What should I do with free disk space?

[bob466]

bob466 wrote:

Certainly if the swap file suits and works, there is no issue, and more RAM can eschew the need for any swap. But it's worth noting that swap files are significantly slower than swap partitions, and that's due in part to the way the linux filesystem handles files which are not always, nor necessarily, contiguous on the hardware. That means that the operating system may have to "hunt" for the relevant data over various hardware locations. There's an efficiency cost to that which is paid less in a partition which is contiguous.

Years ago Swap or Virtual Memory was needed because old 32bit systems would only have the maximum of 4GB of RAM...many systems ran on much less.

Back in the old days there was a rule...you must have 1.5GB of Virtual Memory for every GB of installed RAM or something like that...again a thing of the past.

The Linux File system runs just fine with a Swap File...why do you think many Distros now have one.

The more RAM...the more you can Multi-task and as for a Swap File being slower...that doesn't make sense as I never use Swap as I have 16GB of RAM installed and it's all running on an SSD too.

 

[Arthurbow]

update post *

 

[osprey]

bob466, perhaps I wasn't clear enough. I was only referring to the potential cost in efficiency between a swap file compared with a swap partition. I was merely pointing out that the discontiguous aspect of linux filesystem storage is a cost that a contiguous swap partition doesn't have to pay. It's a technical point, nothing more. As for needing swap of any sort, rules for swap size or different approaches to swap, these are matters for individuals to decide themselves on whatever criteria matter to them as I pointed out in other words in my post #7. I hope that's clearer.

 

[LorenDB]

@Arthurbow: just out of curiosity, have you read https://www.kali.org/docs/introduction/should-i-use-kali-linux/? It's something everyone considering Kali should know.

 

[Arthurbow]

@Arthurbow: just out of curiosity, have you read https://www.kali.org/docs/introduction/should-i-use-kali-linux/? It's something everyone considering Kali should know.

I haven't read it but, I use Kali because I plan to study about Cybersecurity, my school suggest to use VM(kali linux),I installed it and use it for a while but my laptop couldn't handle it so I just install OS on my laptop instead. I've just started not so long and it's fine for me

 

[KGIII]

Moved to the Kali sub-forum.

 

[Brickwizard]

I haven't read it

You need to, it also says not suitable for everyday desktop use.,
you don't need Kali for pen-testing you can install the "tools" in any Linux distribution [your tutor may not know this] or use any of the other 5 purpose built pen-testing distributions. [if you want one to use as a daily desktop, try Parrot sec] professionals usually run pen-testing either on a spare machine, or from a "persistent" pen-drive. or a VM/VB for security and to protect their own desktop system from being bulked if they make any mistakes

 

[LorenDB]

I haven't read it but, I use Kali because I plan to study about Cybersecurity, my school suggest to use VM(kali linux),I installed it and use it for a while but my laptop couldn't handle it so I just install OS on my laptop instead. I've just started not so long and it's fine for me

Fair enough. We just see a lot of people who say "I'm using Kali because I want to be a 1337 h4x0r!" but they should be using a beginner-friendly distro.

 

[Arthurbow]

Thank you very much to everyone for all the recommendations.