80 lines
2.9 KiB
HTML
80 lines
2.9 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
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<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="SGML-Tools 1.0.9">
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<TITLE>Linux Swap Space Mini-HOWTO: What are we exactly doing ? </TITLE>
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<LINK HREF="Swap-Space-9.html" REL=next>
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<LINK HREF="Swap-Space-7.html" REL=previous>
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<LINK HREF="Swap-Space.html#toc8" REL=contents>
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</HEAD>
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<BODY>
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<A HREF="Swap-Space-9.html">Next</A>
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<A HREF="Swap-Space-7.html">Previous</A>
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<A HREF="Swap-Space.html#toc8">Contents</A>
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<HR>
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<H2><A NAME="s8">8. What are we exactly doing ? </A></H2>
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<P>
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<UL>
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<LI><P>
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Both Windows and Linux use swap space. When an OS is shut down, the contents of
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the swap space are just garbage, the OS doesn't bother about what is in it.
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Now what is the point in devoting a 60MB partition for swap space to Linux and
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about 32MB of disk space separately to Windows when only one of them is going
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to run at a time (It is possible to run both Linux and Windows at the same
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time, thanks to VMWare. For more information, see
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<A HREF="http://www.vmware.com">VMWare website</A>). So we want Linux and Windows to share the same hard
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disk space as swap space.
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<P>
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<P>
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<P>
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</LI>
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<LI>
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<P>
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The problem is that Linux uses a partition as a swap space and Windows uses a
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file as a swap space. ( Although it is possible to create a swap file for
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Linux, it is not recommended. See <EM>"Linux Installation and Getting
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Started"</EM> by Matt Welsh). Now if Linux uses the same partition on
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which Windows stores it's swap file, it will overwrite the boot sector, FAT
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and other data tables that Windows assumes to exist on every drive. Thus,
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Windows will not be in a position to find the swap file on startup and will
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create the win386.swp file in the windows directory. Thus, even if by chance,
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your Linux crashes, Windows will be in a position to start. In such a case
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( with Windows swap file in the Windows directory), just restore the
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DOS/Windows swap info by restarting Linux and the start Windows. Now Windows
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will be using the swap file on drive X: so you can safely delete the
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win386.swp file in the windows directory.
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<P>
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<P>
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<P>
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</LI>
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<LI><P>
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The remedy is to store those critical data tables once on the Linux partition
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in some file. Then every time Linux starts, check whether the swap space was
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last used by Linux or Windows (using the label you gave to your partition).
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If it was Linux, just enable swapping else first make a swap partition on the
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X: drive using "mkswap /dev/winswap" and then enable swapping.
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<P>
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<P>
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</LI>
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<LI><P>
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When you shut down Linux, it is important to restore the swap partition to the
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DOS format, so that Windows can start properly. For that purpose we add the
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<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
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<PRE>
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/bin/zcat /etc/winswap.gz > /dev/winswap
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</PRE>
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</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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<P>command to the halt file.
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<P>
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</LI>
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</UL>
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<HR>
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<A HREF="Swap-Space-9.html">Next</A>
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<A HREF="Swap-Space-7.html">Previous</A>
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<A HREF="Swap-Space.html#toc8">Contents</A>
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</BODY>
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</HTML>
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