I got one of these goodies for my comoputer a few days ago. According to the Properties dialog box it has a capacity of one gigabyte. Imagine!
But I got it because I’d had trouble earlier with processing old photos: I got a message that the computer was running low on memory. (There is still 14 gb blank space on the computer itself…)
If the computer doesn’t automatically turn to the clothespin-sized USB “disk,” as a source to tap for memory, I figure I have to manipulate something to free more hard-drive space for temporary RAM. Am I guessing right?
Memory (RAM) and hard drive space are two completely different things.
You should be fine doing work on a computer that has 14GB of free hard drive space. If your application is telling you you don’t have enough memory, then you need to buy some memory.
Go to www.crucial.com and type in your computer specs to get info on what you can buy for your computer. It will come with instructions on how to set it up.
If you’re too scared to crack open the case and fiddle around inside, take it to the Geek Squad. I do believe they have a standard posted price for putting in new RAM.
On a conceptual level, yes, although most operating systems that run low on RAM will page RAM to the disk, and use the hard disk for extra memory (usually called “virtual memory” or a “swap file”).
Paging to disk is slow, though, so it can’t be used for applications that need fast access to what they’ve put in RAM. Photo editing doesn’t need fast access per se, but it’s more difficult to work with if it keeps swapping to disk. That’s probably why the error message came up, though it may also be that it’s running out of virtual memory.
You can’t just add disk space (e.g. a USB disk) and have the computer use that as virtual memory, though. Windows has a specific folder on a specific hard drive that it uses for virtual memory, and a specific (though user-variable) limit to how much space it will use for virtual memory. Linux creates its own swap partition that is solely for virtual memory, and won’t use any other disk space for it. I don’t know about Macs, but I imagine they work on a swap partition like Linux does.
You could try increasing the amount of disk space Windows (I assume you’re using Windows) will use for virtual memory. How you do this will depend what version of Windows you’re using. Adding more RAM is a much better option, but given that allocating more virtual memory is free, and adding more RAM is not, it makes sense to try the virtual memory first and see how it goes.
Running Vista, you can use a USB stick as extra virtual memory via ReadyBoost, if it is a ReadyBoost compliant USB stick (that is, access speed of 1ms or less and some other restrictions listed in the Wikipedia article). IMHO it’s still not the best way to fix the problem.
I’m making assumptions here, but I’m guessing you’re running XP and getting an error message that virtual memory is low. If you’re having a problem with virtual memory, there are four things you can easily check for.
- You’re running too many programs simultaneously. Cut back on running things that you don’t strictly need.
- You don’t have enough space allocated to virtual memory.
- You don’t have enough free hard drive space for virtual memory to run
- You’re running a program that has a memory leak and is chewing up more than its fair share of your virtual memory.
If you suspect 2 or 3, try these instructions. They suggest aiming for at least 10% free space on your disk. If your hard drive is larger than 140GB, you might want to consider clearing some space - external hard drives are cheap these days, or you could burn things off to DVDs. I’d be inclined to clear some space anyway - I always feel Windows runs better when there’s a lot of free space.
If you suspect 4, these instructions will show you how to check how much VM each program is using. If you can identify a clear memory hog, it suggests uninstalling and reinstalling (keep in mind this may cost you a licence if you’re using software that only permits a certain number of installs), or searching for a patch or bugfix from the software publisher.
Generally, you never ever want to run a swap file on a USB disk. I think readyboost has been shown to be helpful only in limited situations of excessive swapping.
Im guessing that your photo manipulation app just uses a lot of RAM. They all do, as they need to store those bitmaps in memory. They may not be able to swap out as much as you think they can. They cant swap out a photo if youre working on it.
How much RAM do you have? Perhaps its time for an upgrade.
Also, its worth mentioning that if you do have a lot of RAM, say more than 1 gig then the software you have might be experiencing a memory leak. Usually a reboot takes care of that, or an update to the software that fixes the leak.
Offhand I don’t know how much RAM the computer has: it’s a Dell 4100 Inspiron laptop. I am not interested in prying it open. I’ll check in a minute to see what the RAM capacity is.
(It’s 256 MB.)
There is your problem then.
Go to Crucial as advised above and they will run a check on your machine and tell you which type and how much to buy.
That’s not enough RAM to fart.
How much would you recommend?
How much does Crucial say your machine can use?
If you plan on keeping this laptop for any length of time, max it out.
Missed the edit window…
I looked it up, and it can hold 1GB of RAM. I would recommend that much, but it’ll set you back about $160.
You could just buy one 512MB module, for $80, and hope that your existing 256MB only takes up one slot - then you would have 768MB which wouldn’t be terrible. If you open it up after purchasing the 512MB and find that you need to remove two 128MB modules in order to add your 512MB module, then you’ll end up with only 512MB which wouldn’t be too much better than what you have now, but good enough if you’ve been living this long with just 256MB.
This used to be true. However, you can create a swap file in an existing partition and it will be (since the 2.6 kernel series) just as fast as a swap partition.
I tried that with Crucial and got led down a nowhere trail of download/Internet Explorer (I use AOL)/Adobe Reader/“IE can’t open this web page.” I may have screwed up my Prefetch folder by putting everything in it under Adobe Reader, and I don’t know how to change it back. Meanwhile I’m getting nowhere with the scanning shtick I downloaded. 
You don’t need to use Crucial’s downloadable tool. You can just select your model from the dropdown boxes on the front page.
Or, use this link.
I wouldn’t waste your money upgrading the RAM on that ancient computer. Literally any laptop you can buy today (including sub-$300 netbooks) will blow your old computer out of the water in terms of performance.
Ancient? How old do you think the Dell Inspiron 4100 is?
Hereis a review from 2001, making it at least 8 years old. Personal computers started to become popular in around 1975, 34 years ago. That means the Dell Inspiron 4100 has been around for almost 25% of the time that there has been computers. For comparison, the planet Earth is about 4.5 billion years old. Would you consider an organism that had lived on the Earth for one billion years to be ancient?
As mentioned, 1GB of RAM for your Dell (SDRAM) costs $160. You can buy 1GB of RAM for a modern laptop (DDR2) for under $20. Spending money on obsolete technology is a waste unless you are some kind of technology historian 
In seriousness, unless you are only running applications made prior to about 2003 you desperately need a new computer.
I’ll second Bad Astronaut’s advice here Dougie Monty.
Just take a look at the price markup on the outdated type of RAM you need. The same amount of modern RAM is $20 and you’d have to pay $160 to get the same amount. It’s ridiculous. That’s 700% more money.
I would seriously consider saving that cash, and when you have a few hundred saved up, buy a new PC. We’d be happy to help you out once you have a budget, in picking out something that will last you and will do anything you need it to do.
I buy all my memeory from these guys, who sell 512MB sticks for the Inspiron 4100 for $49.