Hey guys. Since we are big on Linux, I have a small question. when doing any installation usually, I always see the prompt that comes up about swap partition, warning me I haven't made it and recommends I should. I am not installing anything right now. I am just curious what it does. What I heard is that it helps out the RAM if there is no more space it for programs and such. Anything further I should know?
Thank you for your time and help. Means alot.
It does the same thing the page file does on Windows.
Some won't install swap because they have plenty of RAM and won't hibernate the system.
I myself leave it as is having lots of space. Here is a link to help you understand
Thank you to you both.
If the system runs out of ram, stuff will crash. If there is swap available, it won't crash (just slow down) until it runs out of swap as well.
It is said that placing swap partitions on SSDs will decrease the life span of the disks due to frequent writes.
Use htop to see how much ram/swap is in use on your machine and to help you get a feel for the concepts and limits of your system.