Subject: usb flash drive as swap in linux

[Technomage]

as a response to all the posts...

ok, the deal was that I needed some swap space for a temp thing anyway (linux 
would not load without it on that box) and the HD didn't have enough room for 
swap AND the OS filesystem.

I have since corrected this with the acquisition of a much larger drive.


as for performance: this was a usb 2.0 device and it appeared to actually have 
better performance ratings that the HD in the machine at the time.

now, this is/was a $16.00 mem stick, so, for what it is, it was a "cheap" 
alternative.

now all I need is more real memory for that box (compaq presario 1255 with 
only 32 MB on board). anyone happen to have some old SODimms laying around?


On Thursday 16 March 2006 00:32, Matthew Martin wrote:
> > ok,
> > I have made the required changes to fstab in order to use a 128 meg USB
> > device.
> >
> > only problem I seem to have is that even though the modules are loaded,
> > it will not initialize as swap space unless I issue a swapon -a from root
> > after startup.
> >
> > some help would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > system is debian kernel 2.6.8-2-386 running on a compaq presario laptop.
> >
> > HELP!!!
> >
> > TMH
>
> Ok, going to reiterate other posts claiming that this is not a good idea.
>
> As a reliability engr in memories, I can tell you that flash is generally
> good for 100k writes, a little more if they play some tricks with rotating
> addresses around behind the scenes. You will toast your flash stick rather
> quickly if you actually run in swap.
>
> It might be a fun experiment (which brand lasts longer?), but not a
> recommended solution.
>
>
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