Understanding Linux Compressed Swap: zswap vs zram Technical Comparison and Recommendations
By
javierhonduco
Hot, fresh, and worth queueing round the block for.
Summary
This article provides expert guidance on Linux memory management technologies zswap and zram, explaining their fundamental differences and offering practical recommendations. The author clarifies that zswap and zram are distinct approaches with different philosophies: zswap compresses pages before writing them to swap on disk, while zram creates a compressed block device in RAM. The key recommendation is to prefer zswap in most cases, reserving zram only for specific, well-understood use cases. The article addresses common misconceptions and provides technical explanations to help users make informed decisions about compressed swap technologies on Linux systems.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledIf in doubt, prefer to use zswap. Only use zram if you have a highly specific reason to.
zswap and zram are fundamentally different approaches with different philosophies.
I read your articles about memory management (swap) on Linux, finally some words from the expert :) instead of internet experts 'you have 32GB - disable it'.
It'd be nice to have a follow-up about zswap or zram … :) if they're good (on desktop with 32GB RAM or more), which one is better and why …
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