is swapspace *really* necessary?

jimlynch11 · Posted: Tue May 06, 2003 5:46 am Post subject: is swapspace *really* necessary?

id like to have a fat32 shared partition to transport files between my linux partition and my winxp ntfs (which doesnt have write support). iv tried using partition magic to create a logical partition, but it fails every time.

well i was thinking about it, and i have never once seen my swap space in use on my gkrellm resources monitor. I have 384 MB of ram, and usually i have at least 150 MB of free ram (even when having several desktops and apps going). swapspace is beginning to seem useless to me, because i have never had a problem running out of physical memory.

would it be crazy for me to simply reformat this partition into FAT32, use it as my shared drive, and go on without any swapspace?

any ideas, tips, or possible other solutions are more than welcome

guero61 · l33t Joined: 14 Oct 2002 Posts: 811 Location: Behind you

Anyone correct me if I'm wrong here --

As of (I think) kernel 2.4, you are no longer required to have swap space. If you feel comfortable not having that space (that's your own call) I'd say go for it. If nothing else, you can always reformat it as swap -- kind of a temporary space on your HD for whatever purpose you need at the time.

dice · Guru Joined: 21 Apr 2002 Posts: 577

It is not necessary to have a swap partition. You can use a file as swap.

Edit: I suppose instructions would be nice.

splooge · l33t Joined: 30 Aug 2002 Posts: 636

The rule of thumb on older machines was 2x the amount of ram for swap space. Now that your average machine has 512mb ram I think that requirement has been extremely relaxed.

I personally never use more than 120k swap space, I don't even know why I have any space dedicated to it at all. Although I would never argue the fact that disk swap isn't a necessity especially on a server maybe I do believe I will make my next desktop without any swap space at all to see how it goes.
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jimlynch11 · Posted: Tue May 06, 2003 6:05 am Post subject:

ok thanks for the quick replies guys...i think ill give it a go

how do i reformat it as FAT32 within linux? or is that something I have to do from the M$ side?

dice · Guru Joined: 21 Apr 2002 Posts: 577

jimlynch11 · Posted: Tue May 06, 2003 3:00 pm Post subject:

thanks dice, ill give it an emerge