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From: diamond@jit533.swstokyo.dec.com (Norman Diamond)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.ultrix
Subject: Re: A question about swap
Keywords: swap
Message-ID: <1991Jun17.083956.20788@tkou02.enet.dec.com>
Date: 17 Jun 91 08:39:56 GMT
References: <1991Jun14.184609.21178@mlb.semi.harris.com>
Sender: usenet@tkou02.enet.dec.com (USENET News System)
Reply-To: diamond@jit533.enet@tkou02.enet.dec.com (Norman Diamond)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation Japan , Tokyo
Lines: 26

In article <1991Jun14.184609.21178@mlb.semi.harris.com> dcb@dave.mis.semi.harris.com writes:
>On one of our 5500s, we have configured over 500M of swap space. Someone
>recommended using the 'a' and 'b' partitions over five drives, with the
>a/b partitions combined into a larger 'a' partition.

I believe that if you swap onto your 'a' partition, then you overwrite the
partition information and corrupt the entire disk.  It might be possible to
make a really tiny 'a' partition and larger 'b' partition while leaving the
rest of the disk alone; I haven't tried it.

I believe that if you swap onto a disk's 'c' partition (an entire disk),
then you are usually safe, but if a random memory that happens to look like
a partition table happens to get swapped out onto the lucky block, and then
you reboot, you have a corrupted disk.

Warning:  this post is a combination of vague recollections and logical
thinking, both of which are risky and should not be depended upon when using
a derivative of the Unix operating system.  Do your own reading and/or obtain
advice from an expert on the topic before relying on it.

Incidentally to dcb, your "from" address of dcb@dave.enet.dec.com seems
somewhat suspect.  You'll have to hack your news software a bit more.
--
Norman Diamond       diamond@tkov50.enet.dec.com
If this were the company's opinion, I wouldn't be allowed to post it.
Permission is granted to feel this signature, but not to look at it.