Hibernation: do web site recommendations give wrong information about its resource load?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tuttle
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Tuttle

Hello all:

Does Hibernation use any system resources other than the space it reserves
on the hard drive? I know that it saves a file to the hard drive that is the
size of installed RAM, but is it running background services that use up
CPU, RAM or other resources when you are working?

There are many web sites offering tips to speed up Vista, and many of them
include the following statement:
"Windows hibernation background services can use a large amount of system
resources. If you don't use the Hibernate feature on a regular basis you may
want to disable it to give Vista a performance boost."

They offer no documentation of this statement. Is it accurate or not?

So, does Hibernation use any system resources other than the space it
reserves on the hard drive?

Thanks
 
As far as the user is concerned, No.

Try this simple home demonstration: (these numbers are approximate)
1) Open up Task Manager and observe CPU and Memory usage.
At idle (a few windows opened but no tasks being performed) CPU usage is
about 2%, Memory is about 55%
2) Now connect to the internet and open up IE. No data being transferred.
CPU=3% Memory 55%
3) Open WMP. Play a song. CPU= 14%. Memory= 50-60%.
4) Now play a video clip using a different video player than WMP which is
playing a song. CPU fluctuates 27-48%. Memory is 50-60%

I'm using Core Duo 1.8GHZ, 2GB RAM, Vista Home Premium

The point is, even if Hibernation is doing some housekeeping in the
background, it is so tiny that it will make no discernable difference in
computer performance whether you disable Hibernation or not.

As you've suspected, the "tip" of disabling Hibernation to gain system speed
is incorrect. But you want to gain extra disc space, then disable Hibernation
and clean out its file.
 
It is a case of sloppy journalism - yes, the statement is true so far as
"resources" can include disk space. However, the more common use does not
include disk space but (as you indicate) when folks say "resources" they
usually mean memory or CPU time or such. Using the more common meaning of
"resources" the answer is no. When the system is in hibernation it is
powered down and when it is resumed from hibernation it is running as it
always is.
 
Tuttle said:
Hello all:

Does Hibernation use any system resources other than the space it reserves
on the hard drive? I know that it saves a file to the hard drive that is
the
size of installed RAM, but is it running background services that use up
CPU, RAM or other resources when you are working?

There are many web sites offering tips to speed up Vista, and many of them
include the following statement:
"Windows hibernation background services can use a large amount of system
resources. If you don't use the Hibernate feature on a regular basis you
may
want to disable it to give Vista a performance boost."

They offer no documentation of this statement. Is it accurate or not?

So, does Hibernation use any system resources other than the space it
reserves on the hard drive?
Click to expand...

Anybody can write a load of rubbish on a website. Here's an example of
complete technical ineptitude!

www.kkomp.com

ss.
 
Oops. Syntax error in my last post:

"But you want to gain extra disc space, then disable Hibernation
and clean out its file."

Correction:

"But if you want to gain extra disc space, then disable Hibernation
and clean out its file."
 
Thank you Richard. I'm glad to hear someone knowledgeable confirm what I
suspected.

Is Hibernate considered generally reliable? I've read reports of some
services not working properly after awaking from Hibernate. I myself saw
some application hangs after awaking from Hibernate, but they could of
course have been caused by something other than Hibernate.


Richard G. Harper said:
It is a case of sloppy journalism - yes, the statement is true so far as
"resources" can include disk space. However, the more common use does not
include disk space but (as you indicate) when folks say "resources" they
usually mean memory or CPU time or such. Using the more common meaning of
"resources" the answer is no. When the system is in hibernation it is
powered down and when it is resumed from hibernation it is running as it
always is.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/


Tuttle said:
Hello all:

Does Hibernation use any system resources other than the space it reserves
on the hard drive? I know that it saves a file to the hard drive that is
the
size of installed RAM, but is it running background services that use up
CPU, RAM or other resources when you are working?

There are many web sites offering tips to speed up Vista, and many of them
include the following statement:
"Windows hibernation background services can use a large amount of system
resources. If you don't use the Hibernate feature on a regular basis you
may
want to disable it to give Vista a performance boost."

They offer no documentation of this statement. Is it accurate or not?

So, does Hibernation use any system resources other than the space it
reserves on the hard drive?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Thank you Oscar. I'm glad to hear someone knowledgeable confirm what I
suspected.

Is Hibernate considered generally reliable? I've read reports of some
services not working properly after awaking from Hibernate. I myself saw
some application hangs after awaking from Hibernate, but they could of
course have been caused by something other than Hibernate.
 
I always hibernate my laptop before moving it (at least twice a day, once in
the morning and once in the afternoon) and I have never had any problems
with programs or services not responding or not working afterwards. I
probably only shut down or restart it a couple times a month.

But it could simply be that all my programs, services, drivers, etc. are
well-behaved and respond properly to a change in power state message. Other
programs, drivers, services, etc. might not be so well-behaved and might
cause problems.
 
Certainly head-on the site is, more or less, kinda silly. The hyperlinks
listed down the page do appear to have been placed by someone who is
knowledgeable of computers and Windows.
Gene K
 
Tuttle said:
Hello all:

Does Hibernation use any system resources other than the space it reserves
on the hard drive? I know that it saves a file to the hard drive that is the
size of installed RAM, but is it running background services that use up
CPU, RAM or other resources when you are working?
Click to expand...

No. When your computer hibernates, it turns itself off. At that point,
it's using nothing at all. When you restart, it reads the hibernate
file, starts itself from that, then runs just like any other bootup.
 
Tim Slattery said:
No. When your computer hibernates, it turns itself off. At that point,
it's using nothing at all. When you restart, it reads the hibernate
file, starts itself from that, then runs just like any other bootup.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I thought that information about it using background resources
sounded fishy. It just uses diskspace, as expected.
 
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