ReadyBoost - do I really have 5.5GB RAM?

On this near-new (but already obsolete) e1405 with 2GB RAM,
"ReadyBoost" is installed, or available.

I did services.msc, activated ReadyBoost, and inserted a 4GB
fast thumb drive with about 400MB in stored files.

A dialog box appeared, the lowest line of which was something
like "Do you wish to use ReadyBoost to speed up this computer?"
I did, and off we went. It responded with "3.5GB added" or
something close...

My first home computer had 4k of RAM, so it's jaw-dropping to
think that this laptop now has 5.5GB available as solid state
storage.

Or does it?

"Ike" <binarydotike@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:f5c9sf$nu1$1@registered.motzarella.org...
> On this near-new (but already obsolete) e1405 with 2GB RAM, "ReadyBoost"
> is installed, or available.
>
> I did services.msc, activated ReadyBoost, and inserted a 4GB fast thumb
> drive with about 400MB in stored files.
>
> A dialog box appeared, the lowest line of which was something like "Do you
> wish to use ReadyBoost to speed up this computer?" I did, and off we went.
> It responded with "3.5GB added" or something close...
>
> My first home computer had 4k of RAM, so it's jaw-dropping to think that
> this laptop now has 5.5GB available as solid state storage.
>
> Or does it?

It doesn't. It has 2GB of RAM. Ready Boost is designed, primarily, to
allow commonly used applications to open more rapidly. It is supposed to
speed up a critical bottleneck on most systems: the swap file. You have to
use a very fast flash drive. It must be capable of 3.5-megabytes-per-second
throughput for 4KB random reads, and 2.5-MBps speeds for 512KB random
writes. NOTE 1

In the July 2007 issue of PC World, the performance of systems equipped with
these flash drives was poor compared to the hype Ready Boost was given by
the industry. In fact, in some instances, Ready Boost can actually slow
down the performance of your system.

NOTE 1: this information from PC World, July 2007 issue, page 62,
"ReadyBoost Flash Drives Lack Significant Boost"

On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:31:41 -0700, Ike <binarydotike@gmail.com>
wrote:

>On this near-new (but already obsolete) e1405 with 2GB RAM,
>"ReadyBoost" is installed, or available.
>
>I did services.msc, activated ReadyBoost, and inserted a 4GB
>fast thumb drive with about 400MB in stored files.
>
>A dialog box appeared, the lowest line of which was something
>like "Do you wish to use ReadyBoost to speed up this computer?"
>I did, and off we went. It responded with "3.5GB added" or
>something close...
>
>My first home computer had 4k of RAM, so it's jaw-dropping to
>think that this laptop now has 5.5GB available as solid state
>storage.
>
>Or does it?

I recommend Googling about Ready Boost. As I understand it, it's not
used like standard RAM.

On my 2G laptop I really don't notice much difference when I have any
ReadyBoost memory installed (I have tried a Sandisk Ultra III 1 GB SD
card, a Ultra II 4GB SD card, and a 4GB USB flash drive).