Tech Stroll Journey

Nov 11, 2025 · Operations

Why Swap Stays Full on Linux and How to Release 29 GB Quickly

After noticing 14 GB free RAM but a fully used 29 GB swap, the article explains how to diagnose hidden swap consumption using tools like smem and swap_stat_show, clarifies the difference between free’s Swap used and /proc/*/status VmSwap, and shows how adjusting transparent_hugepage defrag and toggling swap can reclaim the space.