Windows 7: Can Windows 7 use a hibernate *partition*?

Hello forum.

I understand how Windows hibernation usually works, by saving out the RAM contents to a file in the root of the C: partition named hiberfil.sys.

Yesterday I became aware of the existence of a special partition type, type 84h, which is supposedly intended for use as a dedicated raw partition for storing the RAM image. Intel's new Rapid Start Technology on new motherboards apparently makes use of it.

Can anyone tell me if Windows 7 can be reconfigured to use such a partition for hibernation even on older motherboards which don't support Intel Rapid Start?

Thanks.

Hello Jemann, and welcome to Seven Forums.

The partition type (or partition ID) in a partition's entry in the partition table inside a Master Boot Record (MBR) is a byte value intended to specify the file system the partition contains and/or to flag special access methods used to access these partitions. That's what the type 84h is.

Windows 7 already uses it for the hibernation file. The hibernation file (hiberfil.sys) can only be on the Windows drive.

Hibernate - Enable or Disable

The link below can give you more details about all of this.

Partition type - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks for your response Brink.

I perhaps should have clarified that I'm fully familiar with the concept of partition types, being an experienced IT professional. It was just that I wasn't previously aware of the allocation of type 84h specifically for use as a hibernation partition.

Normally, hiberfil.sys is saved in the root directory of the C: drive, which is usually an NTFS partition with type 07h.

The existence of an entirely separate partition type specifically for hibernation suggests that Windows might be able to use it as a raw partition (with no filesystem, NTFS or otherwise) for saving the RAM dump.

I'm wondering if I can shrink my main NTFS C: partition by an amount equivalent to the RAM I have fitted, then create a type 84h partition in the freed up space, then tell Windows to use it for hibernation instead of saving a hiberfil.sys file in C:.

I'm afraid that I don't know about that. It would be interesting if so.