Best format for ReadyBoost

I am using a 2GB SD card for ReadyBoost, and want to know
what is the best format to use for quickest operation.
I've tried FAT, FAT32, exFAT and NTFS, but don't see much
difference (except for available space!)
Thanks in advance

FAT32

See:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/m.../cc162480.aspx

How much RAM do you have?

If you have 2GB or more of RAM, the little it might do for you is so
slight as to be almost unnoticeable.

And if you have less than 2GB of RAM, you would do much better to
spend your money on upgrading your RAM to 2GB than on buying a device
for ReadyBoost use.

So, in general, I recommend *against* using ReadyBoost.

Thanks for the answer(s).

I have 2GB of RAM in the system, and currently have the SD card formatted
as NTFS. Since I have no other need for the SD card, I will leave it as is.
I understand that there are a limited number of write cycles for flash,
and wonder if there is a way to keep track?! I guess when the flash card
fails, I will know that I have hit that limit...

You should reformat the Ready Boost drive to FAT32 since if you do it will
hold a lot more actual data since less space is required for the FAT 32
directories than for the NTFS directories.

Microsoft has written Readyboost to write to the flash memory in such a way
as to even out the wear. Expect about 10 years of constant use before the
number of write cycles becomes limited. By then a replacement should be very
cheap, and probably not even needed as new technology makes Readyboost
technology obsolete (such as the newly discovered memresitor) .

I would not say it is work of Microsoft.

Whatever FileSystem is flash memory formatted for,
internally it uses its own specialized filesystem for flash devices
( there are such ones )
or at least modified version of common filesystem.

It contains integrated memory controller chip to manage it.

The purpose is to manage "wear leveling" to get all sectors tired in the
same/similar speed. Some areas have extra backups.

Without it e.g. FAT32 File allocation table area would get damaged soon.

[rempuii7]

My Vista only accept FAT32 as fast enough,I could use NTFS if I wanted to,but I had to tweak a bit,so I think FAT32 is the default format for ReadyBoost,each has its own style of Format so the default would be the best .
If you had time you can read my post 'USB Flash Drive',in a very fast flash drive the copy and paste is faster with FAT format then NTFS,while in a very slow fash drive NTFS is faster.

[rempuii7]

My Vista only accept FAT32 as fast enough,I could use NTFS if I wanted to,but I had to tweak a bit,so I think FAT32 is the default format for ReadyBoost,each has its own style of Format so the default would be the best .
If you had time you can read my post 'USB Flash Drive',in a very fast flash drive the copy and paste is faster with FAT format then NTFS,while in a very slow fash drive NTFS is faster.

Just an update to this thread for anyone reading this now that flash
cards over 4 GB are very common... I dont know if vista's readyboost has
been updated in line with Win7 but for Win 7 the readyboost cache can be
upto 256Gb, hence if your flash card is more than 4Gb you are recomended
to format it as NTFS. If you format it as FAT32 readyboost will only
ever suggest a 4Gb cache as the cache is a single file, and FAT32 limits
files to 4Gb in size. I changed my 8gb card from Fat32 to NTFS hence
increasing my readyboost cache from 4gb to 8gb on a duo core PC with 4Gb
of ram and the further improvement is very noticeable.

[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 cumputer without properly ejecting it(right click and safely remove hardware procedure) on the first place...i abviosly 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!

[DabedaTiludlisi]

Ivery personally recomend exFAT for ReadyBoost!