[sclug] Newbie, partitioning 120Gb HDD - recommendations?

[Keith Edmunds]

On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 11:34:36 -0000 (GMT)
"David Newcomb" <david.newcomb at bigsoft.co.uk> wrote:

> Swap size should be 2 or 3 times the size of phyical memory.

This is a myth. Swap size should be such that the total memory you ever
need is less than physical memory plus swap space. What the above advice
translates to is: if you have 1Gb of memory then you need 2-3 Gb of swap
space. If you have a memory module go bad and reduce the RAM to 512Mb, then
you only need 1-1.5Gb swap.

When the "2 x RAM" advice first appeared, memory was extortionately
expensive. My advice, if you want to get the "right" amount of swap space,
is to start with either 512Mb or 1Gb of swap space, depending upon your
available disk space, and monitor its usage. Then tune it accordingly.

Keith