[SOLVED] Can SD card be used to augment RAM?

[sling-shot]

I have a netbook with 1GB RAM. It has an SD card slot in which currently I have a 2GB SD card.
Can I use the free space on it to augment RAM in anyway?

Even if it can be done how much real benefit will it give? I have a 2+ GB swap on the hard disk already.

I am using fully updated KDE.

-SS.

[OMSkates]

AFAIK there isn't besides adding swap to the SD (you already have swap), but you could add more swappiness to the existing swap space.
Check swappiness:

Code: [Select]

$ cat /proc/sys/vm/swappinessIf swappiness is 0, you're not using much of your swap space.

[AS]

Hi sling-shot,

simple answer: no.
The real bottleneck is the transfer speed which is really low compared to the real RAM, the SD card is hundreds or thousands times slower than real RAM, generally SD cards are also slower compared to hard disks.

AS

[sling-shot]

generally SD cards are also slower compared to hard disks.

AS

That seals it then. It would defeat the very purpose
-SS.

[sling-shot]

AFAIK there isn't besides adding swap to the SD (you already have swap), but you could add more swappiness to the existing swap space.
Check swappiness:

Code: [Select]

$ cat /proc/sys/vm/swappinessIf swappiness is 0, you're not using much of your swap space.

My swappiness is 0.
-SS.

[OMSkates]

AFAIK there isn't besides adding swap to the SD (you already have swap), but you could add more swappiness to the existing swap space.
Check swappiness:

Code: [Select]

$ cat /proc/sys/vm/swappinessIf swappiness is 0, you're not using much of your swap space.

My swappiness is 0.
-SS.

You can experiment with different levels of swappiness.  For example swappiness of 50 you would do a

Code: [Select]

echo 50 > /proc/sys/vm/swappinessor just go directly to that file and change the number with your fav text editor.  Not sure you'll notice a difference.  a lighter DE such as Xfce would be more noticeable in speed.

[Just17]

I have a netbook with 1GB RAM. It has an SD card slot in which currently I have a 2GB SD card.
Can I use the free space on it to augment RAM in anyway?

Even if it can be done how much real benefit will it give? I have a 2+ GB swap on the hard disk already.

I am using fully updated KDE.

-SS.

It will give no benefit.

Are you using the 2GB swap on the HDD?

How much of it is in use?

[OMSkates]

I have a netbook with 1GB RAM. It has an SD card slot in which currently I have a 2GB SD card.
Can I use the free space on it to augment RAM in anyway?

Even if it can be done how much real benefit will it give? I have a 2+ GB swap on the hard disk already.

I am using fully updated KDE.

-SS.

It will give no benefit.

Are you using the 2GB swap on the HDD?

How much of it is in use?

He said his swappiness is 0.  How much would you recommend he use?

[Just17]

I have a netbook with 1GB RAM. It has an SD card slot in which currently I have a 2GB SD card.
Can I use the free space on it to augment RAM in anyway?

Even if it can be done how much real benefit will it give? I have a 2+ GB swap on the hard disk already.

I am using fully updated KDE.

-SS.

It will give no benefit.

Are you using the 2GB swap on the HDD?

How much of it is in use?

He said his swappiness is 0.  How much would you recommend he use?

Before any recommendations I would first want to know how and why it got set to 0 ......  is that now the default for installations?   IMO, 60 would be a good place to start testing.

I get no sense of what is behind the question in the first place ......  is the machine slow, is it swapping too much, is it stuttering  ......  what caused the question?

It also depends on what version of the OS and what it is being used for .......  1GB without swap might be quite sufficient for a lot of uses.

EDIT
   Heck maybe setting swapiness to 100 would be the best thing for his use .......  everything not needed gets swapped out freeing up memory .....  but likely 60 to 75 would be suitable -- again depending on type of use.


regards

[sling-shot]

It is a netbook generally used for browsing, editing a few lightweight LibreOffice files, watching movies on the go. I would not say it ever undergoes heavy use.

This query got triggered because it dual boots with Windows 7 and there on inserting the said SD card, Windows asked me if I wanted to use it for Ready Boost. On Windows 7 Starter Edition, my RAM usage is always above 700 MB sometimes reaching 900+. I have set Windows to use this for Ready Boost there, but I have not seen much difference.

Here on KDE I have never actually tested the RAM usage. I guess I will have to instal a few of those monitor thingys. What would be best to monitor the parameters : Used and Free memory, Swap usage, CPU temperature etc.?

-SS.

[OMSkates]

On Windows 7 Starter Edition, my RAM usage is always above 700 MB sometimes reaching 900+.

Is that while running FireFox and other apps?  Or at idle?  Way too much RAM usage at idle there.

[T6]

i have a netbook using kde4 and it has 1 gb of ram

kde4 uses more or less 300 mbs of ram, i have seen it use 700 maximum when editing many images with gimp

i have seen it use maybe 200 mbs of swap, i wasted 3 gbs on swap 

sd card is terribly slow, if you want to increase speed in win 7 you need a usb drive, the fastest you can find, sd is really slow, almost making system slower

most sd cards will write at 4 - 8mbps maximum, unless you bought a very fast sd card, most usb flash drives will give you 10, 15 mbs, compared to the ram, this is miserably slow

if you think that your windows 7 needs more ram, you could first try to decrapify it, removing addware, demos, dumb apps form the manufacturer and use ccleaner to deactivate on boot the apps you know you don't need

if you have mcaffee or norton antivirus in it, remove it asap and replace it with avast or avira, anything will be better, improving ram usage and system load drastically

the gadgets on desktop, only leave the ones you really use, the ones you don't, remove them

if nothing of this helps, 2 gbs of ddr2 or ddr3 for a netbook is cheap, 10, 25 dollars maximum

practically all netbooks will accept a 2 gb module, don't waste your money trying to put 4 gbs, the slot won't accept it and will only use 2 of it

newer model of netbooks, mostly amd powered are accepting or being sold with 4 gbs so that is a different story, i assume you have a atom, just as i do

basically to improve your windows experience, if you can, wipe the hard disk and install windows 7 from clean, do not use any disk provided by the company that manufactured the netbook, use a simple, original windows installer and then activate the license, probably by phone, then add drivers and enjoy your decrapified netbook, you will feel it like a new laptop, i did that with a nb505 last sunday, atom 1.66, 1 gb of ddr3 ram

[sling-shot]

On Windows 7 Starter Edition, my RAM usage is always above 700 MB sometimes reaching 900+.

Is that while running FireFox and other apps?  Or at idle?  Way too much RAM usage at idle there.

I have never seen it go below 600 on Windows even at startup.
-SS.

[sling-shot]

i have a netbook using kde4 and it has 1 gb of ram

kde4 uses more or less 300 mbs of ram, i have seen it use 700 maximum when editing many images with gimp

i have seen it use maybe 200 mbs of swap, i wasted 3 gbs on swap 

sd card is terribly slow, if you want to increase speed in win 7 you need a usb drive, the fastest you can find, sd is really slow, almost making system slower

most sd cards will write at 4 - 8mbps maximum, unless you bought a very fast sd card, most usb flash drives will give you 10, 15 mbs, compared to the ram, this is miserably slow

if you think that your windows 7 needs more ram, you could first try to decrapify it, removing addware, demos, dumb apps form the manufacturer and use ccleaner to deactivate on boot the apps you know you don't need

if you have mcaffee or norton antivirus in it, remove it asap and replace it with avast or avira, anything will be better, improving ram usage and system load drastically

the gadgets on desktop, only leave the ones you really use, the ones you don't, remove them

if nothing of this helps, 2 gbs of ddr2 or ddr3 for a netbook is cheap, 10, 25 dollars maximum

practically all netbooks will accept a 2 gb module, don't waste your money trying to put 4 gbs, the slot won't accept it and will only use 2 of it

newer model of netbooks, mostly amd powered are accepting or being sold with 4 gbs so that is a different story, i assume you have a atom, just as i do

basically to improve your windows experience, if you can, wipe the hard disk and install windows 7 from clean, do not use any disk provided by the company that manufactured the netbook, use a simple, original windows installer and then activate the license, probably by phone, then add drivers and enjoy your decrapified netbook, you will feel it like a new laptop, i did that with a nb505 last sunday, atom 1.66, 1 gb of ddr3 ram

Windows came installed at the factory by HP. I have removed most of the crap except for the Bluetooth and Wireless thingys.
Norton was present but I have cleaned it up and put AVG.
I regularly run CCleaner.
Removed most of the autostarting programs and services that are not needed.
I guess I will have to think about upgrading the RAM.

As an aside, the only thing that is preventing me from going exclusive PCLinuxOS is the Bluetooth by Cambridge Technology which is as it is not working under Linux. But luckily Fedora reports that Linux 3 will solve this problem.

I had considered using a flash drive but the fact it remains sticking out irritates me. An SD card will sit unobtrusively.

-SS.

[Just17]

First thing is to determine if you need anything extra while running PCLOS ..... I suspect not.

Try the command

top

and look at the Swap available, used (peak), and remaining

Also can use the command

free

to see how your memory is allocated.

Then change your swapiness to maybe 60 to 75  and check top & free again after a reboot and with the same apps launched.

You should then have some impression how things are working.

Note the outputs of the commands and post for others to interpret if you need.

regards