Windows 7 Readyboost Cache Problem

[Roddles]

Hi Peoples

I was wondering if someone here may have some advise on a particular problem that I am having.

My readyboost cache is continually re-created everytime I reboot my laptop.

Its on a 4GB SD Card and I dedicate the entire SD card to the readyboost cache.

I noticed that there was always a lot of writes to the cache after startup - so I downloaded the readyboost monitor for windows 7 and watched as after the reboot, the cache only has 100MB, then it slowly creeps up MB by MB to 3971MB.

I can confirm this as in the windows event logs, everytime the laptop is rebooted, there is an entry stating that the cache was successfully created on system startup.

I also watch the Disk IO in resource monitor and sure enough there is a lot of writes (not much in the way of reads) to the readyboost cache on the sd card every reboot.

I have made sure that my SD card disk policy is set for Quick Removal as I have read that having it set for optimised performance can cause this problem, but to no avail.

Can anyone offer any advise on how to stop the cache from being re-created each time the system is rebooted?

Cheers

Rod.

 

[epk1950]

Have you tried disabling readyboost for that card, unplug it, reboot, delete all prefetch 4 or 5 minutes after bootup"code below", restart,
once booted up plug the card back in and enable readyboost for that device?

Windows Key + R

and then type in

prefetch
Hit Enter.

then

Ctrl + a
Ctrl + d

run something like ccleaner after prefetch is cleared or deleted from folder.

 

[reghakr]

IMHO, ready boost is not worth it if you have at least 2 GB of RAM.

I would go to Start > Help and Support and type in ready boost.

It will give you all the details to disable it.

 

[Roddles]

Thanks for the responses..

I tried what you said but its still re-loading the ready boost cache on each reboot, and I have tried two different cards now as well.

I Also tried rebooting and using the system without readyboost, and on my system it is very slow.

Even though a the cache is being reloaded or refreshed or re-created or what ever its doing, the system is still more responsive (not faster, but less wait time launching apps etc).

So - I'll just put up with it I guess - its still better with readyboost doing that on my system that not having readyboost at all.

Thanks for the suggestions guys

Cheers

Rod.

 

[tblount]

I concluded readyboost wasn't making any noticable difference... and I'm a super speed freak. It's possibly a marketing gimic.

I don't see how an sd card could speed up anything. They are slower than USB memory sticks that writes only about 10 kb/s. My primary sata hard drive writes 64kb/s My backups sata is even faster.

How can writing first to a device that writes 5 or 6 times SLOWER than your hard drive, speed up the system????

Here is a suggestion... first create a shortcut to cmd.exe this will open to \windows\system32 rather than to the usersprofile folder - as it does in the Accessories folder under programs

at the comman prompt (you should be in \windows\system32

Type and enter: "winsat disk -seq -read -drive c"
and you will get a report on your hard drive read speed. Repace
-read with -write and get a report on your hard drive write speed. You can use
the drive letter of other drives/memory cards to evaluate their performance.

 

[Roddles]

I executed the instructions as you said. Here are the results....

Windows System Assessment Tool
> Running: Feature Enumeration ''
> Run Time 00:00:00.00
> Running: Storage Assessment '-seq -read -drive c'
> Run Time 00:00:16.93
> Disk Sequential 64.0 Read 54.71 MB/s 5.5
> Total Run Time 00:00:18.44


Windows System Assessment Tool
> Running: Feature Enumeration ''
> Run Time 00:00:00.00
> Running: Storage Assessment '-seq -write -drive c'
> Run Time 00:00:21.89
> Disk Sequential 64.0 Write 36.49 MB/s 4.8
> Total Run Time 00:00:23.42


Windows System Assessment Tool
> Running: Feature Enumeration ''
> Run Time 00:00:00.00
> Running: Storage Assessment '-seq -read -drive g'
Error: Failed to properly assess the disk.
The parameter is incorrect.
> Total Run Time 00:00:01.39


Drive G is the sd card that was being used for readyboost. I disabled readyboost in case that was causing the problem with the test - but got the same result.

 

[tblount]

I have't tested an SD drive but I have tested USB memory sticks. And I have read several posts that said sd cards are not recommended for readyboost fecause they are slower than USB. The system assment tool either can't evaluate sd drivesr or they are so slow the evaluation just times out. I have some blogs on tweaking Win 7 for speed. Perhaps if you checked them out and disabled features you don't need you will hit upon the cause of the lag. Link Removed due to 404 Error

 

[Roddles]

Cool - I'll have a read and see what I can do.

Cheers and Thanks

Rod.

 

[tblount]

Windows System Assessment Tool
> Running: Feature Enumeration ''
> Run Time 00:00:00.00
> Running: Storage Assessment '-seq -read -drive g'
Error: Failed to properly assess the disk.
The parameter is incorrect.
> Total Run Time 00:00:01.39

I just noticed it says "parameter is incorrect" that means the command is typed wrong. I've also see this when I copied and pasted into the command prompt window (although it APPEARED to be exact... when i carefully TYPED in the command I got a result ... not this error message.

 

[Roddles]

HI again

I tried typing the command line in manually rather than copying it but I ended up with the same result.

I beginning to think it may also have something to do with my SD-Card reader.

I'll give it a try with a USB stick one day - but I'll go thorugh your blog about speeding up windows in the meantime and see if I can improve this.

Thanks again

Cheers

Rod.

 

[tblount]

There are 4 gb usb sticks for $10 including shipping on froogle ... and on ebay you can get one for about $15 from hongkong.. with free shipping that is 32 gb. I'm still waiting on mine but I've gotten several gadgets from hong knong... like sata and eide to usb adaptors. Also, everytime I sat up windows and checked drivers there was a report that the card reader drivers were not current.