Ken,

Google tells me that evidently you can use an external HD
or thumb drive as RAM.

Both are possible. But both an HD and USB are slow in regard to internal,
real RAM, and USB memory will wear out rather quickly (it only handles so
many writes).

Actually, your 'puter already uses the HD for RAM, using a method called
"page swapping". If you are unlucky you can hear the HD trash around while
the running program (movie, game, etc) stutters a bit.

In short, do try and see if you can access the MB and put some RAM in a
still-open slot. It will work so much better.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser