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I have created a swapfile successfully, but when I am trying to:

"sudo swapon /swapfile"

this is what I see:

"swapon: /swapfile1: skipping"

It appears to have holes.

How can I create a swapfile that doesn't have a hole?

Pilot6
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Nathan Nyawaya
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    So how exactly did you create the swapfile? – steeldriver Jan 31 '23 at 21:43
  • @steeldriver: Some people have had a problem with holes when using fallocate to create swapfiles. https://askubuntu.com/a/1285218/43926 sudo fallocate -l XG /swapfile – C.S.Cameron Feb 03 '23 at 09:28
  • @C.S.Cameron hence my question ;) – steeldriver Feb 03 '23 at 12:30
  • @steeldriver: I only know of two methods to create a swapfile, one is fallocate the other is dd. Fallocate is known to occasionally create holes, dd is not. The method using fallocate is given above in my comment, and the method using dd is given in my answer below. Do you have a preferred method to create swapfiles not mentioned? The OP has not confirmed their method. – C.S.Cameron Feb 03 '23 at 13:55
  • @C.S.Cameron I know far less about it than you - I've upvoted your answer, but unless the OP engages we're spinning our wheels – steeldriver Feb 03 '23 at 14:00

1 Answers1

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Swapfile Holes

There is a slight possibility of getting holes in a swapfile when creating it with fallocate.

/var/log/syslog can be searched for the phrase swapon: swapfile has holes to ensure there will be no data loss.

A swap file can alternatively be created using dd:

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1G count=8

An error when using dd may overwrite your HDD.

C.S.Cameron
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    I am still having the same problem, i tried using both fallocate and dd ...... still getting the error saying there is holes – Nathan Nyawaya Feb 05 '23 at 22:46