Best file system format for ReadyBoost

[Arzhela]

For using ReadyBoost which one is the best file system format. I am using FAT on USB drive. I found that using NTFS will offer more better performance. Other than this there are FAT32 and exFAT also. Among this which one is the best that will work. I have a 4GB drive which I will like to optimize for readyboost. But before that making a suitable partition will be more better. I am also having a external usb hard drive. It can help me to gain more performance.

[Myra]

Readyboost does not really increase your system performance. It just occupies a amount of usb space which you cannot use for virtual memory. Do not expect that if you hook a 250GB hard drive, you can get 20GB of more ram. ReadyBoost can offer you to gain more 512 to 1GB of performance I think but that too is limited. Instead of that I would advice you to go with more ram sticks. It will be better.

[Amosz]

I am using FAT32 and it looks fine. You can go for NTFS but that will restrict the usable of bootable usb. I keep FAT32 because I use it sometime for Linux. I can boot directly from usb. The bios can only read the usb drive if it is FAT or FAT32. NTFS is not supported. This is essential for data recovery sometime. And if you are not having any of those work then you can go with NTFS formatting.

[Stuartl]

I have a 1GB RAM system which has Vista. I am using my 4GB USB on ReadyBoost. IT is a FAT32 drive. It works fine. A bit performance is improved when I insert the usb. It is not much better, but acceptable. Your office application will load faster, you can surf more tabs, data copy process is faster, etc. But if you are doing that for gaming then it is waste of time. The system performs better if the overall hardware is good. That means your ram, cpu and other stuff. It just does not depend on the virtual memory.

[Jason A]

It is recommended that you must not modify the file system a regularly. It cause damage to the usb. Use a single format and stick with that. Like FAT32 is one of the most common file system which is readable by many system. NTFS is new, and will take time to get common. Many usb drives comes with additional support to boost the performance. They came with integrated chip that does the job. While many other are regular.

[rempuii7]

I am having a Vista system and I found that FAT32 is quiet faster. I am interested in using NTFS, but not interested in tweaking the file system. The ReadyBoost is configured by default at the first time when I had used the usb. I had not made any changes after that. It is right Readyboost help a bit to gain more performance on the system and is much better. But on the same hand it reduces the usb performance also I think. This is not recommended for External Hard Drive.

[Lucile]

Does ReadyBoost is updated. There are different edition of Vista available. And I think each of them are having different edition of Readyboost also. The updated one might offer you to get a much better performance and output. What if I go with a 8GB RAM. Will make the difference. Like 4GB if ReadyBoost utilize 1GB RAM then does in 8GB it will take 2GB atleast. Are there any option available by which I can tweak ReadyBoost settings.

[DabedaTiludlisi]

I have to say its exFAT, Even though you dont notice the difference in the short run you may notice it in the long run! When you first format it as NTFS or FAT32 it may seem just as fast as exFAT!When you dont see it or feel it of speeding up your computer anymore it could be assign of FRAGMENTATION on the flash card! NTFS and FAT32 are very easily fragmented file systems! And in less then 6-8 months dont be surprised if your flash card(usb memory card) burns out(overheats)! I personally lost 3 of them! I bought another one for the 4th time and its 16GB from kingston and I decided to format it as exFAT and now I been using for over 2 and a half years since 2009 without a problem and I always feel the affect of readyboost! exFAT is so good and stable that I even pull out my usb from the computer without properly ejecting it(right click and safely remove hardware procedure) on the first place. I obviously dont recommend that, but it just always really works when i plug it back in! Normally if you unproperly unplug a USB, formated as NTFS or FAT32 next time you plug it back in it will want to check for errors before you use it! You may not even be able to use it again. I very personally recommend exFAT for ReadyBoost!