Windows Vista User Guide
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Usb Memory
Most people now use usb flash drives instead of regular floppy disks as they are much faster and have much larger storage. It is as easy in Vista to use your flash drive as it was in Windows XP. You just plug you flash disk into any available usb port and the software should be installed automatically.
You will receive the autoplay settings shown above. The first option is just to view the contents of the drive in Windows Explorer, where the second options is new to Vista allows you to use your flash drive as a form of ram for the system. The usb drive would need to be at least 512mb however with a fast read and write speed. Not all usb flash drives are fast enough to be used for ReadyBoost, generally the top end ones only. By using the drive to speed up the system, Windows can offload some files usually stored on the hard drive when ram is not available and therefore make use of the much faster transfer speeds that usb flash has to offer over hard disks. If you click on Speed up my system, you may get a window such as this telling you that your usb flash drive did not pass the speed test,
You may click the test again button if you believe the drive should be the right speed for ReadyBoost or you can choose to stop restesting the device, which stops the automatic test of your particular device every time you plug it in. When using the usb flash disk for the usual transfer and backup of files, you can remove the disk safely very easily.
As you can see above, you can go into Computer, from the start menu and you should see your device under a drive letter. You can right click on the device and choose to safely remove it from that particular screen and then choose the device from the next screens. You can also right click on the icon that appears in the taskbar and choose to safely remove hardware.
As you can see above, there is an icon with a green tick in front of it, this will turn up when you have inserted removable hardware such as your usb flash drive. You can right click this icon when you have finished using the usb flash drive and click on safely remove device to remove it safely. Choose the particular device and drive letter from the windows following you clicking safely remove hardware to then remove it. The name of the device will usually be the name that may be written on the device or on the packaging it came in.