Again, a question about hibernate and standby

[Glaanieboy]

Can someone tell me the difference between Hibernate and Standby? As far as I can see the process is the same, only with Standby it takes much shorter to powerdown the computer. Yes it powers down, I thought it was still 'a little' activated like in Windows 98 SE (the fans were still running), but it really powers down and it is as silent as a dead bird.
Can someone tell me why Standby is much quicker than Hibernate, or have I missed something?

ps. While in Standby mode when I move the mouse or press any keys on the keyboard, nothing happens (both PS/2)

 

[allan]

Hibernate takes a snapshot of the existing state at the time you eneable it and creates a file which it writes to your disk. This takes longer than standby which does something similar but keeps all settings in dynamic ram.

Both of these processes utilize resources unnecessarily. By far, the preferred method of giving your system a break while maintaining all settings is to simply set the monitor and hard drive to power down after a set period of inactivity.

 

[Zedric]

Well Hibernation put the computer in the same state as if it were turned off (it is, you can cut the power if you want). By copying all RAM into a file on the harddisk and, when you start again, copy that file back into RAM, you can turn off, even move, the computer without turning of any programs. Plus, of course, it boots faster. I use hibernate all the time. Standby is just turning off as much as possible and still have the computer on (cutting the power here is not a good idea).

 

[Glaanieboy]

THANKS

Thanks guys/girls for the replies. It has made the magic world of Windows XP much clearer to me. Thanks again!