I have 16GB RAM. Do I need 32GB swap? - Ask Ubuntu

i read many places rule of thumb swap space double amount of physical ram. however, 32 gb seem lot. need much? need @ high amount of physical ram?

it entirely depends on plan machine. example if sap server yes, add 32gb swap ( have boxes @ work 128gb ram , 32gb swap ). if manipulating massive pictures , video makes sense have little swap. 32gb overkill.

however not 0 swap.

in unlikely event run out of ram - perhaps opening big file, perheps long running tab in firefox, doesn't matter, in event kernel oom killer kick in , start killing applications memory back. under circumstances it's entirely possible lose data applications killed. if have bit of swap system carry on, grabbing swap , allowing system continue. system slows down heavy swapping happens, notice , investigate before swap exhausted. disk cheap, why not have swap?

anyone says "you don't need swap" without asking you're doing computer making assumptions. whilst may little computer eats ram, it's still best ask questions you're planning before making rash judgement don't "need" swap. in humble opinion