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Readyboost: Is it my imagination?

post #1 of 18
4/13/12 at 4:11pm
Thread Starter 
So, here's the situation...I'm running WMC in 32 bit Win7, 4GB RAM, AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE, AMD 6570 video. Very capable HTPC, right? Well, lately I've been trying different things to improve the slight sluggishness of the WMC menus. Particularly when launching the guide while H.264 HD video is playing, or browsing the Movies library or music library. Obviously, throwing more RAM at things is always an answer, however, with 32 bit, I'm maxed. Just for grins, i connected a decent speed 4GB USB flash drive and enabled Readyboost. I was not expecting much out of it, but have just been pleasantly surprised with the zippiness of the MCE menus, libraries and guide responsiveness.
Really, is it just my imagination, or is there something to it? I swear, things seem so fluid and smooth for the past few days, that i really believe that something as simple as implementing Readyboost made a pretty noticeable difference. Thoughts?
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post #2 of 18
4/13/12 at 4:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ghostlobster View Post

So, here's the situation...I'm running WMC in 32 bit Win7, 4GB RAM, AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE, AMD 6570 video. Very capable HTPC, right? Well, lately I've been trying different things to improve the slight sluggishness of the WMC menus. Particularly when launching the guide while H.264 HD video is playing, or browsing the Movies library or music library. Obviously, throwing more RAM at things is always an answer, however, with 32 bit, I'm maxed. Just for grins, i connected a decent speed 4GB USB flash drive and enabled Readyboost. I was not expecting much out of it, but have just been pleasantly surprised with the zippiness of the MCE menus, libraries and guide responsiveness.
Really, is it just my imagination, or is there something to it? I swear, things seem so fluid and smooth for the past few days, that i really believe that something as simple as implementing Readyboost made a pretty noticeable difference. Thoughts?

Try an SSD. You will Sh!T bricks...
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post #3 of 18
4/13/12 at 4:36pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah, it's on the list of things to do...the SSD part, not the bricks part!
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post #4 of 18
4/13/12 at 4:52pm
break your legs running so fast if you have to do it..


RUN NOW AND GET ONE.

You will thanks me.
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post #5 of 18
4/13/12 at 5:07pm
Thread Starter 
I'd get one tomorrow if someone could come up with a way to migrate the WMC recorded TV history to a new build. That's a HUGE issue for me and is the primary thing that is preventing me from doing an overall rebuild of the box.
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post #6 of 18
4/13/12 at 5:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ghostlobster View Post

I'd get one tomorrow if someone could come up with a way to migrate the WMC recorded TV history to a new build. That's a HUGE issue for me and is the primary thing that is preventing me from doing an overall rebuild of the box.

What about a backup or clone ?

Make a parition and restore from it ?
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post #7 of 18
4/13/12 at 5:58pm
Thread Starter 
I'm always leary of cloning...much better to do a fresh install, especially when making changes as drastic as changes to an ssd.
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post #8 of 18
4/13/12 at 6:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ghostlobster View Post

I'm always leary of cloning...much better to do a fresh install, especially when making changes as drastic as changes to an ssd.

Cloning, or such... will not erase your current drive and OS.


You can always go back to that if needed.
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post #9 of 18
4/13/12 at 6:48pm
Thread Starter 
I know it doesnt erase anything...i just get get concerned about things not being optimized, etc, for the new environment with the SSD. It's always best to fresh install. Besides, i really want to move to 64 bit with my next install so i can toss 8gb of RAM in there to help with the additional processes that run on my setup (comskip, dvblink stuff, etc).
So, again, until I can find a way to migrate the recorded tv history db, I'm stuck with what I'm working with. Which, is not bad at all, if I'm honest about it!
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post #10 of 18
4/14/12 at 1:21am
I too have seen improvements with MCE menus using readyboost. It definitely helps with zippiness if you have a regular spinning hard drive for the OS.
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post #11 of 18
4/14/12 at 4:07am
+1 on ReadyBoost, I used it for about six months until I got my SSD...made a big difference considering the (no)low cost and effort to deploy it. +1 on making your boot drive an SSD as well.

When you mean migrate your Recorded TV "History" do you mean the recording configuration (what shows being recorded) or do you mean the recording themselves. There are free tools (Google it) that will back up and restore your recording and tuner configurations.

I run WHS here (and backup the HTPC's boot drive with that) so I just restored from the backup when I migrated from a boot partition on Intel Matrix RAID to a stand-alone SSD drive.
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post #12 of 18
4/14/12 at 7:47am
You can install a small cheap SSD like a 30GB for a boost even more extreme than a USB drive.

Some even use PCI cards with the SSD mounted on it.
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post #13 of 18
4/14/12 at 10:56am
I currently use readyboost and also feel that it helps. No data to back that statement up.

You might consider the new crop of cache SSD drives, Crucial Adrenaline, Corsair Accelerator, OCZ Synapse Cache....

They use dataplex software to cache commonly used files, much like the hardware solution with Intel Z68 chipset. Consider it Readyboost on steroids.

No windows changes are required. Just install the drive, load the software, and BAM, near SSD speeds with your existing drive. It would be fantastic if Readyboost could use a SATA SSD but I have not found a way.
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post #14 of 18
4/14/12 at 1:01pm
I use Ready Boost on this laptop and the HTPC.

No hard data but Super Fetch and other file searching features do move faster.

Windows will determine if the device connected is fast enough for Readyboost. That said, I have seen some data if you use really fast (Class 10) SDHC cards that very positive.

SDHC prices have been dropping like a rock, you can get a 32GB Class 10 for about $.75 a Gig.

This is really helpful for most budget laptops that have slow 5400rpm drives in them.

Yes SSD's are faster but to hear isome people explain it, its get 120-128GB and nothing less. For a daily use machine and if you don't want to carry around an external of any kind, then yes get as much as you can afford.

120-128GB is close enough that I can image that and straight away move it to the laptop. For the HTPC however, I was able to work it down to 45GB or so used and I can still move some stuff around to get it down further but 60-64GB is more than enough.

But before I install an SSD in here (laptop), I am going to experiment with a 16 or 32GB Class 10 SD Card.
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post #15 of 18
4/16/12 at 9:35am
I have used ReadyBoost until I could afford an SSD.
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post #16 of 18
4/19/12 at 2:44pm
Is there an adapter which converts a USB head on the motherboard directly into a USB type A female socket so that I can hook a fast USB flash for ReadyBoost inside the machine? What is it called?

BTW, which filesystem is best for ReadyBoost and what cluster size?
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post #17 of 18
4/19/12 at 3:33pm
Guys your wasting time and effort.

Just get a real SSD.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick View Post

BTW the OCZ is $48 shipped right now for the 60GB

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227725
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post #18 of 18
4/19/12 at 3:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by pixelation View Post

Is there an adapter which converts a USB head on the motherboard directly into a USB type A female socket so that I can hook a fast USB flash for ReadyBoost inside the machine? What is it called?

BTW, which filesystem is best for ReadyBoost and what cluster size?

If the drive is 4GB or larger use NTFS. I have always selected the default cluster size to format. Many PC cases come with usb sockets and cables. Any old pc's in the trash you can scrounge one from?
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