What is Hibernation in Windows computer?
When Windows computer enter hibernation mode, it saves all its memory content in a file on the hard drive (hiberfil.sys) then powers the entire system off. Yes, it really does that, it is not a stand-by mode of some sort, it is fully powered off (however, modern computers still keep a small amount of power going on even in off mode, but that is by design).
In this state you can unplug the computer from the main power supply and, if it is a laptop, you can also remove the battery with no danger in losing the data. There is no danger in losing any data since the memory is safely saved on the hard drive. However if something fails with the “wake up” from hibernation, Windows may delete the hibernation file and start all over.
Power ON Your computer
When the computer is powered on again, Windows reads the memory content back from the hard drive and resumes from the point it was before hibernation. This means that all open programs are still open, open documents are still open, network connections are resumed and so on.
What to do before hibernating your computer ?
First of all save all your open documents. It is not necessary to close them, but saving them ensures that if there is a problem with waking up from hibernation the documents are intact. However if you keep them unsaved, when you resume you can still save them safely in most of the cases.
Second, ensure that you don’t have downloads or file transfers in progress because all network connections are reset before hibernation and all transfers will fail on wake up.
How to Enable hibernation?
To enable or disable hibernation open Control Panel (Start > Settings > Control Panel) then go to Power Options. There open the “Hibernation” tab. If this tab is not visible then your computer does not support hibernation. In that tab make sure that the checkbox is checked to enable the hibernation or unchecked to disable it.
How to Hibernating Computer?
Use the normal Start > Shut down… procedure and choose Hibernate from the list. If you are under XP and you have a shut down box with three buttons on it (Stand by, Turn off and Restart) press the Shift key and the Stand by button transforms into Hibernate and you can click it. You can also use the Power Options applet from Control Panel where in the Advanced tab you can choose what the computer should do when you press certain buttons or switches like “Power”, “Sleep” or when you close the LID on your laptop.
What are the Advantages of Hibernation?
The main advantage is that all your programs and documents stay open so you can continue your work later. Another advantage is that usually it takes less to wake up from hibernation than powering up from zero, especially if the computer is slow or you have many programs in the start up list.
What are the Disadvantages of Hibernation?
1. The RAM is not getting refreshed in the case of Hibernation. This may lead to the memory leakage.
In the normal shutdown- Boot up process the RAM will get refreshed every time the system boots
2) Biggest disadvantage is that this way you don’t shut down the computer for days, weeks or even months, so sometimes the system gets chocked and chocked and goes slower with no apparent reason. Some reboots now and then or normal shut downs are recommended. Also, a big file (hiberfil.sys) will be created on hard drive with the size equal to the amount of memory you have (1 GB memory >> 1 GB file size).
If you see computer very responding very slow, reboot the computer and then clean your computer cache using CCleaner – helps to remove trackers, cookies, registry entries, cache files.
What is Hybrid Shutdown in Windows 10?
Hybrid shutdown is also known as Fast startup it is turned ON by default in Windows 10. The purpose of this feature is that it helps your PC start up faster after shutdown.
Hybrid shutdown/Fast startup decreases the total startup time by hibernating the kernel session instead of closing it to a file called hiberfil.sys when PC shutdown. When PC is boot again it reads the information needed from the file instead of initializing it again from the start, which reduces the overall Windows loading time.
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