Windows Vista, Flash Memory with USB

Pro Member First Officer
Michaelvg1 First Officer

I can't remember where I read this, but some were talking about how Windows Vista allows you to plug in a Flash drive for added Ram functionality when using FSX. Is this true and how would you do this exactly?

Although my setup is performing quite well now with one GB Ram, maybe this is a inexpensive fix until I purchase more memory later.

Answers 15 Answers

Jump to latest
Pro Member Chief Captain
RadarMan Chief Captain
Pro Member First Officer
Michaelvg1 First Officer

Thanks, but that's not familiar. What I read was something more specific to FSX. I guess WV has the ability to have a flash drive installed while using FSX and it can treat it like it's additional RAM. I guess this would speed up performance right?

Guest Guest

Michaelvg1 wrote:

Thanks, but that's not familiar. What I read was something more specific to FSX. I guess WV has the ability to have a flash drive installed while using FSX and it can treat it like it's additional RAM. I guess this would speed up performance right?

I read this also in the PC Pilot magazine. I'm sure I managed to do this with XP a while ago, I will have another go. 🙂

Pro Member First Officer
rob (Habu) First Officer

"Ready Boost" is what you are talking about. It is NOT as good as Ram, but faster than page file (swap file). I have 2 G Ram and played with it. I noticed that after setting up a 1G jump drive and having it in, FSX loaded alot faster when starting. I just ordered 2 additional G Ram.

Pro Member First Officer
Michaelvg1 First Officer

I am holding off on the RAM for now since it will cost $400. My FSX Works great (over 30 FPS), but would like to use a Flash Drive in the USB just for that added benefit. I tried my PNY Flash 1 GB, but Windows Vista said it's not cabable of Ready Boost. Are there special ones for this feature? Which ones are they, where can I find them?
Thanks

orionll Guest

Michealvg1: Your drive is too slow for ReadyBoost. There is a hack/mod that allows you to be able to use ReadyBoost anyways

Windows ReadyBoost is a great technology, caching things on USB drives to improve system performance, but Windows Vista insists on checking the drives for certain speed requirements before enabling the feature. If you have a USB drive that is just a hair to slow to beat the test, or you want to use an external hard drive (slower speed, loads of cache space), Matt Rajca posts at Channel 9 how you can force Vista to let you use ReadyBoost on an unsupported device, whether it wants to or not:

1. Plug in the device.
2. Open the Readyboost tab on the device properties.
3. Select “Do not retest this device”
4. Unplug the device
5. Open regedit (start->run->regedit)
6. Expand - HKLM (Local Machine)->SOFTWARE->Microsoft->Windows NT->CurrentVersion->EMDgmt
7. Find your device.
8. Change Device Status to 2
9. Change ReadSpeedKBs to 1000
10. Change WriteSpeedKBs to 1000
11. Plug in the device.
12. Enable Readyboost!!!!

Source: http://www.thehotfix.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=9621

Pro Member First Officer
Michaelvg1 First Officer

I don't know. I don't like messing with system configs. Shouldn't I just go out and buy a Readyboost capable Flash Drive? They are pretty cheap...

Pro Member First Officer
Michaelvg1 First Officer

I just went to J&R and picked up a 1GB SD Card. I figured I would not use that slot for anything anyway so why not just get a Card for more RAM. Hopefully when I get home Windows Vista will approve the device. It's a San Disk Extreme III. 20MB per second read/write.
Does that sound good?

Pro Member First Officer
Michaelvg1 First Officer

I am having a problem now. It appeared to be working the first time I starting using the SD Card. At least the LED in the front was always blinking on and off link when the hard drive is working, but now after I accepted the readyboost feature it does not seem to be running and when I right click the drive in Explorer, it's always defaulting to the radio button, "Do not use this device" and I select "Use this device" but it's still not blinking. What am I doing wrong now?
Thanks

Pro Member First Officer
Michaelvg1 First Officer

I figured it out. There is this small Lock slider on the SD Card. It was Locked somehow..

Pro Member Trainee
scottman Trainee

I just experimented with the Windows Vista ReadyBoost feature. I started with two different Sony MemoryStick Duo cards, and found that if I used a cheapo iConnect USB Multicard Reader/Writer on the usb port directly attached to the motherboard, Autoplay WOULD display the General tab with the system speedup feature. Microsoft recommends a 4 to 1 ratio (flash to main memory). I have a 4gig card, but settled on using the 1 mb stick anyway. The setting was 560mb of reserved space, and I've sinced increased the framerate from 20 to 24frames-per-second. Actually the range is 16-24. Flying around a particular local for a couple of days actually steadys the frame rate until I will finally see less and less of those 'lags'. I think the hard drive's cache is still in play. Ah to buy a modern serial ATA hard drive with flash cards slots built-in...

Pro Member First Officer
Michaelvg1 First Officer

Can you tell me more about this 4:1 thing...
I thought if I have 1 Gig Ram, I should get 1 Gig Flash SD Card?
My tower has a direct SD Card insert in the front, so I just leave it in there and it starts blinking when needed. Should I get a 2 Gig Ram Flash card? I will eventually get real RAM but do not need it quite yet.

Pro Member First Officer
rob (Habu) First Officer

Hi Michaelvg1, First, remember that the flash mem is not taking the place of Ram. I wouldn't spend more on Flash mem when you can add ram. Course, that's without knowing how old your PC/hardware is. But it must be pretty new to run Vista. When I first tried Ready boost with 2 g od DDR2/800, I tried a 2g PNY flash drive. Like yours, it wasn't fast enough and said so. So I popped in my 1 G Lexar and Voila ! But seeing the increase, I ordered 2 additional g Ram and it made a nice improvement. So Ram is still the 3rd best upgrade, video card/processor being the first two. But then you have to figure out the best settings for video card/FS to see improvement. That's where it is hardest !!! Good Luck, rob

Pro Member First Officer
Michaelvg1 First Officer

Yeah. Slowly but surely. I really don't think I need to do anything to expensive right now. I got a nice HP with a 2 duo core Intel processors. Getting 20-40 FPS with current set up. Just want to maximize what I have now and then maybe later this year, get a super video card and add more ram.
Thanks for the tip.
I also noticed a difference with the flash memory.

Pro Member Chief Captain
RadarMan Chief Captain

Still does not answer your question? Ask a new question!

If the question and answers provided above do not answer your specific question - why not ask a new question of your own? Our community and flight simulator experts will provided a dedicated and unique answer to your flight sim question. And, you don't even need to register to post your question!

Ask New Question...

Search

Search our questions and answers...

Be sure to search for your question from existing posted questions before asking a new question as your question may already exist from another user. If you're sure your question is unique and hasn't been asked before, consider asking a new question.

Related Questions

Flight Sim Questions that are closely related to this...