Increase size of existing swap file

[Physics_Dude]

First of all I need to mention that my Pi is running off a mechanical HDD, not an SD card. So from this it is understandable that a larger swap file would be beneficial when the internal ram fills up.

The existing 100MB swap file at /var/swap is doing a good job, but I am in need of a bit more. Perhaps a Gig or two.

Does anyone have a few words on how I can go about doing this without causing to much trouble on the system?

[rpdom]

Change the size in /etc/dphys-swapfile:

Code: Select all

CONF_SWAPFILE=100

man dphys-swapfile for details.

[Physics_Dude]

Code: Select all

$ free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:           485        141        344          0         10         63
-/+ buffers/cache:         66        419
Swap:         1023          0       1023

Thanks!

[Zeno]

I think it should be CONF_SWAPSIZE
AFAIK CONF_SWAPFILE is for the swap location

[alexanderre]

exactly what I was looking for, thanks, guys

[n67]

This is a good necro.

I've been wondering exactly this for awhile now - and may well have started a new thread about it had I not seen this one. Well done!

BTW, is there any way to make it use the new settings (after editing the config file) other than rebooting? I try to avoid rebooting if possible.

[jostle]

@n67

You just need to run

Code: Select all

sudo dphys-swapfile setup

to update the settings changes.

Have Fun ...

[richlion2]

Hello,

I just found this thread, as I need to inscrease my swap space. I am a bit confused, I am on a RPI 3 B+ with all the updates and when I run "top" is shows swap size is 1000 KiB. So the value in the file /etc/dphys-swapfile is in what if it is 100? I edited the file :
/etc/dphys-swapfile and changed from 100 to 200 and now "top" is showing 2048 MiB.

Thanks,
Richard

[jahboater]

I use

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sudo /etc/init.d/dphys-swapfile stop
sudo /etc/init.d/dphys-swapfile start

"setup" doesn't work for me.

And "free -h" is a quicker way of checking things than top.

[BenRandomNameHere]

Very greatful of this post! I was getting quite upset at random input lag on my shiny new RPi4B, and this appears to have solved it!

and without a reboot!

and I got to learn about top and free!

[jahboater]

I since found you can do that in one step:

Code: Select all

sudo /etc/init.d/dphys-swapfile restart

[Nowayno]

Hello all,

I've been searching how to increase swap size from 100 to 1024/2048 but operation is not successful so I decided to write ,I will explain what I've been doing if something is not right please correct me. Thanks in advance

Sudo nano /etc/dphys-swapfile [enter] different black screen opens

I edit CONF_SWAPFILE=100 to CONF_SWAPFILE=1024

After that

I opened new terminal and

sudo /etc/init.d/dphys-swapfile stop
sudo /etc/init.d/dphys-swapfile start

I do this command line above

Next step is free -m and it still says swap 100 , so I am confused.

Please help me since I'm new raspberry Pi 3b+ user

Regards

[DougieLawson]

sudo dphys-swapfile swapoff
sudo dphys-swapfile swapon

[GlowInTheDark]

Or just reboot.

Keep it simple.

[godofr]

The correct sequence of steps is this (note the bold):

[20:23:11(root@surcopi)~]
# free -h
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 704Mi 325Mi 36Mi 34Mi 342Mi 281Mi
Swap: 99Mi 0B 99Mi
[20:23:14(root@surcopi)~]
# dphys-swapfile swapoff
[20:24:50(root@surcopi)~]
# free -h
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 704Mi 324Mi 36Mi 34Mi 342Mi 281Mi
Swap: 0B 0B 0B
[20:24:53(root@surcopi)~]
# nano /etc/dphys-swapfile
# /etc/dphys-swapfile - user settings for dphys-swapfile package
# author Neil Franklin, last modification 2010.05.05
# copyright ETH Zuerich Physics Departement
# use under either modified/non-advertising BSD or GPL license

# this file is sourced with . so full normal sh syntax applies

# the default settings are added as commented out CONF_*=* lines


# where we want the swapfile to be, this is the default
#CONF_SWAPFILE=/var/swap

# set size to absolute value, leaving empty (default) then uses computed value
# you most likely don't want this, unless you have an special disk situation
#CONF_SWAPSIZE=100
CONF_SWAPSIZE=1024

# set size to computed value, this times RAM size, dynamically adapts,
# guarantees that there is enough swap without wasting disk space on excess
#CONF_SWAPFACTOR=2

# restrict size (computed and absolute!) to maximally this limit
# can be set to empty for no limit, but beware of filled partitions!
# this is/was a (outdated?) 32bit kernel limit (in MBytes), do not overrun it
# but is also sensible on 64bit to prevent filling /var or even / partition
#CONF_MAXSWAP=2048
[20:24:59(root@surcopi)~]
# dphys-swapfile setup
want /var/swap=1024MByte, checking existing: deleting wrong size file (104857600), generating swapfile ... of 1024MBytes
[20:25:15(root@surcopi)~]
# dphys-swapfile swapon
[20:25:31(root@surcopi)~]
# free -h
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 704Mi 325Mi 32Mi 34Mi 345Mi 280Mi
Swap: 1,0Gi 0B 1,0Gi
[20:25:45(root@surcopi)~]
#

This has worked for me, without having to restart.

Regards.