Thread: USB drive speeds?

You can check the speed of a drive using the winsat command. Try:
winsat disk
at a command prompt and see what you get. Note - this is for Vista/Win7 machines. Just tried it on my Win2008 Server and it is not there! But I have def used it on Win7.

There are class 4 USBs and Class 10 USBs, which (I think) are 4Mb/s and 10Mb/s rated.

I have had a lot of 'fun' trying to get RAM to run ReadyBoost on Win7 because the SD chips are not fast enough. You need Class 10 but even then some brands do not work properly.

Its interesting windows is persisting with readyboost,, I could see the use when you might have only 8 or so gb,, but mines running 16 with the last Motherboard so I dont see a reason.
Plus the two sticks I used only lasted 12 months each time

that command comes up with
"error- missing disk number specifier"

also I just let vista try and use a dick smith usb drive for Ready Boost.
it happily accepted and that particular drive is only running at just over 4 mb a second.

class 10 huh,,,
*puts that into static ice

I am just using it on some older machines. I have some older IBM PCs with 1GB RAM and no free slots in the M/B. The CPUs are still reasonable, but they just need more RAM.

Using ReadyBoost they become a LOT more responsive, especially for repetetive things like opening the browser or starting Word.

I've tried it on my new IBM ThinkPad which has 8Gb of RAM, and not so much benefit, but my old DELL with only 2Gb of RAM is running better with it.

16Gb SD cards as pretty cheap these days, but you CAN'T use the cheap class 4 ones - they just don't work.

the bottom post here-
Class 10 MicroSD + USB reader vs USB memory - Overclockers Australia Forums
seems to bear out what you say spudboy,,,

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

that command comes up with
"error- missing disk number specifier"

also I just let vista try and use a dick smith usb drive for Ready Boost.
it happily accepted and that particular drive is only running at just over 4 mb a second.

Yeah -USB sticks (as opposed to SD cards) seem to have a better interface to the M/B, so some class 4 USB sticks will work with ReadyBoost. The SD card interface must be slower/different - because I've had a lot of trouble getting them to play nicely even with class 10.

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

that command comes up with
"error- missing disk number specifier"

Are you running it on Vista/Win7?

This is the syntax for the disk analysis:

winsat disk