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Turn a USB Flash Drive into Extra Virtual RAM (http://lifehacker.com/5573801/turn-ausb-ash-drive-into-extra-virtual-ram)

Erica Ho (http://erica-ho-old.kinja.com)
(http://erica-ho-old.kinja.com)

Filed to: USB DRIVE (/TAG/USB-DRIVE) 6/27/10 3:00pm (http://lifehacker.com/5573801/turn-a-usb-flash-drive-into-extra-virtual-ram)

236,871

8 l

It'snothardtoturnanextraUSBsticklyingaroundthat'scollectingdustintoextramemoryforyourcomputer,allowingittorunspeedier
andmanagemoreapplicationsbetter.

DIYsiteInstructableshasaguideonhowtoputaflashdrivetogoodusebyusingittoincreasethevirtualRAMonyourWindows
computer.Forthebestresults,InstructablesuserMoritzBsuggestsusingaUSBdrivesmallerthan4GBforthislittletrick.We've
paraphrasedsomeoftheinstructionsforyoubelow:

1.

Renameyourthumbdriveas"RAMDRIVE"orsomethingsimilar,soyoucanseewhichdriveisbeingusedasRAM.

2.

Deleteallthestuffontheflashdrive.Checkforhiddenfiles.

3.

RightclickonMyComputer,andgotoProperties.Oncethere,clickonAdvancedandgotothesystemoutput'sSettings.
1 (/i-am-on-windows-xp-and-i-cant-get-to-system-outputs-1684492487)

4.

ClickonAdvanced,andthenEdit.

5.

Clickonyourthumbdriveabove,andselect"userdefinedsize."Hereyoucanseethesizeofyourflashdrive.

6.

Calculatethesizeoftheflashdrive,andsubtract5Mb.

7.

Typethisnumberinthefirstbox.Inthesecondbox,typeinthesamenumber.

8.

ClickSetandconfirmallyoursettings,applyingthemwhereveryoucan.

9.

Restartyourcomputer.

Windows7usersshouldgointotheirSystemProperties,underthePerformancetabfortheseoptions.Afteryou'redone,yourcomputer
willrecognizeyourflashdriveasextravirtualmemory.Donotpulloutyourthumbdriveafterthesesettingsareimplemented.Itcould
crashyourcomputer.Instructableshasthewholetutorial,withstepbystepscreenshotsbelow.

UseyourUSBflashdriveasvirtualRAM(http://www.instructables.com/id/UseyourUSBflashdriveasvirtualRAM/)
[Instructables]
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Erica Ho
a
6/27/10 3:17pm (http://lifehacker.com/5573801/turn-a-usb-flash-drive-into-extra-virtual-ram?comment=25146869#comments)
GetOutOfBox (http://getoutofbox.kinja.com)
(http://getoutofbox.kinja.com)

UsingaflashdriveasRAMwillkillitextremelyquickly.Iknowthatitissaidtouseanextradrivelyingaround,butmostUSBflash
driveshavealimitednumberofwrites,usuallytheywilllastalongtimeinordinarysituations,butwhenusedasasystemcache,
whichhandlesthousandsofwritesinaday,you'llbehittingthatwritelimitprettysoon.
ThenewertheUSBdrive(assumingitsfromagoodmanufacturer)usuallythemorewritestheycanhandle,sinceflash/SSD
technologykeepsimprovingeveninthespaceofsixmonths,andpricesgodownforpreviouslyhighendhardware.
Inmyexperience,hostingthepagefileontheUSBdrivedoesn'treallyincreaseperformance,andapagefileforanaveragecomputer
shouldn'tbemorethan1.5xthesystemRAM,whichisaround34GBformostpeople.
AnaddedproblemisthatifsomeoneremovesthatUSBdrive,andthepagefileishostedonit,Iassumeyou'dgetabluescreenanda
crash(notpermanent,justrestartwiththedrivein).
1

aGetOutOfBox

Reply

Xeratun (http://xeratun-old.kinja.com)
(http://xeratun-old.kinja.com)

6/27/10 4:45pm (http://lifehacker.com/5573801/turn-a-usb-flash-drive-into-extra-virtual-ram?comment=25148631#comments)

@GetOutOfBox:Youreallythinkmostpeoplehave34GBofRAMintheircomputers?Maybeintechgeekcircles,butIknow
peoplewith<1GBofRAMandnobodyotherthantechieshasover2GBthatIknow.
2

Reply

Xeratun
a
6/27/10 6:09pm (http://lifehacker.com/5573801/turn-a-usb-flash-drive-into-extra-virtual-ram?comment=25150445#comments)
MaxellDVD1 (http://maxelldvd1.kinja.com)

(http://maxelldvd1.kinja.com)

@Lacara:Further,thosenontechgeeksprobablydon'thaveveryhighdemands,andtheirsystemssuitthemwell.OnWindowsXP
512MBismorethanenoughforsimplewebbrowsingandwordprocessing

Reply

aXeratun

GetOutOfBox (http://getoutofbox.kinja.com)
(http://getoutofbox.kinja.com)

6/27/10 6:14pm (http://lifehacker.com/5573801/turn-a-usb-flash-drive-into-extra-virtual-ram?comment=25150571#comments)

@Lacara:Allstandarddesktopcomputerstodayshipwithatleast3GBofRAM,evenmostnotebookshavethatmuch.Considering
thatamajorityofthepopulationisnotpartofa"techgeekcircle",mostprobablyboughtareadymadecomputer,whichmeansthey
haveatleast3GB(eventhecheapestofnewcomputersusuallyhavethatmuch).
WindowsXPrequires512MBofRAM,andthatsjustforcoreoscomponents,withappsincluded,thecomputershouldhaveatleast
1.5GBofRAMtorunata(relatively)normalspeed.Themomentanapp,especiallyagame,hastousevirtualmemory,you'regoing
toseesomebadlag.

Reply

aXeratun

GoodBytes (http://goodbytes.kinja.com)
(http://goodbytes.kinja.com)

6/27/10 6:23pm (http://lifehacker.com/5573801/turn-a-usb-flash-drive-into-extra-virtual-ram?comment=25150771#comments)

@Lacara:IagreewithMaxellDVD1,moreover,theseuserswillmostlikelynotmaintain(replacetheirUSBdriveeverynowandthen
duetousage),meaningthey'llstartgettingBSOD,andbeunhappywiththeirsystem,andwon'tknowwhy.Basically,youcreate
problemsatalongterminsteadofhelping.

Reply

Show more replies in this thread (http://lifehacker.com/5573801/turn-a-usb-flash-drive-into-extra-virtual-ram?comment=25146869#comments)

Erica Ho
a
6/27/10 7:01pm (http://lifehacker.com/5573801/turn-a-usb-flash-drive-into-extra-virtual-ram?comment=25151693#comments)
mattburris01 (http://mattburris01-old.kinja.com)
(http://mattburris01-old.kinja.com)

Mostpeoplethatcommentedalreadyhavementionedthatthismethoddoesn'thelpperformance,buthurtit.That'struefrommy
experience.However,flashdrivesaren'ttotallyuselessfortweakingperformance.
Wheretheycanbeusefulisplaceswherelotsofdatainsmallfilesarelocated.ExampleswouldbeC:\ProgramData(hiddenfolder)
orartfoldercacheformediaplayerssuchasiTunesandWMP.Sinceflashdriveshavequickseektimes,itcanaccesslotsofsmall
filesquickerthanaharddrive,whichhastospintofindthosedrivesonaplatter.Basicallyflashdrivesexcelatrandomread/writes
overtraditionalharddrives.
Usingdirectoryjunctionstoplacethefoldersontheflashdriveisthebestwaytotakeadvantageofthisperformanceboost.

mattburris01
a
6/27/10 7:30pm (http://lifehacker.com/5573801/turn-a-usb-flash-drive-into-extra-virtual-ram?comment=25152415#comments)

Reply

MaxellDVD1 (http://maxelldvd1.kinja.com)
(http://maxelldvd1.kinja.com)

@mattburris01:Flashmemoryexcelsatrandomreads,butisevenworsethanspinningdisksatrandomwrites.Thisisbecausethe
eraseblockofflashmemoryismanytimeslargerthanadisksector,andtheblockmustbeerasedbeforeitcanbechanged.Sofor
contiguousfiles,iterasesablockandfillsitwithnewdata.Forrandomwrites,acrossmultipleeraseblocks,ithastoeraseand
rewritealotofotherunrelateddata,slowingperformance.
Yourtweakwouldhavethemostgainsfordatathatdoesn'tchangealot.Asyousuggestalbumart.

Reply

MaxellDVD1
a
6/28/10 7:06am (http://lifehacker.com/5573801/turn-a-usb-flash-drive-into-extra-virtual-ram?comment=25161965#comments)
andrewklaus (http://andrewklaus-old.kinja.com)

(http://andrewklaus-old.kinja.com)

@MaxellDVD1:Itonlyerasesablockifit'sbeenwrittentobefore.AnditonlydoesthisiftheWHOLEflashdiskhasbeenwrittento
atsomepoint(lookupwearleveling).
TRIMhelpsfixthis(needsOSanddisksupport)sinceitwillerasetheblocksinthebackgroundandnotwhenitgoestouseit.

Reply

aErica Ho

MaxellDVD1 (http://maxelldvd1.kinja.com)
(http://maxelldvd1.kinja.com)

6/27/10 6:05pm (http://lifehacker.com/5573801/turn-a-usb-flash-drive-into-extra-virtual-ram?comment=25150324#comments)

WindowsXPandnewerWILLNOTallow"removabledrives"suchasUSBflash,SDcards,orUSBharddrivesbeusedforpagefile,
withoutmessingaroundsuchastheHitachimicrodrivefilterwhichwillmakeitappearasafixeddrive.
Further,thewritespeedofflashdrivesareterriblecomparedtoharddrives(especiallysinceUSBishighCPUoverheadcomparedto
IDEorSATAbusses)wherethepagefilenormallyresides,soitcouldpossiblyevenslowdownthesystem.RAMischeapandmost
systemshavemoreRAMthanstrictlyneededanddon'tpagenearasmuchassystemsofyore.
Further,onVistaorWindows7"ReadyBoost"isactuallydesignedforuseonflashdrivesANDthesystemwon'tcrashifthedriveis
pulledout.

Reply

aErica Ho

zaghy2zy (http://zaghy2zy.kinja.com)
(http://zaghy2zy.kinja.com)

6/27/10 5:51pm (http://lifehacker.com/5573801/turn-a-usb-flash-drive-into-extra-virtual-ram?comment=25150009#comments)

Idon'treallythinkthiswouldactuallygiveanysignificantincreaseinperformance.Whatthisisbasicallydoingisallocatingmore
virtualmemory,whichwindowsautomatically(andshouldautomatically)managesforyou.
Thisdoesn'taddanyRAM,butrather,morevirtualmemory.Whichisverydifferentthanhavinganadditionalactualmemoryof
whichiswhatReadyBoostdoes.
Seethis:[askbobrankin.com](http://askbobrankin.com/virtual_memory.html)toknowmoreaboutthedifferencebetweenavirtual
andrealRAM.

Reply

Erica Ho
a
3/26/11 9:34am (http://lifehacker.com/5573801/turn-a-usb-flash-drive-into-extra-virtual-ram?comment=37927973#comments)
tipoo (http://tipoo.kinja.com)

(http://tipoo.kinja.com)

IfyouhaveWindows7orVista,whywouldyouuseitasaRAMdriveinsteadofreadyboost?SinceRAMismanytimesfasterthan
eventhefastestofdrives,youcouldenduphurtingperformanceinsteadofhelping.UnlessyourtryingtorunthoseOS'son256MB
orsomething,Iguess.

Reply

aErica Ho

tipoo (http://tipoo.kinja.com)
(http://tipoo.kinja.com)

6/27/10 3:58pm (http://lifehacker.com/5573801/turn-a-usb-flash-drive-into-extra-virtual-ram?comment=25147688#comments)

Thismakesnosensetodo,theflashdrivewillbemanyordersofmagnitudeslowerthanyourRAM,andifyoursystemputs
somethingimportanttherethenyouhaveaslowdown,notaspeedup.
Vista/7userscanjustdoReadyboost,thatmakesmoresense.

Reply

aErica Ho

luckycharms (http://luckycharms.kinja.com)
(http://luckycharms.kinja.com)

6/27/10 5:57pm (http://lifehacker.com/5573801/turn-a-usb-flash-drive-into-extra-virtual-ram?comment=25150163#comments)

ifausbdriveisfasterthanaharddrive,thenitmakessomesense.butitsoundslikemostfolksbelowdon'texperiencemuchofa
performancegain.

Reply

aErica Ho

infojunkie2000 (http://infojunkie2000-old.kinja.com)
(http://infojunkie2000-old.kinja.com)

7/10/10 12:05pm (http://lifehacker.com/5573801/turn-a-usb-flash-drive-into-extra-virtual-ram?comment=25785070#comments)

Youmightalsowanttocheckoutaprogramcalled"Eboostr"thatallowsyouto"attach"USBflashdrivestoyourregularmemory.
I'vebeenusingitfor2yearsanditisSWEET.

infojunkie2000
a
4/25/11 6:50am (http://lifehacker.com/5573801/turn-a-usb-flash-drive-into-extra-virtual-ram?comment=38639855#comments)

Reply

Reply

Reply

caincha (http://caincha.kinja.com)
(http://caincha.kinja.com)

Yep,itcanbedoneonWinXPusingeBoostr:www.eboostr.com

Erica Ho
a
6/27/10 3:24pm (http://lifehacker.com/5573801/turn-a-usb-flash-drive-into-extra-virtual-ram?comment=25147033#comments)
joep1984 (http://joepierce01.kinja.com)

(http://joepierce01.kinja.com)

IsthissupposedtobebetterthanWindows'ownReadyBoostforVistaand7?

aErica Ho

Sea Bear (http://seabear01.kinja.com)

(http://seabear01.kinja.com)

3/27/11 8:45am (http://lifehacker.com/5573801/turn-a-usb-flash-drive-into-extra-virtual-ram?comment=37939786#comments)

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