USB Thumb drive as swap space?

[iconfly]

Is it possible to use a usb thumb drive as swap space
Even if it meant creating a win98 etc. swap file. I thought
this might provide fast swap space instead of using the hard drive.
If anyone has tried this I would be interested in the results
before I buy a large thumb drive.
Thanks Jimmy.

[garyng]

CF faster than HD ? Even you have USB 2.0, I doubt it is true. I intended to use thumb for persistent home etc. but definitely not swap.

[Abschicker]

Please _do_not_ use CF memory (or any other flash memory) for swap!

As swapping may (depending on your memory) stress your swap device, lots of read/write cycles occur. Flash memory has only a limited lifetime (every single "memory cell" inside the flash will only "survive" a limited number of write cycles).

Therefore, a real flash file system has to be used for a flash memory. Swap filesystem is no flash filesystem. A flash filesystem cures for your memory and distributes writes on the flash memory to extend/optimize the lifetime of your flash memory.

Before using flash as swap, be sure that your hardware (e.g. flash USB stick or CF card) cares for these issues itself!

Even better to be sure if CF is a must: Use a microdrive.

Just my 2 cent.

[iconfly]

Thanks for the comments. Looks a no-go.
I will stick to keping myconfig on the stick!!
Jimmy.