Arch Linux

maturin

Member

Registered: 2009-08-27

Posts: 9

does fdisk write from the outer tracks in? / where to place swap?

I'm doing an arch install and I'd like to place the boot and swap partitions on the outer tracks of the hard disk to optimize for speed.  cfdisk gives the choice to add a new partition "at the beginning [or end] of free space."  Is the "beginning" the outer or inner tracks?  I've been googling for hours with no success.

Should swap be in the center or outer tracks? (center: closer to a random place on disk; outer: faster read/write) 

hd: 40gb
ram: 384mb

thanks for any help.

djszapi

Member

From: Cambridge, United Kingdom

Registered: 2009-06-14

Posts: 1,439

Website

Re: does fdisk write from the outer tracks in? / where to place swap?

Hello maturin!
The swap e.g. is recommended at the end of the disk i know well, but maybe i'm wrong.

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http://lpapp.blogspot.com

djgera

Developer

From: Buenos Aires - Argentina

Registered: 2008-12-24

Posts: 723

Website

Re: does fdisk write from the outer tracks in? / where to place swap?

Remember that hard disk drives, are physical writed in reverse in comparation to optical disk. So the first sector (at begin in your terms) of the HDD is located in the most outer track, in this area you will get the most speed.

Where to place, mmm, don't worry, if your system don't access many times to swap. (if you have sufficient ram).

Personally, my swap is located between my root and data partition, but have a low usage.

(sorry my english)

maturin

Member

Registered: 2009-08-27

Posts: 9

Re: does fdisk write from the outer tracks in? / where to place swap?

muchas gracias, djgera.