vista on my laptop (no driver for the smart battery, so Vista
does not recognize it as a mobile PC). Anyway, I found out that after
several times of hibernate and suspend, Ready Boost will suddenly stop
working.

When this happens, the Property box of the drive, the Ready Boost tab will
be missing. Attempting to stop the Ready Boost service will make Ready Boost
to be in "stopping" condition infinitely.

The only way to solve this is to restart Vista.

Any idea?

 

[MICHAEL]

Hi,

I'm installed Vista on my laptop (no driver for the smart battery, so Vista does not
recognize it as a mobile PC). Anyway, I found out that after several times of hibernate and
suspend, Ready Boost will suddenly stop working.

When this happens, the Property box of the drive, the Ready Boost tab will be missing.
Attempting to stop the Ready Boost service will make Ready Boost to be in "stopping"
condition infinitely.

The only way to solve this is to restart Vista.

Any idea?

I have seen the same behavior after Vista recovers from Sleep.
It's not all the time, but enough to be aggravating. I really don't
need ReadyBoost, I have 2GB RAM. But, I do find it helps a bit
when I'm running a virtual machine. Typically, if you have over
1GB RAM, you will not notice any performance increase using
ReadyBoost.

The easiest way I've found to get ReadyBoost working again-
right click your device and format it- either FAT or FAT32.
After the format, you may have to click "Test Again" a couple
of times.


Take care,

Michael

 

[Programatix]

Well, the Ready Boost tab is missing... so can't really click the Test
button anyway. Sigh... anyway, I have 1.2GB of RAM.

 

[Ken Gardner]

"MICHAEL" :

The easiest way I've found to get ReadyBoost working again-
right click your device and format it- either FAT or FAT32.
After the format, you may have to click "Test Again" a couple
of times.

Why FAT or FAT32? I formatted mine with NTFS and it is working fine.

 

[MICHAEL]

"MICHAEL" :


Why FAT or FAT32? I formatted mine with NTFS and it is working fine.

Typically, on USB flash drives, FAT is the default format.
On small drives, many say that FAT is a bit faster than NTFS.

If it is working for you, don't "fix" it.


-Michael

 

[MICHAEL]

Did you restart the ReadyBoost service?

Pull the drive out and stick it back in.
I'll leave my general copy and paste
reply below, for a little more info.

------------------------------------------------
ReadyBoost can be a tricky thing to get working
on some flash drives, and a lot of flash drives
just aren't fast enough for ReadyBoost.

Try this first;
Go into Device Manager>Disk Drives
Find your flash drive. Double click it.
Policies tab.
Make sure "Optimize for performance" is checked.

Test again.

Sometimes even formatting the drive can do the trick.
Either FAT or FAT32.

Make sure it's not plugged into a USB hub.
Or, try plugging it into another slot.


ReadyBoost - Using Your USB Key to Speed Up Windows Vista
http://blogs.msdn.com/tomarcher/archive/2006/04/14/576548.aspx

 

[Programatix]

Well, as I said in the first post, stopping the service will put it in the
infinite stopping condition. By the way, this does not happen to my other
machine.

 

[MICHAEL]

Okay- I didn't say anything about stopping the service.
I'll take your statement to mean it is still trying to stop
the service- it's hung/frozen. You need to reboot.

Make sure the ReadyBoost service is on Automatic.
Restart your computer.

Now try some of the suggestions again.

-Michael

 

[Victek]

Typically, on USB flash drives, FAT is the default format.
On small drives, many say that FAT is a bit faster than NTFS.

If it is working for you, don't "fix" it.


-Michael

What do you think about the amount or ram that Windows Vista recommends for
ReadyBoost? I plugged in a 1gb flash drive and "Windows recommends using
880mgs for optimal performance." Why not use the whole stick? And by the
way, where is the "test" option? I don't see it on the ReadyBoost
properties tab.

 

[MICHAEL]

What do you think about the amount or ram that Windows Vista recommends for
ReadyBoost?

I'm not exactly sure what you mean. ReadyBoost is not RAM.
If you have over 1GB of RAM, you will not see much of an increase
in performance using ReadyBoost.

I plugged in a 1gb flash drive and "Windows recommends using
880mgs for optimal performance." Why not use the whole stick? And by the
way, where is the "test" option? I don't see it on the ReadyBoost
properties tab.

The recommendation is just that. You can use the slider to adjust it
so that it uses more. That recommendation is basically saying,
use at least 880MB for optimal performance. But, you can use more.

If your device is already being used for ReadyBoost, the "Test Again"
will not be there.


-Michael

 

[Byron Hinson]

What USB stick brand is it?

 

[Victek]

I'm not exactly sure what you mean. ReadyBoost is not RAM.
If you have over 1GB of RAM, you will not see much of an increase
in performance using ReadyBoost.


The recommendation is just that. You can use the slider to adjust it
so that it uses more. That recommendation is basically saying,
use at least 880MB for optimal performance. But, you can use more.

If your device is already being used for ReadyBoost, the "Test Again"
will not be there.

Thanks for the reply. I should have said "flash memory" instead of RAM,
which I realize was confusing. Regarding the recommended amount of "flash
memory" for ReadyBoost, I was wondering if assigning more than the
recommended amount might actually be less efficient for some reason. You
may be correct in your interpretation of the recommendation, but it doesn't
say "at least". It's not clear why Windows recommends less than 100% of the
flash drive if 100% would in fact be optimal.

 

[Guest]

Hello Programatix,

By chance have you read Vista's Help and Support Files in respect to
ReadyBoost?

All the sincere questions that you asked, the answers are entirely provided
as; "Using memory in your storage device to speed up your computer"

If you were to use a 4 Gig USB Flash for ReadyBoost, the total allowed
memory cache would be 1.5 Gig from that 4 Gig Flash Media.

Question: Have you consulted Ms. Dewey for advice, at: www.msdewey.com ??

Ms. Dewey is incredibly awesome, and very informative.

 

[Ken Gardner]

Typically, on USB flash drives, FAT is the default format.
On small drives, many say that FAT is a bit faster than NTFS.

If it is working for you, don't "fix" it.

I have an Apacer 2GB Handy Steno. And no, there isn't a damn thing wrong
with it.

Ken

 

[Roy Coorne]

"Jonathan Schwartz 2" <[email protected]>
wrote:

....

Question: Have you consulted Ms. Dewey for advice, at:
www.msdewey.com ??

Ms. Dewey is incredibly awesome, and very informative.

Yes, I asked Ms Dewey for advice - a charming lady who is puzzled,
too, by RAM and Flash Memory;-)

Very nice entertainment, indeed!


rOy

 

[Programatix]

Gee, I didn't mean to insult.. but you mentioned "Did you restart the
ReadyBoost service?"... that mean, stop and start the service...

Anyway, no matter what I do, I'm still having this problem. Sigh...

Thanks for your help.