Windows ReadyBoost

Windows Vista supports Windows ReadyBoost, which uses external USB Flash drives as a hard disk cache, thus improving disk read performance in some circumstances. Supported external storage types include USB thumb drives, as shown in Figure 15-11; SD cards; and CF cards.

ReadyBoost uses flash storage to improve disk read performance.

Figure 15-11. ReadyBoost uses flash storage to improve disk read performance.

External storage must meet the following requirements:

  • Capacity between 256 MB and 4 GB, with at least 64 KB of free space

  • At least a 2.5 MB/sec throughput for 4 KB random reads

  • At least a 1.75 MB/sec throughput for 512 KB random writes

Unfortunately, most flash storage provides only raw throughput ...

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