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+<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/"
+ type="topic" style="task"
+ id="mem-swap">
+
+ <info>
+ <revision pkgversion="3.11" date="2014-01-28" status="final"/>
+ <link type="guide" xref="index#memory" group="memory" />
+
+ <include href="legal.xml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"/>
+
+ <credit type="author copyright">
+ <name>Phil Bull</name>
+ <email>philbull@gmail.com</email>
+ <years>2011</years>
+ </credit>
+
+ <credit type="author copyright">
+ <name>Michael Hill</name>
+ <email>mdhillca@gmail.com</email>
+ <years>2011, 2014</years>
+ </credit>
+
+ <desc>Swap memory allows your computer to run more applications at the same
+ time than will fit into the system memory (RAM).</desc>
+ </info>
+
+ <title>What is "swap" memory?</title>
+
+ <comment>
+ <cite date="2011-06-18" href="mailto:philbull@gmail.com">Phil Bull</cite>
+ <p>Explain what swap is and how it helps. Explain that the computer may run
+ slowly if it's swapping too much.</p>
+ </comment>
+
+ <p>Swap memory or <em>swap space</em> is the on-disk component of the virtual
+ memory system. It is pre-configured as a <em>swap partition</em> or a
+ <em>swap file</em> when Linux is first installed, but can also be added
+ later.</p>
+
+ <note>
+ <p>Disk access is <em>very</em> slow compared to memory access. The system
+ runs more slowly if there is excessive swapping, or <em>thrashing</em>,
+ when the system is unable to find enough free memory. In this situation the
+ only solution is to add more RAM.</p>
+ </note>
+
+ <p>To see whether swapping, or <em>paging</em>, has become a performance
+ issue:</p>
+
+ <steps>
+ <item>
+ <p>Click the <gui>Resources</gui> tab.</p>
+ </item>
+ <item>
+ <p>The <gui>Memory and Swap History</gui> graph shows memory and swap use
+ as percentages.</p>
+ </item>
+ </steps>
+
+</page>