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Re: [Xen-users] crazy SWAP and RAM idea

To: xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Xen-users] crazy SWAP and RAM idea
From: Ernst Bachmann <e.bachmann@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2006 18:58:49 +0200
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On Friday 08 September 2006 18:13, Steffen Heil wrote:
> Hi
>
> > I'd use a CF or USB stick (as large as you can find) to do
> > that with, sounds rather adventurous, but I think would prove
> > to be problematic.
>
> Flash Memory is used for such purposes by Windows Vista with great success.
> Maybe I will give that a try soon.
>

Flash memory (as used in CF cards and USB sticks) has poor write performance, 
good luck finding anything > 30MB/sec, while harddrives easily archive 
60MB/sec.

Furthermore, Flash memory has a limited lifetime regarding to erase/write 
cycles, usually in the range of 10,000 - 100,000 cycles.

So, using flash as swap is a quite stupid idea, unless you're ok with the 
degraded performance and the costs of buying a new device every few weeks.

/Ernst

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