Post

increase swap memory

Posted Updated
By Arnold Vianna
1 min read
increase swap memory

increase swap memory of raspberry pi & Debian-based distros

  • all steps
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free -h # check the amount of swap memory

sudo nano /etc/dphys-swapfile   # edit this file

CONF_SWAPSIZE=200   #  find this line 

CONF_SWAPSIZE=1024  #  change from 200 into 1024

CTRL + X, then Y and Enter  # to Save and exit 

sudo dphys-swapfile swapoff  # Disable current swap

sudo dphys-swapfile setup    # Apply new swap size

sudo dphys-swapfile swapon   # Enable new swap

free -h # check if the swap size has increased

step by step

  • check the amount of swap memory
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    free -h
  • edit this file
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    sudo nano /etc/dphys-swapfile
  • find this line
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    CONF_SWAPSIZE=200
  • change from 200 into 1024
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     CONF_SWAPSIZE=1024
  • Save and exit with
  • (CTRL + X, then Y and Enter)
  • Disable current swap
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     sudo dphys-swapfile swapoff
  • Apply new swap size
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     sudo dphys-swapfile setup
  • Enable new swap
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     sudo dphys-swapfile swapon
  • check if the swap size has increased
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    free -h

Increase Swappiness (Use Swap More Frequently)

  • Swappiness controls how aggressively Linux swaps memory to disk. A higher value makes the system use swap more often, which can help when RAM is limited

*Check Current Swappiness (Default is usually 60.)

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cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness
  • Set Swappiness to 80
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sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf
  • Add this line at the bottom
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vm.swappiness=80
  • Save and exit, apply changes
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CTRL + X, then Y and Enter
  • apply changes
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sudo sysctl -p

This should help your Raspberry Pi run smoother with more available virtual memory

windows
memory raspberry
This post is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by the author.