I read from various sources that creating swap partitions on SSDs is not recommended. I have an SSD and an HDD, and 4 GB RAM. Is it possible to create the root and home partitions on the SSD, but have the swap partition on the HDD? If is it possible, should I do this?
2 Answers
On new installations of Ubuntu 17.04 and later a swap file is created by default instead of a swap partition. Among other things this saves valuable disk space on the SSD for users who have SSDs. So we don't put a swap partition on an SSD or on a HDD anymore. The swap file is located in the same partition where the root filesystem is located. On my computer which has 32GB RAM the swap file is the default size, only 1.5GB.
Since the advantage of a swapfile is that it is easy to resize, you may want to use SwapSpace to manage the size of your swapfile. SwapSpace is a small, stable system add-on that continuously and automatically adapts available virtual memory space to your actual memory needs. It claims disk space for use as swap space when needed, and frees it up for use by the filesystem when it is not needed. SwapSpace can be installed with sudo apt install swapspace
in all currently supported versions of Ubuntu.

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karel, what happens when we do manual partitioning and we do create a swap partition that is added to
fstab
for automatic mounting? Does the system use that partition automatically instead of the swap file? Does it use both? Does it still use the swap file ignoring the partition? – Stormlord Oct 29 '20 at 10:19 -
1A swap file is the default in new installations of Ubuntu 17.04 and later, but the choice of swap file or swap partition or both is configurable by the user. – karel Oct 29 '20 at 10:22
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I thought that I understood that swap takes up valuable space no matter where it is located, and that it works faster on a SSD than on a HDD, as in recovering from hibernation. Enabling hibernation is a little more complex with a swapfile than with a swap partition. – C.S.Cameron Oct 29 '20 at 10:22
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@karel: I don't think you will be doing much hibernating with 1.5GB of swap and 32GB RAM. – C.S.Cameron Oct 29 '20 at 10:58
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@karel: I think adjusting swapfile size is something you need to do yourself. I think Ubuntu creates a 1.5GB swapfile for all installations. Perhaps have a look at my link. – C.S.Cameron Oct 29 '20 at 11:10
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Run
sudo apt install swapspace
to enable dynamic swap resizing. swapspace is in the default repositories for all versions of Ubuntu from 12.04-21.04. Small, stable system add-on that continuously and automatically adapts available virtual memory space to your actual memory needs. Claims disk space for use as swap space when needed; frees it up for use by the filesystem when not needed. – karel Oct 29 '20 at 11:14 -
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@karel: Swapspace site says: N.B. If you want suspend and resume to work you will still need a static swapfile!... I have noy manaed to install Swapspace yet. – C.S.Cameron Oct 30 '20 at 03:29
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@karel
and the size of the swap file changes dynamically automatically according to Ubuntu's operational requirements
... - dynamically automatically? - first time I read that - is there a link or post that confirms that? - all the tutorials I read about to resize or increase theswap file
is based with a manual manipulation – Manuel Jordan Apr 06 '22 at 22:35 -
@ManuelJordan Thanks for commenting. I replied to your comment by editing my answer. – karel Apr 07 '22 at 01:28
What Swap
Ubuntu can have both a swap file and multiple swap partitions running at the same time. They can be on different disks. you can confirm this using free
and swapon -s
The Swap partitions can be on SSD, HDD, SD and USB. Ubuntu will use them all.
Whether or not to do this is beyond the scope of this answer. Generally the faster the media, the faster the swap operation.
Recovery from hibernation will be faster if swap is on SSD rather than HDD.
For more information on hibernation using swapfiles see: How to Handle Full Install USB and Swap Space

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free
andswapon -s
. – C.S.Cameron Oct 29 '20 at 10:00