Windows Vista and ReadyBoost
Windows Vista has a cool new technology called ReadyBoost that allows you to use a USB memory stick to speed up your computer. As I discussed in my Windows Vista Community Site column, ReadyBoost isn't a substitute for system RAM memory, but it does speed up your overall system and provide additional resources. And let's face it, Vista needs all the memory help it can get. In a future blog I'll have some direct comparisons of how much ReadyBoost helps as compared to adding system memory, but for many of us there isn't really a choice. Adding system memory is either not possible, or prohibitively expensive with where RAM prices are right now.
Unfortunately, not every USB key drive is ReadyBoost compatible. I've been getting a lot of email asking me for specific recommendations, so I thought I'd cover some of the basics here, while detailing some of my own results with supposedly high speed USB memory devices.
The first requirement is that the USB drive be at least 512 Mb in size. Any less and Vista will decline to use the drive because it isn't fast enough. The drive must also be USB 2.0 HiSpeed compatible and be plugged in to a 2.0 HiSpeed port. Again, if this minimum requirement isn't met, Vista won't use the drive because it isn't fast enough to really help.
The next requirement is that the drive be fast enough to actually help. I don't know what the specs need to be for the drive, but I didn't really see this as a big issue when I wrote that column. After all, the very first drive I tried, a fairly old, 512 Mb Crucial Technologies Gizmo! drive I just happened to have lying around, worked perfectly. Well, imagine my surprise when readers started asking me for specific recommendations because their supposedly high speed drives wouldn't work. So, I started trying various drives I had around, and even went out and bought an expensive and supposedly high speed drive from OCZ - the Rally 2 to try it out. Well, I was frankly very disappointed. Not only did none of the other drives I had around work (admittedly, most of them were handouts at various tradeshows or wherever), but that overpriced OCZ? Nope. Wouldn't work. In spite of all the claims from OCZ about how fast it supposedly is, Vista flat out refuses to use it for ReadyBoost. So, I sent email to OCZ, asking them about it. And guess what? I didn't even get the decency of a reply. OK, I get the message.
So, I sent off an email to Crucial, since I'd had good success with an older model of theirs, and asked them if they would send me their current model to try out. Unlike OCZ, I not only got email, but they were actually quite helpful.
The newest Gizmo! is the Gizmo! Overdrive. Available in 512 MB, 1GB and 2 GB sizes, at quite reasonable prices, the Overdrive includes a Windows Vista compatible document vault that secures your sensitive documents against any unauthorized access with a 256 character key using Blowfish encryption. And even with that software on it, the Gizmo! Overdrive worked without any issues at all as a ReadyBoost drive. Sweet.
The Gizmo! Overdrive, and it's slightly less expensive brother without the document vault software (also called a Gizmo! Overdrive) are small enough to fit side by side in my Acer Ferrari 4005 laptop without issue - a good sign. I hate those bulbuous things that crowd everyone else out and overhang the next slot. The security software enabled one is shiny black, and the plain one is shiny white. Otherwise, they look identical. Both have a tiny little slot in one corner that is supposed to let you slide a tether through so you can hang it around your neck and look totally geeky. Bad design. Getting the little cord for the tether through there is just plain HARD. And the slot is too small for even my smallest pair of jeweller's needle nose pliers to reach in and grab the cord. Ah, well, it's a small complaint - I was able to fish it through eventually, and the Gizmo! just works. No muss, no fuss, it just works. I have to say that's what I want out of my hardware these days. It should just plug in and work.
So, the final tally here of known good and known not good? Here's the ones I know about:
Crucial Technologies - 512 Mb - 2 GB, all models. Works, and works well. Security software works in Vista x64 without issue.
Victorinox - Tested the 512 Mb model, and it works. A bit large and may interfere with other USB connections. But hey, you get a mini Swiss Army knife with it - that's pretty cool.
OCZ Rally 2 - doesn't work, and they don't answer their email. Three thumbs down!
Charlie.
Update on OCZ: Well, it only took them a month, but now I have someone at OCZ who claims it should work. Of course, he was testing on Build 5600 and 32-bit, so I'll wait to see what comes of it. I can still confidently state that my OCZ Rally2 does not work with RTM Vista x64 Ultimate Edition. But perhaps OCZ has an update they'll share with me that makes it work. If so, I'll let everyone know.