Standby or Hibernate

[dreamworks]

Guys ..

Anyone here can tell me the difference between standby and hibernate in windows system please?

If possible which should I be using since battery resource is really important to me?

My notebook is an AMD mobile processor, with 384MB RAM at this moment of time.

Please suggest alternatives. Thanks.

 

[~bk]

I think both are same. Doesn't matter if you leave your computer on stand by or hibernate it.

 

[~bk]

And I think you should be leaving your notebook on hibernate. I think that's the difference. It saves more power.

 

[Vetrius]

hibernate=shutdown... quick startup...
stand by, still on, just all the hardware shut down

 

[Vetrius]

hibernate would save more power, it just shoves all the ram data into a folder on the hard drive and shuts down, that way its like a 15 sec restart

 

[NetRyder]

Standby powers down all the components of the machine, except the RAM. Hibernate powers down all components including the RAM after saving it's contents to the hiberfil.sys file on the physical hard disk. So technically, standby uses very little power, whereas hibernate uses no power at all (it's equivalent to a complete shutdown).
Resuming from standby is almost instantaneous, whereas resuming from hibernate takes about 15-30 seconds since data has to be transfered back into RAM from the hard disk.

A common way of doing things is to use standby if you know you're going to be using the computer again after a short time...while you go for lunch or a coffee break, for example. Hibernate is best when you're not going to use the machine for extended periods of time...for example, just before you go to sleep. I almost never shutdown my laptop...it's either fully on, in standby mode, or hibernating.

 

[Geffy]

yep it is as NetRyder says, I did a helluva lot of research into hibernation a couple of years back when I was trying to be able to use it in WinME and so on. Standby puts your components into the S3 sleep state which is very close to powered off. In standby all your components are using the very least if not any power possible, and mainly only the RAM context is maintained. So if you have a power outage, or you pull the plug out the back, then its the same as if you were using the machine at the time. Hibernate is no power, zero power in the system, all the context of the ram has been stored on the hard drives, you can pull out the power plug, shove the machine in a box, move it across the country, plug it back in and it will pick up where you left off.

 

[dreamworks]

Thanks for the information. : )

Appreciate it very much. But how strong is Windows XP on hibernate? I think I have heard a lot of people complaining about window's hibernate feature as compared to that of mac and etc??

Just wandering ..

 

[NetRyder]

Most users who complain about standby/hibernate in Windows do so because they simply cannot get it to work. This usually happens due to incompatible hardware/drivers. Macs, on the other hand, use very specific hardware that's made to work with the OS, which is why "Sleep" works more often than not. Other than that, Standby in Windows and Sleep on the Mac are nearly identical.

Basically, if Standby/Hibernate works properly for you the first time, it shouldn't pose any kind of problems unless you introduce incompatible hardware or bad drivers later. As I said in my previous post, I almost never use the "Shut Down" option on my laptop. Standby when I go to class (without the laptop) and Hibernate when I go to sleep at night. Works flawlessly, and it's much nicer to just open the lid and have everything there the way you left it.
Never had a problem with either Standby or Hibernate on my desktop at home either...and that's an old PIII 550MHz custom-built system.

 

[Geffy]

There are two things which you need to have in order for Hibernate to work properly
1. Proper Graphics Drivers
2. WDM Audio Drivers (OS's like Win2k and XP use WDM by default, Win9x tended to use VXD which wouldnt work with hibernate)

and of course you need at least enough free disk space on your C Drive to store your RAM context so you need at least the same space as the amount of RAM you have. So 256MB RAM, you need at least 256MB free space, 1GB RAM you need at least 1GB free space

 

[dreamworks]

Cool .. I tried it couple of times and it works well for now. Hope it stays at it did because I really need this function.

Thanks for all your help guys.

Cheers 🙂

 

[Henyman]

i can never get dam hibernation to work on my lappy, standby works, but wont f00king resume when i lift lid 😛

 

[SPeedY_B]

Why? What happens?

 

[Henyman]

when i click hibernate it goes to the blue xp screen that says "preparing to hibernae" .....................then sod all else??? no errors in logs etc

 

[Geffy]

disable hibernate, defrag, reboot, enable hibernate

see if that fixes things

 

[gonaads]

when i click hibernate it goes to the blue xp screen that says "preparing to hibernae" .....................then sod all else??? no errors in logs etc

Is there a Screen Saver running when ya hit the button?

Because I found this:

The Computer Cannot Enter Standby or Hibernate If a Direct3D-Based Screen Saver Is
Running (Q306676)

SYMPTOMS
If the 3D Flowerbox, 3D Flying Objects, 3D Pipes, 3D Text, or another Direct3D-based
screen saver is running in Windows XP, the computer may be unable to enter standby
or hibernation by using the timer in Power Management properties.

Windows XP supports the ability to turn off the monitor or hard disks by using the
Power Management timer with OpenGL (3D) screen savers running.

This issue is not video adapter-dependent.

RESOLUTION
The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q306676&&GSSNB=1

 

[gonaads]

You may want to read this also:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_standby.htm


And this:

NEW PROBLEMS INTRODUCED BY SERVICE PACK 1 (SP1)

Some new shutdown and powerdown issues have arisen in Windows XP SP1. Here are the ones I know about:

* HIBERNATION/STANDY PROBLEM WITH NERO SOFTWARE. If you have Nero CD-burning software (versions 5.0-5.5) installed on your computer, and invoke Standby or Hibernation modes more than once in a Windows session, the computer will hang on the “Preparing to...” screen and not go into Standby or Hibernation. SOLUTION: Uninstall Nero completely, and keep your eyes open for a new version of the program down the road. (Reference: MSKB 331506.)

 

[Henyman]

i dont have nero, comp is fully defragged + has about 12GB free space. it's really anoying cus i have to shutdown, but to boot to desktop takes about 1 minute so it's not too bad 😛