The following tutorial explains how to use your USB flash drive as extended system memory when running the Windows Vista operating system. With the release of Windows Vista came the introduction to a new technology called ReadyBoost. This technology allows a Vista user to use their portable USB flash drive, SD card or CF card as an extension of system memory. This is beneficial because it is faster than the old method of extending system memory via the use of a Page file or "virtual memory" which used the hard disk.
How to Setup and use your USB flash drive for use as extended system memory:
- Open My Computer
- Right Click your Removable Disk Drive and select Properties
- Click the ReadyBoost Tab.
- Enable the feature by selecting the option and allocate the amount of space you want to use as memory
Additional Notes: If your flash device does not list ReadyBoost option then it does not meet the minimum data trasfer rate required by ReadyBoost technology.