How to create swap partition

[arjot]

Hey guys
I just installed linux mint 11 yesterday to solve my graphics chipset problem.
But I forgot to create a swap partition. So my question is how can I create swap partition without reinstalling linux mint?
Also I have 4GB ram on my laptop and I don't use hibernation function on my laptop so do I really need swap?
The space I reserved for swap partition is 4GB & it is shown as unusable space in partition s/w.
Thanks in advance.

[minitrucker]

I'm fairly new, but if I understand right you can live boot and unmount the OS off the hard drive if it comes to that. Do you have gParted? That should make it easy to do anything with unused space on your HDD. As far as if you actually need or not.... no idea sorry

[remoulder]

I have 4GB ram on my laptop and I don't use hibernation function on my laptop so do I really need swap?

If your system runs ok then no you don't need swap. Unless you do very memory intensive stuff such as video, your system will likely never need it. In any case 4GB would be far too much unless you wanted to hibernate, in which case it might be slightly too little. If you are sure you aren't going to hibernate then I would create a swap of say 512MB as a precaution and re-use the remainder by re-sizing the adjacent partition. To create and resize the partitions you will need to boot from the live disc and run gparted from the menu there. See http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1262862 for basic instructions.

[arjot]

Thanks guys.

[proxima_centauri]

I would just use this guide to create a SWAP file instead of a partition.
Much easier.

[wyrdoak]

I would just use this guide to create a SWAP file instead of a partition.
Much easier.

Swap file works. Another way to create a swap file would be:

sudo apt-get install dphys-swapfile
The installation process with automatically create the swap file. Then just enable it with:
sudo swapon -a
Viola, a fully function swap file that is not on a separate partition.

[proxima_centauri]

I guess I didn't read the OP's question very carefully.

The space I reserved for swap partition is 4GB & it is shown as unusable space in partition s/w.

If you have 4GB unused SPACE already partitioned, but not used as SWAP; install (if not already available) gparted and run it. Format the space to SWAP.
Edit /etc/fstab and add

Code: Select all

/dev/sda*/  swap    swap    defaults   0  0

/dev/sda* refers to the correct partition SWAP is, for example, /dev/sda2