Using Flash Drive as Swap Space

[Robizzle01]

I read somewhere that using a flash drive as swap space would provide a noticable speedup. This is from a dubious source and I wouldn't be surprised to find it false.

I also understand that flash drives do have a much shorter lifetime than platter drives and would wear out in as little as one or two years depending on use, but, is there any truth behind this? Would a $30 investment in a 2gb flash drive make my computer happy?

 

[Lamont Cranston]

I've never tried that. Typically the benefit of a flashdrive is that you plug it in, put files on it, then take it somewhere....

For 30 bucks even if it doesnt work that great you can always use it to just txo files back and forth later


As a side note i do have a 2 gb flash drive from Corsair with a lifetime warranty....so even if it does die i get a new one

 

[drizzt81]

it is an interesting proposal. Considering that current flash drives have a max STR of ~20MB/s which is significantly less than most current HDDs, they would have to have a reasonable access time advantage. And yes, the limited number of write-cycles per block will likely come into effect and your device is likely to wear out 'soon'.