A swap file is a file used by an operating system, or a specific program, as part of the virtual memory exchange of information between the random-access memory (RAM) chip drives and the read-only memory (ROM) disk drives. Swap files occupy swap space that is located in a specialized region of the hard drive reserved for use by the virtual memory system.

The movement of swap files is often coordinated by a scheduler or virtual memory system that mediates the transfer of files from the hard drive to RAM memory. The portion of the hard drive reserved for swap files is isolated from the remainder of the hard drive and is usually not fragmented. Because swap files are maintained in one localized region of the hard drive, their close physical proximity reduces the time required to find and...