What is the purpose of creating a swap partition in Linux?

In a Linux system, the main purpose of creating a swap partition is to manage virtual memory. Virtual memory is a technology where the operating system uses a portion of the hard disk as an extension of memory. When the system’s physical memory is insufficient, the operating system temporarily stores unused memory data in the swap partition to free up physical memory for other programs to use. This helps prevent issues such as program crashes or performance degradation due to inadequate memory.

Creating a swap partition can improve system stability and performance, especially when running large applications or multiple applications. It also serves as support for system hibernation and recovery, allowing memory content to be saved to the hard drive for easy recovery after the system powers off or restarts.

In conclusion, the swap partition provides a mechanism to expand the system’s memory capacity, ensuring the system can run smoothly and handle more memory demands.