When I install RAM, I usually like to test it with a program like Memtest86+ or its ancestor, Memtest86. Testing helps to ensure that the RAM is good quality and will perform reliably in your computer. If you don’t thoroughly test your RAM after you install it, you might learn much later that the RAM is faulty, perhaps when you are doing some serious multitasking and you are making full use of the RAM. Unfortunately, “much later” often comes after the RAM warranty has expired. When that happens, you’ve wasted your money (assuming you don’t want to keep using the unreliable RAM).

The other day I installed some new RAM on my Samsung NC10 netbook and I wanted to test it with Memtest86+. In the past, I have always burned the bootable ISO image of Memtest86+ to CD and booted my computer from the CD drive. That’s a very convenient way of running Memtest86+. Unfortunately, my netbook doesn’t have a CD drive or a DVD drive. Thus, I needed to find a way to run Memtest86+ from a bootable USB flash drive. …Continue reading » How to Run Memtest86+ On a Bootable USB Flash Drive