How to enable Readyboost that is disabled in error

Anonymous
2014-01-01T15:02:17+00:00

My laptop came pre-installed with Windows 8.1 on a 500GB 5400RPM HDD. It has 4GB memory.

Over the holidays someone gave me a 64GB m-SATA SSD, which I put into the laptop's m-SATA slot.

On the BIOS, the info shows that the SSD occupies the SATA 0 slot. I had to re-adjust the boot order to boot normally into my system disk, which is on the SATA 1 slot.

I wanted to use the m-SATA SSD as a Readyboost cache. When I carried out the steps to enable Readyboost on the SSD, it wouldn't let me. The error message is:

This device cannot be used for ReadyBoost.

ReadyBoost is not enabled because this computer is fast enough that ReadyBoost is unlikely to provide additional benefit.

There must be some mistake because the SSD is not the system disk. It only occupies SATA slot 0 (which I cannot change). The system disk is a typical HDD.

How do I go about enabling Readyboost on the SSD? Any tweaks or commands? I have tweaked the registry many times before so if need be I could do that.

[Note: Those who want to suggest other things like sell the SSD, leave it alone, or whatever, please just heckle some other thread.]

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

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Anonymous
2015-05-06T22:06:26+00:00

Insert the flash drive or card, then right-click on it in This PC and select properties.  Open the ReadyBoost tab.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-01-10T11:05:42+00:00

    ReadyBoost is for machines with minimal memory and slow hard drives. Don't waste your time trying to set up something from which you will get zero benefit while wasting a perfectly good 64gb SSD drive..

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-01-10T10:32:58+00:00

    If you already have 4GB RAM then Readyboost will show little or no improvement.

    Readyboost is designed to allow machines with <2GB RAM to run modern OS's in a reasonable manner.

    I wouldn't bother with it....

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-01-10T09:58:04+00:00

    In this tech note http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff716235.aspx Microsoft says

    CacheList configures Microsoft® ReadyBoost™ flash storage devices that are used as supplemental memory caches. This is typically used for devices that have been integrated with the computer, such as an internal flash device or solid-state drive (SSD).

    So, why is my configuration not working like it is supposed to?

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-01-07T05:05:54+00:00

    Does no-one know how to turn the Readyboost back on?

    In another Windows 7 desktop, the Readyboost works OK, with a similar configuration (except that the HDD is on SATA slot 0 and SSD is on SATA slot 1).

    This laptop has SSD on SATA slot 0, but it should work the same. The SSD is not the system disk at all.

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