How to Use Pen Drive As RAM

Written by Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: May 5, 2022 Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to improve the speed of your Windows PC by using a USB flash drive as virtual RAM. As long as you're using Windows 10, 8, 7, or Vista, Windows comes with a built-in feature that makes it super easy to allocate the entirety of your flash drive as extra memory that can be accessed when needed. Unfortunately there's no equivalent option for macOS.

Steps

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1
Insert your blank USB flash drive into the PC. In most cases, a window called "AutoPlay" will pop-up automatically.
- If no such window appears, press ⊞ Win+E to open the File Explorer, right-click the drive in the left panel, then click Open AutoPlay.
- If the drive is not blank, you should format it before you continue. Press ⊞ Win+E to open the File Explorer, right-click the drive in the left panel, and then select Format. Once formatted, right-click the drive and select Open AutoPlay.
2
Click Speed up my system on the "AutoPlay" window. This opens your USB flash drive's properties to the ReadyBoost tab.
- If you see an error on the tab says that your drive is not suitable for ReadyBoost, you may have plugged the drive into a USB port that isn't fast enough. Try a different port. If that doesn't help, you'll need to use a different USB flash drive.
- If you see an error that says the computer is fast enough that ReadyBoost won't provide any benefits, it's usually because you're using an SSD (solid-state drive). No performance gains would be possible with a USB flash drive in this case.
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3
Select Dedicate this device to ReadyBoost or Use this device. You'll see one of these two options near the top of the ReadyBoost tab.
- If you're using Vista, drag the "Space to reserve for system speed" slider all the way to the right.
4
Click OK. This adds a special cache file to the USB flash drive that allows it to be used by Windows as additional RAM.
- Windows will start using the drive as RAM immediately, although you may not notice speed improvements until you've populated the new cache file by running your normal tasks.

Community Q&A

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Question

Is this method adding the RAM or replacing the laptop RAM?

Community Answer

It's not replacing your laptop's RAM. It's using the pen drive as RAM memory along with your real RAM.

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Question

How do I stop using my pen drive as RAM and use it as a data storage device?

Community Answer

Just go to ready boost again and tick the mark on "Do not use this device" and you can use it as a data storage device.

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Question

How do I remove the pendrive after completing my work?

Community Answer

Just go to computer Properties and deselect the virtual memory. Then go to the USB setting and remove the ready-boost (do not use this device) then apply and format. Then restart your PC.

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Tips

Apps that require a certain amount of RAM to run (including most games) will not recognize your new virtual RAM as actual RAM. You will still need to add RAM to your computer if you want to use an app that requires more RAM than what is installed.

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To disable ReadyBoost in the future, right-click the drive in File Explorer, select Properties, choose ReadyBoost, and then choose Do not use this device.

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Tips from our Readers

The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.

If you're using a public computer, like a school computer, you'll have to ask the teacher to log into the main account in order to continue the process.
You may need to delete some files in the Pen Drive, otherwise it might not work.

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