What is the difference between Swapping and Paging

Linux Interview Questions: - What is the difference between Swapping and Paging?


Swapping : Whole process is moved from the swap device to the main memory for execution. 

  • Process size must be less than or equal to the available main memory. 
  • It is easier to implementation and overhead to the system.
  • Swapping systems does not handle the memory more flexibly as compared to the paging systems.



Paging : Only the required memory pages are moved to main memory from the swap device for execution. Process size does not matter. 
  • Gives the concept of the virtual memory. 
  • It provides greater flexibility in mapping the virtual address space into the physical memory of the machine. 
  • Allows more number of processes to fit in the main memory simultaneously. 
  • Allows the greater process size than the available physical memory. 
  • Demand paging systems handle the memory more flexibly.