ReadyBoost crap shoot

[Colin Barnhorst]

Just sharing an experience.

These ReadyBoost usb thumb drives seem to be a real hit and miss thing. I
just bought a Patriot 16GB Xporter XTBoost usb thumb drive.

I tried it on one computer running Vista Ultimate x64 and the machine just
kept trying to find a driver for it but never succeeded in mounting it.

I tried it on another computer running VU x86 and it came right up and let
me configure it for ReadyBoost.

I then booted into a VU x64 installation on that same computer and it
configured it for storage fine but failed it for ReadyBoost.

Go figure!

As closely as I can tell, it just depends on the mobo and quality of the usb
ports.

 

[JW]

The ability of a flash drive or card to work successfully as a Ready Boost
drive in Vista is totally dependent on the speed of the flash device.
Devices whose speed is marginal especially depending on the speed of their
interface connection will work on one boot and fail on the next.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Yes, I know that. As I said, just sharing an experience.

The flash drive in question meets the specs nicely. My point is that all
the folks posting here with mysterious problems with usb devices aren't just
blowing smoke. I see it too with flash drives and external hard drive
enclosures. There is more to all this than so-called marginal devices. I
have come to the conclusion that the issues also involve mobos as well.
Oddly, my older mobos fare much better than my newer ones when it comes to
using these devices on Vista.

My heart goes out to the folks reporting these maddening issues. It isn't
just them and it isn't just the devices. It isn't even just Vista. It how
complicated usb can get when all these factors come together. I am coming
to the conclusion that it really is a crap shoot.

 

[JW]

I agree with you about USB another consistent problem area appears to be DVD
and CD drives.
Hopefully SP1 resolves many of the issues in these frustration areas. Both
of my systems are on RC1 now and one of my DVD issues appear to be resolved.

 

[_Mark_]

Dont feel bad, I had one working on Vista business, but when I moved it over
to Vista Home premium it said it wasnt compatible. Wonder if SP1 refresh
had anything to do with it. Oh well wait for the final and try it out...

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Yes, there are way too many reports to believe that it is all user error.
Even the usb rollup doesn't address all the issues.