Creating a permanent swapfile also means that the particular area of the hard disk will get written to and rewritten over all the time. Compared to other areas of the hard disk, the space allocated to the swapfile will be the area where data is most often written, deleted and replaced with newer data. Some users have expressed concern over this fact. Will the platter media in that area get worn out after continuous use like the magnetic cassettes that we use to record songs? Will bad sectors form in that area like the floppy disks that have been written to once too often?

As many of you know, the read/write heads of the hard disk fly over the platters on a cushion of air. So, there's no friction between the heads and the platters. In fact, at the high speed that the platters are spinning at, contact between any one of the heads with a platter would have been disastrous. That's what we call a head crash. When that happens, the hard disk is a goner and will have to be replaced.

Therefore, friction isn't the concern here. What about the effect of changing the magnetic properties of the media during the write process? Will the magnetic properties of the media deteriorate after too many of such changes? Or in the context of this article, will creating a permanent swapfile damage the drive in the long run and reduce its MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure)?

To obtain a definitive answer to these questions, I have contacted IBM and Seagate. Let's see what their technical experts have to say.

Seagate

This should not hurt the drive at all. As you are aware, the heads are actually suspended above the platters on an air bearing, so there is no direct contact with the media. As far as the recording and re-recording of the same tracks, also no problems. What we are dealing with here in order to write the data is simply moving the magnetic domain one way or the other, no wear involved.

Regards,

Bob
Seagate Tech Support

IBM

Remember, the heads truly fly above the media. The wear and tear factor only becomes an issue for bearings (heat) and physical damage to the media if the drive is shocked during operation. Performance is best at the outer tracks of the drive, so any recurring access directed there will benefit you in performance. Writing and rewriting data to a drive is good in that it remagnetizes (refreshes) the area every time it is written.

To answer your question: Your swap file will not affect the MTBF of your drive.

Don Gardner
IBM Hard Disk Technical Support/SIT Lab

Well, it appears to be so. From what Don Gardner said, I gather that the signal carried by the media weakens with time and rewriting it refreshes and strengthens the signal strength of the data carried by the media.

I guess that pretty much answers our questions. Creating a permanent swapfile won't harm your drive. In fact, it might even be good for your data. So, let's go make a permanent swapfile!