Can memory be cached in Linux?

The memory in Linux can be cached to improve the performance of the file system by reading the data on the disk into the page cache in the memory. When an application needs to access a file, if the data of the file already exists in In the page cache, Linux will read data directly from the cache, avoiding the overhead of reading from the disk, thus significantly increasing the speed of file reading.

The operating system of this tutorial: Linux5.18.14 system, Dell G3 computer.

Memory in Linux can be used as cache. This mechanism is called Page Cache.

Linux improves file system performance by reading data on disk into an in-memory page cache. When an application needs to access a file, if the file's data already exists in the page cache, Linux will read the data directly from the cache, avoiding the overhead of reading from the disk, thus significantly increasing the speed of file reading.

The page cache works by keeping recently used disk data in memory and performing cache replacement based on the most recently used principle. When an application needs to write data, it first writes the data to the page cache, and then the operating system decides when to flush the data to the actual file on disk. By delaying writing to disk, the frequency of disk I/O can be reduced and the overall performance of the system can be improved.

The advantage of page caching is that it speeds up file reading operations and improves the system's response speed. It also makes full use of unused memory, providing better data access performance while protecting data security on disk.

It should be noted that the size of the page cache is dynamic and will be adjusted based on the needs of the system and other active memory usage. When an application requires more memory, Linux automatically releases part of the page cache to meet the demand. Therefore, the page cache does not occupy all available memory, but is dynamically managed based on system needs.

In summary, memory in Linux can be used as a cache, providing more efficient file reading and writing operations, thus improving the overall performance of the system.

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