TS2010 on a USB 2.0 Flash Drive?

[Approach_Medium]

Hi;
I just learned about Windows 7 (and Vista) ReadyBoost. Apparently, it can speed up Windows because the flash drive is faster than the hard drive.

If this is the case, what about installing and running TS2010 on a USB 2.0 flash drive?
My current install is over 13GB, so I would need at least a 16GB flash, but a 32GB would be more useful (for later expansion, as I am sure will happen to my TS folders). Windows 7 can support 32GB for ReadyBoost, but I think that if I am using the drive for TS, I may not use it for that, although I think both TS and ReadyBoost could use the same drive.

So, is it worth about $65 to get a 32GB, or about $35 to get a 16GB USB flash drive to run TS?

My system is what is listed in my sig. It supports USB 2.0, and has 8 ports.
I am currently using a 2.0G USB flash drive for ReadyBoost, just for my curiosity. But using one for TS would be a lot more useful to me.

What do you think?

Thanks

FW

 

[myxomatosis]

No. Readyboost simply serves as a memory cache. Basically, RAM you plug into your USB drive.

You would not be able to play a game such as Trainz off a small drive. A portable drive is not more powerful than your hard drive.

 

[StorkNest]

I don't know anything about ReadyBoost but using a flash drive for Trainz.

No.

How about...

Heck No.

TS2009 was about 2-3GB in Control Panel on a pure install. I have a lot of the Native mode content plus a few extra items of mine installed, one and only one custom route, some locomotives and rolling stock. Last I looked TS2009 is now at 9GB. That's with the minimal native content out there. And the route is 4 baseboards.
Think of what happens over time as I add more Native content and other even larger routes.
Think 32GB will contain it all?
If you plan to add content to Trainz, forget flash drives.

 

[fran1]

I've just looked at my trainz drive and its got 40gb used and that's only 2006. So I would say even if it was possible 32gb would not be large enough capacity.

 

[EdrickV]

Harddrives are faster then flash drives when it comes to reading a large chunk of data sequentially. (AKA reading a single really big file is quicker on a harddrive then a flash drive.)

Flash drives may be quicker when doing random access reads on different parts of one big file or reading a bunch of smaller files in different parts of the drive. A harddrive doing the same thing has to physically move the drive head(s) from the location of one chunk to another chunk. Flash drives have no moving parts. Their maximum transfer rate is still lower then an internal harddrive though due to USB 2.0 bandwidth limits. (USB 3.0 may be another story.)

Running a program off a flash drive is an entirely different subject then ReadyBoost. ReadyBoost just uses the flash drive as a cache for frequently used items. Large sequential reads get directed to the harddrive in any event.

 

[Approach_Medium]

Thanks guys. I'm glad I asked here before going out and buying the 32GB for $69.
I guess I should be getting as good performance from my system as is possible.
I recently replaced two 160GB 7200rpm drives with 8MB cache with one 500GB 7200 rpm with 32MB cache. That probably made more difference in performance with TS than anything.

Thing is, being that my system is 5yrs old, and slow in comparison to some others running TS2010, I'm grasping at anything I can find to improve performance.
What I really need is a new system, but I don't have the cash right now.

Thanks again. Have a happy New Year!

FW

 

[myxomatosis]

Have you maxed out the RAM?

 

[fran1]

Quoted from fwassner,




Thing is, being that my system is 5yrs old, and slow in comparison to some others running TS2010, I'm grasping at anything I can find to improve performance.
What I really need is a new system, but I don't have the cash right now.

Thanks again. Have a happy New Year!

FW
__________________
Asus P5AD2-E Premium - Intel 925X Chipset, Intel P4 3.4GHZ, 3Gigs DDR2
BFG NVidia GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB on PCIE

If you can find a core 2 or quad core cpu with the same socket type as your P4 your system will be quicker. That's where your hold up is.

 

[jeffmorris]

What about Compact Flash memory and memory card reader that connects to SATA port?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...=compact_flash_to_sata-_-12-186-061-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820171340&cm_re=extreme-_-20-171-340-_-Product

I found this out from a thread on another forum: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=311725

This thread talked about getting Windows Media Center to save buffer files on Compact Flash memory instead of HDD. I'm not sure if this will work as ReadyBoost drive.

 

[EdrickV]

Windows Media Center isn't Trainz. And that post had nothing to do with increasing the speed of his computer. The bottleneck on the original poster's system IMHO is that CPU. And replacing that would (at the least) require a motherboard swap. At most he'd need a new CPU, motherboard, memory, and possibly an add-on IDE card, depending on the number of IDE drives in use.

In the future SSD drives may be the way to go. For now though, SCSI still beats SATA. I remember using an old 486 in the Win3.1 era that had a SCSI drive. That drive loaded up in File Manager like instantly. And this was like a 50Mhz system IIRC. (Back when computers had "turbo" buttons that actually slowed the system down???) Another computer I used (a 66Mhz 486) with an IDE drive was much slower to load in File Manager.

 

[Approach_Medium]

My RAM now stands at 3GB DDR2 533Mhz.
I could increase to 4GB, but I was of the understanding that if I did that, I would need to upgrade the CPU to 64 bit, since 32 bit has a limitation of around 3GB.

From what I have learned here, upgrading the cpu to 64 bit wouldn't buy me much in Trainz.
My current mobo will support a 64 bit processor, but not dual core.

I think that for now, I have to just live with what I have. I need to find a source of income before I can think about an upgrade.
Of course, I could use a 0% credit card to buy the upgrade...
But in my current situation, that would be irresponsible, and kind of stupid

Thanks for all your great help.

FW

 

[myxomatosis]

Well the difference between 64 bit and 32 bit is that 64 bit handles RAM more effectively- makes use of all available memory. So while in, say, a web browser browsing the forums, 64 bit would not have much of a noticeable difference that 32 bit. But in Trainz for example, you could notice the difference in speed.

You could not just simply upgrade the system to 64 bit, however. You'd need to backup all your files and then wipe the hard drive, and install Vista and select the 64 bit option.

 

[Approach_Medium]

Well the difference between 64 bit and 32 bit is that 64 bit handles RAM more effectively- makes use of all available memory. So while in, say, a web browser browsing the forums, 64 bit would not have much of a noticeable difference that 32 bit. But in Trainz for example, you could notice the difference in speed.

You could not just simply upgrade the system to 64 bit, however. You'd need to backup all your files and then wipe the hard drive, and install Vista and select the 64 bit option.

I don't think it's worth spending money on a single-core 64bit processor now. I'll just wait until I can afford a whole new system, and go for the moon!

FW

 

[Approach_Medium]

What about Compact Flash memory and memory card reader that connects to SATA port?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...=compact_flash_to_sata-_-12-186-061-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820171340&cm_re=extreme-_-20-171-340-_-Product

I found this out from a thread on another forum: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=311725

This thread talked about getting Windows Media Center to save buffer files on Compact Flash memory instead of HDD. I'm not sure if this will work as ReadyBoost drive.

What I could do with the flash is to put my paging file on that drive. But it probably won't make all that much difference anyway. What I really need is an upgrade to 64 bit multi-core with faster video.
My next system (when I can afford one) is going to be a killer super-computer for gaming. Water cooled and the latest technology. It might cost me 3G's, but for Trainz it will be well worth the cost.

Nice thing about computer technology; The longer I wait, the more I will get for my $$.

FW

 

[EdrickV]

If you build the system yourself rather then buy off the shelf, you'll get a lot more bang for your buck.

I paid about $500 to upgrade from a P4 3.4Ghz to a Core 2 Quad Q6600, which I run overclocked to 3.0Ghz. Granted, that was just CPU, motherboard, 2GB of memory, and a 3rd party CPU fan. Since then I've done further upgrades in stages. I still need a better video card though, yours is a couple generations beyond mine. At some point I know I upgraded my power supply (Case I originally bought for the P4 came with a 320watt that I replaced with a 550watt.) and I had some memory issues that resulted in an RMA so I installed 2x512MB of memory to use while waiting for my memory to get back, so I now have 3GB in dual channel.

As far as the 32-bit memory limit, the actual limit is 4GB. (The CPU just can't understand memory addresses higher then that, because they are bigger then 32 bits.) However, various computer components, especially video cards, use up some of those addresses so the actual max memory is usually 3-3.5 GB. And Windows XP 32-bit won't normally assign more then 2GB of memory to a program anyways. (Not totally sure what Vista/Win7 32-bit will do.) Vista 32-bit and Win7 32-bit still have the 4GB memory limit. The 64-bit versions don't.

 

[Approach_Medium]

I had thought of trying a mobo and CPU upgrade, but I think I would want a mobo that takes DDR3, so I don't know if my DDR2 would work until I get to upgrade the RAM.
My video is a few generations behind, but not as far behind as my GeForce 6800 was when I replaced it with the 9800 last March. I got that 9800 for about 1/4 the price I paid for the 6800 5yrs ago!

I would rather sit with what I've got until I can afford to go all out for a new system. And yes; I will definitely build my next system, as I did this one.

FW