You’ll most likely find this habit common amongst IT geeks, but never really
your ordinary PC user-the kind of folks who won’t strain their heads trying to
fix an operating system gone awry. Hibernation is a feature of some operating
systems where the contents of RAM are written to non-volatile storage such as a
hard disk, as a file or on a separate partition, before powering off the
computer. It is a state in which the contents of the RAM are dumped into a file
at the root of the Windows drive.
Instead of a complete shutdown, hibernation enables the PC to store whatever it has in its memory to a file on the hard disk, returning to its previous state when the PC is powered again. If, say, you had several of your documents, a music player in the background and a few other files open, they will still be open when the machine (read PC) is powered again! Sounds great, doesn’t it?
To the ordinary user, this process of restoration does not seem to be any different from the normal starting of the computer-all they’ll see is the same old black screen reading slightly different-‘resuming Windows’-as the computer is brought up again for use. We now delve into the basics of this process…
How?
In case you don't already know how to hibernate your PC, here is a quick run-through of the process;
If your keyboard has sleep button, you can assign a hibernation command to it by clicking on Start, Control Panel, Power Options. Go to the Advanced tab. You can alternatively do the same by Clicking on Start, Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance and then choose Power Options-if you are running Windows XP.
In the Advanced tab, scroll down to where it reads like “When I press the sleep button on my computer” and choose Hibernate from the pull down menu. You can also go into hibernation by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete to open the Windows task manager. From the top menu, click on Shut Down and select Hibernate.
Does Hibernation have any effects on a PC?
Hibernation does have its good and bad points (not so bad, really), so you’ll need to have a few facts before you can put your PC into hibernation. Looking at the good points first;
• Prolonged hard disk life: The hard drive has an optimal life of some thousands of hours. But each time the PC is restarted, it gets exhausted eventually failing to properly function at some point. This is because the process of restarting involves continuous cooling and heating of the hard drive & the CPU (central processing unit) among other parts, the ups and downs of this process making the drive’s life shorter. Hibernation helps to prolong the hard drive’s life since it does not involve any of these processes, but rather a preservation of the PC’s current state.
• Shorter time for loading Windows programs: Because the PC has not been totally shut down, it ensures that already started applications remain active, and will instantly be available for use when the PC is restored from hibernation without having the applications having to be restarted. This also helps to save valuable battery power in the long run (for laptop users)
The downsides of hibernation are not really so dire, aside from the fact that it does use some space on the hard disk during the process.
• Hibernation normally uses space equivalent to the computer’s available RAM (read memory). If, say, your PC has a RAM of about 1.2 GB, the amount of space required to go into hibernation on your hard drive would be approximately 1.2 GB. This is usually picked from one’s Windows installation drive (C, D, or any other), and is written to a file called Hiberfil.sys on that drive. This implies that particular must have the space available for hibernation mode to be used-not a big point if you have a sizable hard drive!
• Hibernation is not very reliable on heavy applications. Most heavy applications tend to run into errors-such as runtime crashes-when left on running on a machine that is been put into hibernation mode. Therefore it is advisable to only run applications that one really needs, other than just hibernating with all open programs. However, Lighter applications like MS Office suit may be left open during this process. Again, this will depend on a combination of factors-such as the PC’s RAM and hard drive space, as heavier applications are efficiently supported with better specifications (read higher RAM & available hard drive space).
-Dan B. Atuhaire
Instead of a complete shutdown, hibernation enables the PC to store whatever it has in its memory to a file on the hard disk, returning to its previous state when the PC is powered again. If, say, you had several of your documents, a music player in the background and a few other files open, they will still be open when the machine (read PC) is powered again! Sounds great, doesn’t it?
To the ordinary user, this process of restoration does not seem to be any different from the normal starting of the computer-all they’ll see is the same old black screen reading slightly different-‘resuming Windows’-as the computer is brought up again for use. We now delve into the basics of this process…
How?
In case you don't already know how to hibernate your PC, here is a quick run-through of the process;
If your keyboard has sleep button, you can assign a hibernation command to it by clicking on Start, Control Panel, Power Options. Go to the Advanced tab. You can alternatively do the same by Clicking on Start, Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance and then choose Power Options-if you are running Windows XP.
In the Advanced tab, scroll down to where it reads like “When I press the sleep button on my computer” and choose Hibernate from the pull down menu. You can also go into hibernation by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete to open the Windows task manager. From the top menu, click on Shut Down and select Hibernate.
Does Hibernation have any effects on a PC?
Hibernation does have its good and bad points (not so bad, really), so you’ll need to have a few facts before you can put your PC into hibernation. Looking at the good points first;
• Prolonged hard disk life: The hard drive has an optimal life of some thousands of hours. But each time the PC is restarted, it gets exhausted eventually failing to properly function at some point. This is because the process of restarting involves continuous cooling and heating of the hard drive & the CPU (central processing unit) among other parts, the ups and downs of this process making the drive’s life shorter. Hibernation helps to prolong the hard drive’s life since it does not involve any of these processes, but rather a preservation of the PC’s current state.
• Shorter time for loading Windows programs: Because the PC has not been totally shut down, it ensures that already started applications remain active, and will instantly be available for use when the PC is restored from hibernation without having the applications having to be restarted. This also helps to save valuable battery power in the long run (for laptop users)
The downsides of hibernation are not really so dire, aside from the fact that it does use some space on the hard disk during the process.
• Hibernation normally uses space equivalent to the computer’s available RAM (read memory). If, say, your PC has a RAM of about 1.2 GB, the amount of space required to go into hibernation on your hard drive would be approximately 1.2 GB. This is usually picked from one’s Windows installation drive (C, D, or any other), and is written to a file called Hiberfil.sys on that drive. This implies that particular must have the space available for hibernation mode to be used-not a big point if you have a sizable hard drive!
• Hibernation is not very reliable on heavy applications. Most heavy applications tend to run into errors-such as runtime crashes-when left on running on a machine that is been put into hibernation mode. Therefore it is advisable to only run applications that one really needs, other than just hibernating with all open programs. However, Lighter applications like MS Office suit may be left open during this process. Again, this will depend on a combination of factors-such as the PC’s RAM and hard drive space, as heavier applications are efficiently supported with better specifications (read higher RAM & available hard drive space).
-Dan B. Atuhaire
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