Hibernate or Hybrid Sleep?

[andreasandrews]

The question now I've worked out that I have Hibernate & Hybrid Sleep enabled (which I think may have been the default) is, should I change it so I can hibernate from the start menu, or should I just put it in sleep mode and let that replace hibernation safe in the knowledge that during a power cut the session from the RAM will in fact be restored?

Hybrid sleep sounds like a good idea, but hibernate did always feel a little safer....

On another note sleep does take longer to kick in, and also for me (annoyingly) after I press 'sleep' on the start menu, it does eventually wind down (no more fan noise, monitor goes to standby) but only for a split second before 'waking up' immediately.

 

[DavidE]

I use Hybrid sleep and I like it.
It saves the Windows session to both RAM and FILE (hiberfil.sys) when going to Sleep.

For me, on wake up:
If the power did not go out during sleep, the PC Wakes from Sleep in < 5 seconds.
If the power did go out during sleep, the PC Resumes from Hibernate in apx 20-30 seconds.

I'm sure it takes longer to go to sleep because it does have to save the Session to RAM(Sleep) AND FILE(Hibernate), but that's ok for me.
I like the faster Wake Up rather than the slower Resume from Hibernate.
For me 99.99% of the time, my PC(s) Wake from sleep and hiberfil.sys is not used.

I think of Hybrid Sleep as an insurance policy...If Wake Up fails, Hibernate kicks in.
Either way, the session is restored.

The cons to using Hybrid:
- Takes longer to go to sleep
- Requires more disk space for the hiberfil.sys file (assuming you don't use hibernate)

Pros using Hybrid:
- faster wake up normally, AND slower hibernate resume as a "back up" if needed
- uses both sleep and hibernate

RE:

and also for me (annoyingly) after I press 'sleep' on the start menu, it does eventually wind down (no more fan noise, monitor goes to standby) but only for a split second before 'waking up' immediately.

Does that mean your PC sleeps for "long" periods of time with the fans running, or does it mean your PC immediately wakes up after going to sleep, or something else...?

 

[andreasandrews]

I certainly agree with you there, it gives you the best of both worlds and would be my chosen method of minimising risk of data loss whilst conserving energy in a speedy and efficient way... but only if it worked!

Does that mean your PC sleeps for "long" periods of time with the fans running, or does it mean your PC immediately wakes up after going to sleep, or something else...?

My PC doesn't sleep at all. To describe what happens as accurately as possible:

**update** whilst I was attempting to sleep, I unplugged the cradle for my phone, as I noticed that after immediately waking after a half second of sleeping there as a bubble notification about a device not being recognised. After unplugging this, it's sleeping as usual. I can go back into device manager now and allow my ethernet adaptor to wake the computer (but only with a 'magic packet') so that's back to normal.

I'm not sure of a way to prevent USB peripherals from waking the computer (although I have prevented my mouse from waking the computer now in case of accidental waking) so I will simply unplug my phone cradle/battery when putting the computer to sleep. I little inconvenient (especially as I believe it carries on charging my phone battery [note: phone is not plugged in, it has a battery charging feature for loose batteries] even when sleeping.

So that will be the next thing for me to figure out, along with figuring out how to gain access remotely to my computer when it is sleeping. I don't believe Teamviewer (my preferred remote access software) has the ability to send magic packets, nor do I know much about magic packets at all (nothing a bit of Googling won't resolve

Thanks David


p.s. I'm very pleased with the time it takes to sleep considering I've got 8GB of RAM. I'm also not concerned in the slightest with the hiberfil.sys file taking up space... as it gives a nice little buffer should I ever run out of space and need something I can simply get rid of in a hurry.

 

[Brds7t7]

I use Hybrid sleep and I like it.
It saves the Windows session to both RAM and FILE (hiberfil.sys) when going to Sleep.

For me, on wake up:
If the power did not go out during sleep, the PC Wakes from Sleep in < 5 seconds.
If the power did go out during sleep, the PC Resumes from Hibernate in apx 20-30 seconds.

I'm sure it takes longer to go to sleep because it does have to save the Session to RAM(Sleep) AND FILE(Hibernate), but that's ok for me.
I like the faster Wake Up rather than the slower Resume from Hibernate.
For me 99.99% of the time, my PC(s) Wake from sleep and hiberfil.sys is not used.

I think of Hybrid Sleep as an insurance policy...If Wake Up fails, Hibernate kicks in.
Either way, the session is restored.

The cons to using Hybrid:
- Takes longer to go to sleep
- Requires more disk space for the hiberfil.sys file (assuming you don't use hibernate)

Pros using Hybrid:
- faster wake up normally, AND slower hibernate resume as a "back up" if needed
- uses both sleep and hibernate

RE:

and also for me (annoyingly) after I press 'sleep' on the start menu, it does eventually wind down (no more fan noise, monitor goes to standby) but only for a split second before 'waking up' immediately.

Does that mean your PC sleeps for "long" periods of time with the fans running, or does it mean your PC immediately wakes up after going to sleep, or something else...?

DavidW7ncus,

I use Hibernate myself. Do you know if it's possible for either Hybrid Sleep or Hibernate to drain Keyboard and Mouse batteries? I'm pretty sure that since I switched from Hybrid to Hibernate my batteries are lasting much longer.

It could be just a coincidence though.

 

[gregrocker]

There is no power except to RAM during sleep, so that it can store the data. Data is simultaneously written to HD during Hybrid Sleep so that in case of Power loss it isn't lost. It's like David said, an insurance policy. I see no downside.

Any device which has the ability to wake up the PC should have a Power option in it's driver file in Device Manager to disable Wake. If not I would not use it. I do not want anything interfering with my PC's sleeping in 30 and Hibernating in 45-90 so that I can walk away leaving work open and have it waiting on my desktop whether I come back in an hour or a week. One less thing to think about.

 

[andreasandrews]

Strangely, the computer will now sleep with the phone cradle USB device plugged in and now that the mouse has been prevented from waking the computer. Maybe it was the mouse after all, but that still leaves a mystery... so I did a test.

I discovered that unplugging the USB phone cradle (with battery in - but no phone connected) allows the computer to sleep (whilst mouse is allowed to wake the computer) and I woke up the computer using the mouse. I then plugged in the USB device and changed the mouse properties in device manager which no longer allowed the mouse to wake the computer and in this case it also went to sleep no problem. I had to use the power button to wake it. Then just for good measure I tried with both the mouse set to allow the computer to wake, and the USB cradle plugged in, and it simply wouldn't stay sleeping for more than 1 second, even though the Microsoft Intellimouse optical beam would shut off (I've been using the click buttons on the mouse to wake previously as moving the mouse doesn't wake it)

Well anyway I've found my ideal settings and it's not an issue any more. I've notice the keyboard also doesn't wake the computer despite the settings in 'power management' in 'device manager' being set to allow the keyboard to wake the PC (I tried several keys and combinations). I've actually read that a PC's Bios can be altered to allow Wake On Lan to occur to turn the computer on (as well as simple wake from sleep) from being powered down (shut down). It's not really necessary for me (or most people I'd assume) as it's not difficult simply pressing the button. In fact it's probably better that way.

What I would still like to do is WOL (wake on lan) remotely so that I can then use Teamviewer to remotely access my PC. It seems that this is going to be quite a feat from an external network (ie. the internet) so I was wondering if anyone here has successfully done this before? It would be a shame to have the hybrid sleep feature, and then not to be able to use it when I leave the house so I can make sure I can access my PC when I'm out. With WOL working from another network (or my phone) I could use hybrid sleep most of the time when not using my computer safe in the knowledge I'm not cutting out the option to access it later whilst out.

Another question is how often (assuming you sleep rather than shut down) is a good time to restart a computer? I used hybrid sleep on my netbook and often got a warning about 'quick start' after 7 days of not restarting. On my Quadcore PC though it doesn't seem to lag too much even if it hasn't been restarted in some time.

 

[gregrocker]

From the TeamViewer forum:

Teamviewer does not offer WAKE ON LAN Features.
To make WOL work over Internet you need:
WOL enabled in BIOS

Windows Driver of network Card ENERGY settings need to be set to ALLOW (Magic Packet etc)

A static Internet IP or a DNS name such provided by DYNDNS (most routers offer this service as optional)
at the PC that needs to be wake up remotely

Inside the Router a a port forwarding at port 9 to the internal LAN IP of the desired computer

Configure your Hard and Software Firewalls to allow incoming packet to port 9

A tool to wake up the PC remotely .freeware tools are found via google

Obtain the MAC adress of the PC you want to wake up (can be found in the network status /details informaton in windows)

Take that MAC Adress with you or store it somewhere on your Laptop / WOL Software / or send it via mail to a desirable location where you can access it no matter where you are (eg your own webmail account)

Use the Internet IP/DNS Name + Mac Adress of the sleeping PC in a WOL Software to wake it up

Assuming that Teamviewer is installed as a SERVICE on the target PC you can now control it either DIRECTLY
or via the Teamviewer ID stuff.

Some routers like FRITZ BOX offer WOL Services that provide easy WOL features.

http://teamviewerforums.com/index.php?topic=1226.0

I try to restart every few days.

 

[DavidE]

It looks like Greg answered all the questions already.
Thanks Greg, and nice info on WOL!

I believe MS recommends re-booting at least weekly.
With my HTPC I go well beyond that and may not re-boot for weeks without any warnings or problems.
My Test box gets re-booted much more often as that is where i try new programs, configuration changes, etc.

@andreasandrews
Glad you found a solution with settings - nice work.
If you haven't done this already when the PC does not sleep, from an Elevated Command Prompt enter these commands:

powercfg -devicequery wake_armed
powercfg -requests
​

If either command returns something, that could be why the PC won't sleep.

@Burdus77
I don't think Hybrid or Hibernate would affect battery life.
I think battery Brand, Type, and Age could make a difference.

 

[Brds7t7]

I've purchased some better rechargeables. Some Sanyo Eneloops. These should perform better.

One thing I have noticed is if I put my pc into hybrid sleep and the power gets cut from the mains while sleeping, after rebooting my pc becomes very slow and laggy for the first 5 minutes.

Is this something to do with having to restore the state from the hibernation file?

 

[DavidE]

I've purchased some better rechargeables. Some Sanyo Eneloops. These should perform better.

Interestingly I just put a rechargeable in a mouse to see how it works...
I've always used regular batteries, so I'll see how it goes...
If you do find a better rechargeable, let me know ! Thanks.

One thing I have noticed is if I put my pc into hybrid sleep and the power gets cut from the mains while sleeping, after rebooting my pc becomes very slow and laggy for the first 5 minutes.

Is this something to do with having to restore the state from the hibernation file?

I see the same thing as you do, and I don't understand why this would happen.
If my PC resumes from Hibernate it is slow/laggey for several minutes...compared to a Sleep/wake up.

i.e. I have a scheduled task set to run on Wake up.
If the PC Wakes up from Sleep, the task runs immediately.
If the PC resumes from Hibernate, the task does not run for a minute or more...

MY GUESS is windows is slower reading the data from the HD, processing an instruction, and reading more "Restore Session" instructions and processing them...
Seems Windows is MUCH faster processing the "Restore Session" from RAM.

It's really no big deal to me as most of the time my PC wakes from sleep, but it is weird...

 

[andreasandrews]

Yeah rock on Greg! Thanks for that, and I must say at this point I'm pretty new (not just on here) to forum posting, so I'm thinking perhaps I should research my questions, and then post when I do get stuck. I found that same thread on the Teamviewer forum, but kind of glazed over a bit hoping there would be another solution, so here's what I'm going to do next:

Run a scheduled task to wake computer a few times a day (and leave 30 mins till sleep setting) creating a few 30 min windows of opportunity to log in via Teamviewer and take not of the times my computer will wake.

I noticed on the Teamviewer forum someone mentioned that LogMeIn does support WOL, so I'll look into that and then and probably run it on the computer alongside Teamviewer, then I have a double contingency for remote access whilst keeping power usage to a minimum whilst I look into the next stage...

... Real WOL as per instructions Greg posted above... hmmm I'll work my way down those instructions and see how far I get before I come back here with my tail between my legs! I'm optimistic, but realistic and really don't know how easy it's going to be.

---


@David

Some useful commands there, I'll be sure to try and remember those, and here is what the results show:

C:\Windows\system32>powercfg -devicequery wake_armed
Standard PS/2 Keyboard
Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller


C:\Windows\system32>powercfg -requests
DISPLAY:
None.

SYSTEM:
None.

AWAYMODE:
None.
​

My keyboard doesn't wake the computer, but as my issue is resolved I don't see the need to change anything now. I also have no clue what the last three results 'None' mean for Display, System and Awaymode, but then again do I really need to know?

What I do know is that it's great to find this forum, although I'm pretty sure I've been reading posts on here for quite some time, it's a pleasure to be involved... oh and did I start this thread? I had forgotten for a second until I noticed "thread starter" underneath my name.

Should I mark this thread as resolved? I don't want to inhibit further discussion, but I guess I'm the only one with the power.

As for now I'm going to switch from listening to 'PC Insomnia' by Faithless to 'Threadstarter' by The Prodigy...

 

[Brds7t7]

David, Sanyo Eneloops or Rayovac Hybrid are probably the best rechargeable you can get. The last ones I had were Duracell normal rechargeable and they drain too quickly even when not in use.

Strangely though if I resume from hibernate my pc doesn't lag unless the power has been cut at the mains. That's the only time mine starts to lag.

 

[DavidE]

Burdus77, thanks for the battery tip.

When you say "cut at the mains", do you mean the Power Company had an outage for you?

I don't often resume from hibernate, and for me it's usually something I do where I turn off the power at the PSU, and/or disconnect the power cord to the PSU.

Right now I'm not sure if it makes a difference for me where/how the power was interrupted, but this is interesting...

 

[DavidE]

My keyboard doesn't wake the computer, but as my issue is resolved I don't see the need to change anything now.
I agree

I also have no clue what the last three results 'None' mean for Display, System and Awaymode, but then again do I really need to know?
NO - I just wondered if there might be some requests causing the issue - everything looks good.

Should I mark this thread as resolved? I don't want to inhibit further discussion, but I guess I'm the only one with the power.
You own the thread - your call...I would mark it as solved.

Burdus77 and I can still post here, start a new thread, or take the discussion off-line and use PM...

See my replies in bold.

 

[Brds7t7]

Burdus77, thanks for the battery tip.

When you say "cut at the mains", do you mean the Power Company had an outage for you?

I don't often resume from hibernate, and for me it's usually something I do where I turn off the power at the PSU, and/or disconnect the power cord to the PSU.

Right now I'm not sure if it makes a difference for me where/how the power was interrupted, but this is interesting...

Well I have had a power cut before whilst in hibernation, but primarily I mean turning the switch off at the wall socket. Although I don't think you have switches on the wall sockets like the UK, do you? I haven't been to the US in about 10 years so I could be wrong!

 

[DavidE]

No, I don't have a wall switch for the outlet I am using.

I just tested this by turning off the switch on the PSU to force a hibernation restart.

It was laggy starting up...
No big deal...

 

[Brds7t7]

I agree.

I can handle the lag for a few minutes instead of losing my session anyway!

 

[Benwong1997]

May I know what do you mean by "Requires more disk space for the hiberfil.sys file" in the cons? How big is the hiberfil.sys file and is it temporary, like when you boot your PC, does it automatically deletes the hiberfil.sys file and have the original disk space back?

 

[DavidE]

The default hiberfil.sys file size is 75% of the amount of RAM you have.
So, if you 4 GB of RAM, hiberfil.sys will be 3 GB.
The file will always be there when hibernate is enabled.
You would have to disable hibernate to delete the file.

 

[Benwong1997]

Thanks for the info and quick reply.