Use Pendrive as RAM in Windows - Advantages and Disadvantages

You can use your USB Pen drive as RAM to boost your computer`s speed under Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8. It will work as extra virtual memory in your system.This may be very helpful trick to speed up your system and improve the performance of your computer without any cost, absolutely free.

You must apply the instructions Carefully and i advice to read it till the last line  before applying.You will come to know as it will be advantageous or not for your system.

You must safely remove the pen drive otherwise it can crash your system or pen-drive.

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Prepare Pen-drive to use as RAM :

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Make Sure to have at least 1GB of Pendrive else You will not be Able to Use Your Pendrive as RAM for your Computer.

The Minimum Size should be 1.5 times the Physical Memory Installed and the Maximum Size should be 2 Times the Physical Memory already Installed.

Insert Pendrive and Format it. It must be Empty. 


Tip : If you use a flash drive for Ready Boost; if you want to use more than 4GB, 
        then you need to format the flash drive to NTFS instead of the original      
        FAT32 format as this will allow up to 256GB for Ready Boost, FAT32 only 
        allows up to 4GB.


[Read]  Difference between FAT32 and NTFS File System

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Use USB pen drive as RAM in Windows Vista, 7 or 8 :

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Microsoft introduced "ReadyBoost" with Windows Vista as a potential way to improve the performance of Windows Virtual Memory.

Even with Vista or Windows 7, Ready Boost only improves performance when your USB drive has faster access times then your hard drive does. For most systems, setting a fixed minimum size and no maximum size for virtual memory will provide the best performance.

• Right click on your pen drive >> Properties.

• Click on Ready boost tab >> Use this device.

• Choose maximum space to reserve system speed. 

• Click on OK and Apply. You've done! 

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Use USB pen drive as RAM in Windows XP :

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As Windows XP doesn`t contain any such feature so, you have to manually set your pen drive as extra virtual memory.Follow the steps :

• Right click on the My Computer >> Properties.

• Click on Advanced Tab >> Performance.

• Now click on Advanced >> Virtual Memory. 

• Select Pen drive in the list and Choose Custom size.

• Now Enter Memory 5-10 MB less than the Actual Size.

• Click on OK , Then Restart your Computer.

You've done!


However, You can also use this method in Windows Vista or 7, If you wish.
In this, You have to select Advanced system settings after Properties.
Other steps will be similar.

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Remove Safely when Needed :

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Keep in Mind Do not remove(unplug) your Pen Drive  when it is being used, It may crash your system or pen drive.

In XP : 

• Choose Automatically manage paging file size for all drives instead of Custom Size

• Click on Apply and then OK.

• Now, Remove Safely your pen-drive.

In Vista, 7 or 8 :

• Choose Do not use this device before removing pen-drive

• Click on Apply and then OK.

• Now, Remove Safely your pen-drive.

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Advantages of using pen-drive as RAM :

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• It is the cheapest.

• Serves as extra virtual memory sometimes when you needed.

• Helps in Increasing your System Speed and boosting up your Videos or Games.

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Disadvantages of using pen-drive as RAM :

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• Access speeds through USB for a ReadyBoost USB drive are very slow compared to internal RAM. i.e. Extremely Slow about 5~6MB/s as compared to RAM Speed.

• Un-Reliable

• You`ll notice the improvementin  the System Performance only if you are using a low physical memory ( Small size RAM ). Increase in Speed for Powerful Configuration Computer might not be identical.

Aahh...This was all about the windows features which allow you to use your pen-drive as RAM.

There are also many software available on the internet which allows you to do the same from one place without any settings like that.
You might prefer them as these were the features which windows contains by default.

Have Fun!