What Windows OS?
Someone claims can’t do it (swap file) on a memory card in XP @ http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/60103-45-swap-file-memory-card
I would get a fast card. One of my windows dell laptops asked me if I wanted to use the just inserted SD card as a memory booster or for storage.
Is the “older computer” slow or is it accumulated scruff (ie adware or spyware) on the Windows OS?
If the latter, you can clean that up, or load a light version of Linux like Linux Mint. That makes a big difference.
I am running Linux Xubuntu on this machine (it is not slow) and could not be more please with it.
With Vista or Windows 7, you can allocate memory from removable storage. You need to make sure you’ve got a fast SD card, though. Even with 480 Mbps from USB2.0, you’ll see a significant bottleneck. Onboard memory runs and performs according to several factors on the mainboard.
You can try it, but you might see some performance hiccups.
I could also recommend that you try a flavor of Linux like Mint or Ubuntu. Both of them run exceptionally well off of USB thumb drives. I have a version of Mint that I put on a 1 GB thumb drive and use for troubleshooting dead PCs.
Before you fool with this, you may want to look into other alternatives as far as reclaiming memory. One issue may be that your hard drive is loaded up with applications, leaving insufficient space for your dynamic cache file. Remove all absolutely unnecessary programs from you hard drive. The best way I've found to do this is with a program (free) called Revo Uninstaller that not only goes through the removal app that comes with the program but cleans your registry items as well. Also, be sure to clear your browser history, cookies, and unwanted files on a regular basis. If you have a lot of personal stuff stored on your hard drive, invest in a USB external drive (they're not expensive) and move what you don't use regularly over to it.
As to your initial question, it may be possible, but shouldn't be necessary with a little housekeeping.
You’d be better off increasing the amount of system RAM (if you can) than to use an external bus device.
Microsoft introduced ReadyBoost in Windows Vista, to do exactly what you suggest. It automatically uses a solid state memory device as a cache.
The feature is also in Windows 7. I use it in a laptop that has the 32-bit version.
You need a fast SSD card or USB drive. And, it's strictly used for read caching. If you write data to the disk and it's cached, future reads will find it. But, if you remove the SSD device at any time, Windows simply switches back to the disk.
Buy a larger, faster hard drive and clone your current drive to it.
If it gets a drive letter you could move your swap file over there. But why would you want to? It’ll be slower than a HDD location, with less room to expand if necessary.
are you logged in?
Dear Mods,
Could we have a computer help forum?
I hate to see these vanities when I check in for news and updates.
OP: No. If you feel your computer is slow, learn how to mange it, get a new one, or get a cheap Mac. Those are your only options. (its true).
No. card readers are invariably USB, even if wired internally. Get more RAM and get it over with. If your hard drive is ~40g/60g, upgrade to a newer disk... while the spin speed is the same, the write method has improved in the say... ~120g + drives, and you will notice a significant increase (10% or so), which will greatly improve swapfile access speeds...
If it has less than 1g of RAM, getting over the 1g mark will make it a whole new machine (you will be astounded), and getting anything more (up to 3g) will only make it mo’bedda... but XP NEEDS 1g of Ram to run properly IMHO.
Rclick My compter => Properties. On the resulting dialog, the amount of RAM will be listed near the bottom... The CPU is usually there too - might be nice to tell us those two things.
It’s not possible using WindowsXP without creating a BartPE or other pre-install environment before each boot because you have to load the USB drivers before you load windows.
Alternatively, you can learn Windows scripting and create a boot snap-in script to create the cache on each boot.
Both are a PITA and not worth it because SD cards are painfully slow as cache drives.
My suggestion would be to buy a cheap WesternDigital Caviar Blue Drive and use the following free tool to clone your drive: http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119