I have just upgraded my work laptop and before I go off and Google later tonight (tea to cook now), I wondered if someone like Staurtli, Rattle or Zero already know the answer.
After turning off hibernate first (removing the old 4Gb file), I stuck in the new 8Gb memory for the laptop. Defragged the disk and turned on hibernate. The hibernate file created is just under 6Gb. What about the rest of the RAM? Not tried to hibernate yet... in fact I might stop using hibernate because writing and reading a hibernate file of this size on a fully encrypted hard drive might be slower than booting (3Gb was on the old laptop)!
I know the laptop only sees 7.8Gb due to the graphic card on board stealing some of the RAM.
Any ideas. I'll Google it later. But there must be a few on here with 8Gb or more of RAM using Vista or Windows 7.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 13 Dec 10 at 18:00
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The Hibernate configuration has always, in my case, listed the available RAM figure.....
It boots up in less time than a normal boot up.
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Until now I've never had a machine with more than 4Gb RAM but now the work laptop is 64bit it can use more. And it will be jolly useful too.
So I assumed it had to be 8Gb but it's just under 6Gb which is odd. Suppose I could try it.
Yes recovering from hibernate ought to be faster than booting. But reading back 4Gb+ of an encrypted file and decrypting on the fly takes a bit of time. I'll have to time it to see which is faster. On the old laptop it was marginal. On the new faster laptop, it might be okay even with more memory.
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I'm not confused about memory limited etc. This is Windows 7 Professional anyway.
Just curious if my hibernate file might grow if I hibernate when the machine is using more than 6Gb RAM.... so it will fragment.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 13 Dec 10 at 20:28
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The answer is the size of the hibernate file can be changed in Windows 7 (based on a percentage). So from an elevated command prompt the command:
powercfg -h -size 80
would set the hibernate file to be 80% of the amount of RAM. Not sure what happens if all 8Gb is being used and you then hibernate. Minimum size if 50%. I might go for that.
In case anyone is wondering why 8Gb RAM will be useful (I'm not using it for editing photos etc), it's for use with VMWARE. I plan on running some test systems which will include a number of Windows 2003/2008 server instances. I can risk the hibernate file being smaller because I'd power off any VMs before shutting down the real machine.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 13 Dec 10 at 20:39
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>> The answer is the size of the hibernate file can be changed in Windows 7
I assume you are aware of the different definitions of in Windows of sleep, hibernate, and hybrid sleep.
Sleep is a power-saving state that allows a computer to quickly resume full-power operation (typically within several seconds) when you want to start working again.
Hibernation is a power-saving state designed primarily for laptops. While sleep puts your work and settings in memory and draws a small amount of power, hibernation puts your open documents and programs on your hard disk, and then turns off your computer.
Hybrid sleep is designed primarily for desktop computers. Hybrid sleep is a combination of sleep and hibernate—it puts any open documents and programs in memory and on your hard disk, and then puts your computer into a low-power state so that you can quickly resume your work.
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I work in IT and have been working with computers since 1980 (as a child in 1980 mind) so yes. I never asked what the difference between sleep, hibernate and hybrid was. And I answered my own question. The question was around the size of hibernate file size.
I also hibernated and resumed the laptop (it took about 56 seconds but is fully encrypted) earlier with only a 4Gb hibernate file. So it works for me.
Since Suppose is deviating, then I shall too. If you have an Apple laptop the default is also 'hybrid' sleep. The laptop goes to sleep but also writes the memory content to disk. Should power be lost it can resume from the info on disk but otherwise it is almost instant. This can be turned on for desktops (iMac) too but is not the default.
Sleep and hybrid sleep is a no-no for my laptop. When it's off and in the boot of the car it needs to be as close to off as possible.
Interesting that Suppose says hybrid is mainly for desktops.... Apple think it's mainly for laptops and I'd agree. Less likely to lose power on a desktop. A laptop can run flat when it's been suspended on battery power.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 13 Dec 10 at 23:28
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>> I work in IT and have been working with computers since 1980 (as a child in 1980 mind) so yes.
I thought so.
>> Interesting that Suppose says hybrid is mainly for desktops....
That's what Microsoft says.
Last edited by: Suppose on Mon 13 Dec 10 at 23:29
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And you agree? It's more applicable to laptops so I think Apple has it right.
Thanks for answering the question I didn't ask which may help someone googling here.
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My iMac is usually in sleep mode but it writes memory content to disk too just in case. I swapped the behaviour over but it's a command line change to anyone interested.
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I always understood the hiberfil.sys file to be dynamic in size and entirely dependent on how much real ram is actually in use.
Chances are that your not actually using all your 8gb of ram.
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>> I always understood the hiberfil.sys file to be dynamic in size and entirely dependent on
>> how much real ram is actually in use.
Perhaps it is fixed size (less fragmentation?) and only the parts of it corresponding to used ram are written?
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Up until now I'd say the file has been static and is created when you turn on hibernate. My last laptop had 3Gb and the hibernate file was 3Gb. The new laptop when turned on was 6Gb by default (so 75%). I think this is logical as I'm very unlikely to be using that much memory when I hibernate the machine. Anything above 2Gb is likely to be virtual machines which I would suspend or power off first.
So I have set to the minimum which is 50%, i.e. 4Gb.
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The main difference between Hibernate and Standby/Sleep is that the former Saves the current state of the system before shutting down whereas the latter, as Suppose points out, is a power saving state.
If you haven't Saved any open documents etc and go into Standby, you could lose data in the event of a power cut.
In my area, for the first time for years, we've had two or three power cuts recently (each only lasted about a second, but other areas were down for up to two hours).
The TV and desktop both shut down, but reinitialised immediately. As I was surfing, no data was lost.
I always use Hibernate on my desktop system during the day and do a full Shut Down at the end of the day.
It only takes a few seconds to boot up again from Hibernate on my system and, indeed, was also the case on my previous setup.
Last edited by: Stuartli on Tue 14 Dec 10 at 11:35
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Windows 7 Hibernate File Size - Stuartli
