Swapfile setup

To setup a 16GB swap file (with 16383 1-M blocks), do the following. Remember, the dd command can ruin not only your disk, but also your life when it deletes important and non-backed-up files, so be very careful with it.
  1. $ sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/swap16GB bs=1M count=16384
  2. $ sudo chmod 600 /swap16GB
  3. $ sudo mkswap /swap16GB
  4. Edit /etc/fstab using sudo: $ sudo emacs /etc/fstab and enter the line:
    /swap16GB none swap defaults 0 0
You can check to find any mistakes if you enter "$ sudo swapon -a" which will try to activate all swaps listed in your /etc/fstab file. Disable any unwanted swaps in your /etc/fstab file and reboot.

Note that some like to use /dev/random instead of /dev/zero.