Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [OT] suggest SSD partitioning

[Wols Lists <antlists@youngman.org.uk>]

On 10/12/2021 15:16, Nikos Chantziaras wrote:
> If you can't do that, then it doesn't matter much whether you use a swap 
> file or partition. On an SSD, both should perform about the same. On an 
> HDD, swap files could run into fragmentation issues if you resize them 
> or create them incorrectly. On an SSD, fragmentation doesn't have much 
> of an impact. A swap file gives you the option to resize it later on 
> without having to do filesystem and partition resizing, so I'd say a 
> swap file sounds better.

It very much does matter whether you use a swap file or partition in 
practice. I've just been reading right now a discussion about systemd 
logging and hibernation, and how btrfs handles swap files. It sounds nasty.

If you have a swap file, linux creates an immutable file then uses 
direct disk i/o. There's a LOT of unnecessary crap there that could go 
wrong. Just avoid all that trouble and give yourself a decent swap 
partition. (And if you're running btrfs, a lot of this sounds 
experimental and dangerous ...)

Cheers,
Wol