There is an option to have a
swap file at / folder, and it can be created after the system install and switched on/off. I created it, but I don't use it even with my 2G RAM. My conky always shows me a used amount of RAM. Though I run out of memory a couple of times and had many power cuts off, no files were corrupted. And even if they were, instead of reinstalling the system, it's simpler to have its
full backup.