Using USB flash as swap space.

[Ray Parrish]

Andrew Farris wrote:
> On Mon, 2009-08-03 at 12:02 -0700, Ray Parrish wrote:
>   
>> Hello,
>>
>> I recently read an article that states that using a USB flash drive as 
>> swap space can help speed up a low memory system since the flash drive 
>> is faster than a hard drive.
>>
>> Could someone walk me through the list of commands needed to mount a 
>> flash drive, and specify it as a swap space in Hardy?
>>
>>     
>
> 1. Install gparted (sudo apt-get install gparted). It will make
> partitioning easier
>
> 2. Plug the flash drive in (probably someplace out of the way, since
> it's going to become a permanent feature...and make sure its a USB 2.0
> port, to get the full potential out of it)
>
> 3. Fire up gparted, select your flash drive from the dropdown in the top
> right corner, right-click on the partition(s) listed in the bottom box,
> and delete them all
>
> 4. right-click the newly empty space and say "Format To > linux-swap"
>
> 5. ...?
>
> 6. Profit! Or...swap-space...whatever.
>
>   
>> I would also like to know how to get it set up in fstab so it will 
>> always work.
>>
>>     
>
> Next, you need to find out the UUID of your new device... find out by
> right-clicking on your new flash-drive swap partition(in gparted), go to
> "Information", and copy the UUID listed there.
>
> In order to get it to auto-work on boot, add the following line to
> your /etc/fstab:
>
> UUID=   none   swap   sw   0   0
>
> where you paste the UUID you got earlier after the "=" in that line.
> Then save, and next time you reboot with the flash drive in, it should
> use it as swap.  To use the new swap space immediately use:
>     swapon /dev/<your device ID>   i.e. swapon /dev/sdg1  (if your flash
> drive was sdg1)
>
> this page may be also be of some interest for further reading: 
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwapFaq 
>
> best of luck!
>   
Thank you very much for the instructions and the fine level of detail. I 
will give it a try when ever I get my hands on one of those flash drives.

Later, Ray Parrish

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