I tested the speed of several USB Flash Drives I have using HD Speed and USBDeview, and I've posted the results below. You can see from the data the importance of using Flash Drives that are designed for Ready Boost. I must admit that some of the Flash Drives I tested, are a few years old. Hopefully, newer technology will perform better. Still, you can see the wide variation in performance specs.
Patriot XT 4 GB: Read Speed of 26.3 MB/S, Write Speed of 10.2 MB/S (Only Drive listed here marked "Ready Boost")
Lexar Elite Jump Drive 1 GB: Read Speed of 9.1 MB/S, Write Speed of 7.4 MB/S
A-Data My Flash 2 GB: Read Speed of 18.3 MB/S, Write Speed Not Available
HP 2 GB: Read Speed of 12.3 MB/S, Write Speed of 1.1 MB/S
Dell 128 MB: Read Speed of 0.90 MB/S, Write Speed of 0.89 MB/S
Corsair Flash Voyager 1 GB: Read Speed of 25.4 MB/S, Write Speed Not Available (This Brand Not Recommended, See Note)
NOTE:
The read speed on the Corsair Flash Voyager was very close to the Patriot XT, but I would not recommend the Corsair. I bought 3 of them a couple years ago. Two of them were bad when received. They were replaced by the manufacturer but all three have given me constant problems. I've tried using them on nearly a dozen different computers and more than two-thirds of the PCs either don't recognize the device or report that the Drive is unformatted. Perhaps the manufacturer has worked the bugs out of them by now, but since the first ones I bought were a total waste of money, I'm not willing to give them a second chance.
