Swap options - Issue during Install

[GregMintMadness-1]

I installed Linux Mint Cinimon 20.2 on a new pc for my son. The pc is setup as dual boot with Windows 10. The installation went smoothly in spite of my efforts to break it (I was rushed and distracted). The only strange occurance was that I was unable to create a swap partition, which leads me to my first question.

1) I saw partition options for root and home during installation but didn't see any for swap. What did I do wrong here? Listed below is partition info from fdisk-l.

Code: Select all

sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for andrew:     
Disk /dev/sda: 931.53 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk model: CT1000MX500SSD1 
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 854AE3E1-89FF-47FE-B36D-97731562FF71

Device          Start        End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1        2048     206847    204800   100M EFI System
/dev/sda2      206848     239615     32768    16M Microsoft reserved
/dev/sda3      239616  841459711 841220096 401.1G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda4   841459712 1134428159 292968448 139.7G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda5  1134428160 1953523711 819095552 390.6G Linux filesystem

It is my understanding that with 16GB RAM and no desire to hybernate I don't need to worry about swap space. Everything seems to be running fine so far. So here are my last 2 questions.

2) Did the Linux Mint install create a swap file automatically, it looks like it? Listed below is swap info from free and swapon-s.

Code: Select all

free
              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:       16303068     1080220      281884      308284    14940964    14578624
Swap:       2097148        1536     2095612

Code: Select all

swapon -s
Filename				Type		Size	Used	Priority
/swapfile                              	file    	2097148	1536	-2

3) Is my swap space on this pc enough? Do I need to change anything?

Sorry so may questions. I really did try to resolve this on my own.
Thank You, Greg

[Larry78723]

Recent versions of Linux Mint use a swap file by default. It expands from 2Gb as needed.

[GregMintMadness-1]

Thank you Larry78723! This make everything crystal clear.

[Larry78723]

Please open your original post, click on the pencil, and add (Solved) to the Subject.

[scayers]

So, are you saying that Mint 20.2 will create its own swapfile
for its use exclusively and no other swapfile needs to be created?
The installation instructions here:
https://linuxmint-installation-guide.re ... stall.html
in Step 5 "Choose an installation type." pretty much explicitly states:

Also create a swap partition. This partition is used for hibernation and as a safety buffer in case your computer runs out of RAM. Give this partition a size equal to the amount of RAM in your computer.

I want to install XFCE Mint properly, so how do I reconcile all this?

[scayers]

I did find this post, which seems to say that it is at the user's discretion.
viewtopic.php?t=295907

[AndyMH]

So, are you saying that Mint 20.2 will create its own swapfile

Yes, that is the default and has been since LM19 came out. You can still have a swap partition if you want and if you want to hibernate I think it is still needed.