Category: Geeks r Us
IfI understand this right hybornating is basicly the same thing as putting the computer in stand by except that the computer returns to an active state when one toutches the mouse or a key. If I don't feel like totally shutting my computer down all the way is one better than the other? Am I correct with my assumeption about the difference between these two options?
Thanks in advance for answering my questions.
From what I understand, when you put the computer into standby, the following things happen:
1. a snapshot is taken of your current system state and saved to ram.
2. All extraneous devices, such as network cards, hard drives, monitors, etc are shut down to conserve power; However, the system board remains active.
The advantage of using standby is that when your system is needed, it will wake up relatively fast. however, the disadvantage is that the system can only remain in standby for a finite amount of time because some components are still awake.
Hibernation is similar to standby but it can be thought of as a deeper level. The snapshot of your system state is saved to your hard drive; therefore, the system board can be shut down.
it takes longer for the system to come out of hibernation than it does to come out of standby, and the hibernation snapshot file can take up a significant amount of space on your disk. However, since everything is written to disk, there is no time limit on how long the system can remain in hibernation.
So basically, if you're going to be away from the system for a matter of hours, use standby but for longer periods of time, hibernation is probably a better choice.
--Al
I think hibernation is very similar to shut down. The only difference is that when you turn the computer back on all the application you had open before you put the computer in hibernation will be still there. With standby the computer is still working but with less power because the monitor and some other parts are turned off.
That's how i understand it anyway. My laptop always hibernates when the batery is running out so after i plug it in and i turn it on again everything i was doing is still there.
Nikos
yep when I was at school I only ever hybonated my laptop. never turned it off between each class. it's a great feature :)
i literally close the lid on my laptop and it stands by. when i go to class from one place to another. i don't turn it off because it takes longer to load up.
One problem I found while using the above features on my lt is that for some odd reason when I brought it back out of the mode it wouldn't recognize the jaws authorization, so I'm kind of scared to use standby and hibernation.
Troy
yeah I find that jaws doesn't respond at all well when trying to wake up from standby. come on techos, we need answers! :)
What happens if the finite amount of time that a system can be in standby without hibernation passes? Cn damage result?
well if the power is cut from the computer while in suspend to ram, all things you were working on and didn't save will be lost, and all apps will be shut down. You'll have to fully reboot the next time you turn the computer on. You can fully unplug a desktop from the wall and take the battery out of a laptop when in hibernation, and nothing will happen.
I like hibernation much better than standby because when I select standby, it seems not to want to do anything but flash off for a second and then come back on again, LOL! My techie question related to this topic has to do with that fact about hibernation being related to shut down. We only have an antenna on our TV and not every channel comes in well when the computer is turned on, but when it's completely shut down, the TV reception is perfect. Would hibernation give that perfect TV reception or would I still have to completely shut down my computer?
If anyone cares, the snapshot(s) are stored in the file 'hiberfile.sys'.,br>
This file can be found in the route of your primary drive, provided you have elected to show all 'protected operating system files.'
This file is about 500MB, and, if you need the space, just disable hibernation.
You could easily get it back with a hotkey to a batch file that changed the appropriate registry key...
Since the computer physically powers off when in hibernation, you should get the same reception as with a complete shutdown.
I'll have to test that, thanks!
Wow! Jim, thanks for sharing that file information. Now, that's appealing to the geek in all of us. Excellent.