mkswap Sets up a Linux swap area on a device or in a file. Setup a given partition as swap area: sudo mkswap {{/dev/sdb7}} Use a given file as swap area: sudo mkswap {{path/to/file}} Check a partition for bad blocks before creating the swap area: sudo mkswap -c {{/dev/sdb7}} Specify a label for the file (to allow swapon to use the label): sudo mkswap -L {{swap1}} {{path/to/file}}