Hiberfil.sys size

[Archie]

I understand that the Hiberfil.sys file used for hibernation is normally the same size as the amount of intalled memory in the PC. On my Win 7 Pro x64 PC the OS reports 4GB Memory with 3.84GB usuable. The hiberfil.sys though is 3090,718,720 bytes which I reckon to be 2.88GB approx. As I have been having some resume problems from hibernation I was wondering if this smaller file size could have anything to do with it.

I have used powercfg -h off to delete the file and then powercfg -h on but the file size is still the same.

Any suggestions?

 

[Tews]

The default setting for Hiberfil.sys is 75% of your RAM ... you can change it by opening a command prompt with admin privilages, then enter..

PowerCfg.exe /HIBERNATE /SIZE percentage

 

[nate42nd]

Good answer Tews....glad to see you are still helping people here. Just wanted to say hello. I hope you are well...

 

[Archie]

Thanks for the info.

Just curious how the system can write the contents of memery to a file of smaller size than the memory in the PC?

 

[Tews]

Guess its just one of those mysteries of life...

 

[jcgriff2]

Windows 7 compresses the contents of memory before writing to hiberfil.sys; hence the 75% figure.

From Microsoft Download Center -

"Reducing the Disk Footprint for Windows 7 Hibernation" -->

http://download.microsoft.com/downl...EA-470B-A97E-CE7CE0D98DC2/HiberFootprint.docx

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

.

 

[Archie]

Thanks for the help, I guess that satisfies my curiousty.
Regards

 

[PeterDG]

Does anyone know if hiberfil.sys (and pagefile.sys) are included in a "system image" backup (in win home premium)? Judging by the size of the backup image it seems to me that they are, but I hope someone can tell me that they are not. I guess one could eliminate them before generating a system image but that would be messy. I don't see the point of including these in the "system image".

 

[Brink]

Hello Peter, and welcome to Seven Forums.

A system image will include everything that was on the selected HDDs at the time it was created.

 

[tcat7]

I set my Hibernate to "never", and I still have a 4.5 gb hiberfil.sys file. I can just delete that, right? I'm trying to minimize my disk image size and currently have 10 gb worth of Pagefile and Hiberfil. I figure I can delete the hiberfil, and move the Pagefile to my second drive (as I read in another thread here). I have 6 gb ram, and a 6.5 gb Pagefile... no wonder my 1st W7 image was 35 gb (only 16 gb using Macrium since it compressed it), but why back up stuff you don't need?

 

[Brink]

I set my Hibernate to "never", and I still have a 4.5 gb hiberfil.sys file. I can just delete that, right? I'm trying to minimize my disk image size and currently have 10 gb worth of Pagefile and Hiberfil. I figure I can delete the hiberfil, and move the Pagefile to my second drive (as I read in another thread here). I have 6 gb ram, and a 6.5 gb Pagefile... no wonder my 1st W7 image was 35 gb (only 16 gb using Macrium since it compressed it), but why back up stuff you don't need?

Hello Tcat,

Yes, you can disable hibernate to also delete the hiberfil.sys file to free up more allocated space for use.

If hibernate is enabled, then the file will be included in a system image since that is how it is set and allocated (reserved) on the hard drive so nothing can use this space except for hibernate.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[tcat7]

Thanks! I don't think just "Disabling" gets rid of the hiberfil file, I think you have to delete it manually. I turned off hibernate a week ago, yet I have a 4.5 gb hiberfil file, dated today. I do have "Turn off Display" set to 30 minutes, but I don't think this has anything to do with hibernate.

Edit: I followed "Option 1" (after I figured out I needed to "run as administrator"), and it finally went away. Also changed my pagefile on "C" from managed to 500 mb, and added pagefile to "E" as system managed. This reduced my "C" size from 35 gb to 24 gb. The pagefile on E went straight to 6.5 gb, but I don't care what the size is there, I only image the C drive.