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Hagiwara Sys-Com's 8GB ExpressCard is ReadyBoost certified, just like most flash drives
With Vista's consumer launch right around the corner, it's little wonder we're seeing ReadyBoost branded devices starting to pop. Thing is, Vista's ReadyBoost cache technology works with many, inexpensive flash-based devices (SD cards, USB 2.0 thumb drives, etc) sporting between 256MB and 4GB of storage, and capable of a modest 2.5MB/sec throughput for 4K random reads and 1.75MB/sec throughput for 512K random writes. So of course, Hagiwara Sys-Com's "ReadyBoost certified" 8GB ExpressCard/34 supports Vista's new smart caching technology with a smokin' 32MB/sec read and 22MB/sec write. Thing is, if you're buying the card for ReadyBoost gains, then 4 of that 8GB is "wasted" since the FAT32 filesystem limits the ReadyBoost.sfcache file to a 4GB max. However, if you're on the hunt for fast, flash storage, then maybe 8GB for ¥52,800 (about $451) on down to 1GB for ¥7,980 (about $68) sounds killer to you -- or not with 8GB USB 2.0 drives now hitting for about $150 online. Regardless, dropping that fat wad on additional RAM and not "ReadyBoost certified" products will probably give you more bang for the buck.[Via Impress]
