Some once-useful features in Windows have become obsolete due to hardware advancements. One of them is ReadyBoost — if you're still trying to use it in 2025, it could do more harm than good.
Storage and memory have gotten much faster
In case you don't know, ReadyBoost is a Windows feature that was first introduced in Vista. It allows you to use a flash drive or SD card as a cache, essentially acting as additional RAM for your system. Since USB flash drives are faster than old spinning hard drives, ReadyBoost is a way to boost performance on older computers that don't have much RAM.
The biggest reason ReadyBoost is obsolete is because SSDs and system memory have gotten faster. ReadyBoost relies on USB speeds to provide cache from flash drives. This technique can work when using slow mechanical hard drives . But with SSDs built into every modern PC out of the box, you don’t need an additional cache anymore.
In fact, if you have an SSD installed in your system, Windows won't show you the ReadyBoost option. When ReadyBoost was first introduced in Windows Vista, SSDs were a luxury component found only in high-end products. Now, SSDs are commonplace, and the USB flash drives ReadyBoost uses simply aren't fast enough to keep up.
RAM is also getting really fast. The HP Omen Transcend 14, for example, has 7462 MT/s LPDDR5X memory, which is faster than the WD M.2 SSDs that laptops come with and significantly faster than any USB stick you might find in your drawer. As newer laptops move to LPCAMM2 memory, this trend will continue.
Modern systems also come with plenty of RAM; you'll find at least 8GB in most computers. ReadyBoost is designed specifically for systems with limited RAM, but when given enough memory, Windows features like SuperFetch will automatically cache frequently used files. As memory gets faster and cheaper, the low-RAM situations for which ReadyBoost was designed will disappear.
The performance increase is negligible, if not worse.
Assuming you can still get ReadyBoost up and running on your system. Assuming your system has a low-end HDD and RAM, you can get a performance boost. However, compared to the overall benefits you’ll get from upgrading to an SSD or more memory, this performance boost will be negligible.
In any case, when used with modern hardware, ReadyBoost comes with a significant performance hit. Unless you have a 10-year-old computer sitting around that you don’t want to spend money on upgrading, ReadyBoost won’t do much good. At best, ReadyBoost might prevent your old machine from crashing due to low memory, but that’s about it.
Using ReadyBoost can damage flash drives
Finally, using ReadyBoost can be harmful to the drives themselves. When you use a USB drive for ReadyBoost, the drive will undergo constant write operations as Windows updates its cache. Since flash memory only has a limited number of read/write cycles, you will accelerate the wear and tear of your drive.
Flash memory is not considered system RAM, and continued use of the feature can destroy a flash drive in a matter of months. Microsoft claims that ReadyBoost-enabled devices can last for 10 years or more, but given the finite read/write cycles, that claim is valid.
Regardless, Microsoft has been phasing this feature out in newer versions of Windows. Modern versions of Windows 11 have removed it entirely. While the company has yet to officially confirm whether ReadyBoost is dead, it has been proven.
ReadyBoost was exciting when Windows Vista launched, especially for those with low-end PC hardware. However, in a world of SSDs and super-fast system memory, it's outdated.
See also:
MSConfig is a versatile tool that is great for managing the startup process on your computer. It can also be used for more than just troubleshooting performance and stability issues.
The sum function when filtering data is very important for Microsoft Excel users. This article will summarize for you how to filter and calculate sum in Excel using Subtotal.
If you drop your phone or tablet in water, don't panic! Your device probably isn't permanently damaged. But you should act quickly to prevent water damage to the internal components.
Technically, the iPhone 4 can take 5 Megapixel photos, and HDTV1280 x 720 video or simply 720p. For example, a video file recorded by an iPhone with a length of about 50 seconds has a file size of more than 60MB...
Your webcam may not work on Windows 10 for a variety of reasons.
The compass is a useful application on the phone that helps us determine directions when traveling, traveling, ... Did you know how to use the compass on your phone? Refer to the article to learn how to view the compass on your iPhone quickly, simply!
Error code 0xc0000098 in Windows causes a blue screen error on startup. The ACPI.sys driver is often to blame, especially on unsupported versions of Windows 11 like 23H2 or 22H2 or Windows 10.
In some cases, sometimes you start your computer in Safe Mode and the computer freezes. So how to fix the error in this case, please refer to the article below of WebTech360.
Snipping Tool is a powerful photo and video capture tool on Windows. However, this tool sometimes has some errors, such as constantly displaying on the screen.
Every network has a router to access the Internet, but not everyone knows how to make the router work better. In this article, we will introduce some router tips to help speed up the wireless connection in the network.
If the results seem slower than expected, don't be too quick to blame your ISP - mistakes when performing the test can skew your numbers.
In the article below, we will introduce and guide you to learn about the concept of QoS - Quality of Service on router devices.
Windows has a built-in Credential Manager, but it's not what you think it is—and certainly not a replacement for a password manager.
Microsoft charges for its official codecs and doesn't include them in Windows 10. However, you can get them for free without pulling out your credit card and spending $0.99.
While having trouble accessing files and folders can be frustrating, don't panic—with a few simple tweaks, you can regain access to your system.
After creating a USB boot to install Windows, users should check the USB boot's performance to see if it was created successfully or not.
Although Windows Storage Sense efficiently deletes temporary files, some types of data are permanent and continue to accumulate.
You can turn off Windows 11 background apps to optimize performance, save battery and reduce RAM consumption.
When a computer, mobile device, or printer tries to connect to a Microsoft Windows computer over a network, for example, the error message network path was not found — Error 0x80070035 may appear.
We can block Internet access for any application or software on the computer, while other programs can still access the network. The following article will guide readers on how to disable Internet access for software and applications on Windows.
Instead of paying $30 for a year of security updates, keep Windows 10 safe until 2030 with this simple solution.
