Formerly codenamed “EMD”, this technology uses external memory devices such as USB flash memory, removable storage on SD cards etc. to boost system performance by adding a separate pagefile (a file which the computer uses as if it was RAM, sometimes called “virtual memory”) to that device. Essentially, plug in an external memory device and your computer may run much faster.

RAM is essential in a computer - overall it’s the main thing which improves system performance as it enables you to have more applications open at once. Vista introduces a new technology which USB flash memory drives can be used as virtual memory. Because a flash disk has non-volatile memory, it generally means that when it’s connected to a USB 2.0 port, the computer can read it from the flash disk faster than the hard drive itself.

ReadyBoost is secure and reliable, and you can still unplug your USB drives or external memory devices at any time without losing work or noticing any significant drop in memory or overall performance. Also, the issue of wear on the flash memory has also been addressed as every time it writes data to the disk, it uses a unique pattern so that it becomes evenly spread out.

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