When moving the laptop should I use sleep or hibernate (or neither)

[LEVAMDG]

I just finished dealing with my second hard drive crash in 6 months. One of the things I have been told has been to pay attention to what setting my laptop (Dell Latitude d630, Windows 7 Pro N) is on when I'm moving my laptop between classes, from home to work, etc. I close my laptop without shutting down to open it at a different location many times throughout the day, and I was told that perhaps one of the reasons for my laptop crashing this latest time was because my laptop's hard drive was still on during sleep mode, allowing for damage to the moving parts while it was being transported.

Right now, my power settings are set to whatever the default is. I've seen some of the other how-to's around here, but I can't seem to find what the recommended settings when I want to close the laptop and move it somewhere. Any thoughts?

 

[Tews]

You can set your power plan not to use sleep, and to shut down completely when you go from class to class.. While this may be inconvenient, you will eliminate the possibility of damage to the hard drive while carrying it ...

 

[LEVAMDG]

I don't mind the inconvenience of it, but isn't it just as bad to be turning the pc on and off multiple times a day? Would hibernate be better instead?

I also thought there was a way to create your own kind of "mode," instead of relying just on sleep, hibernate, and shut down. Am I wrong on that?

 

[rixto003]

you could change power plan so if u put ur laptop to sleep ur hard disk powers down too

edit: soz my bad, not that simple, u can choose the time (minutes) when ur hard disk powers down. my bad

edit2: u can make your own powerplan, but like i told in first edit: u cant make ur hard disk power down on sleep or anything, just time in minutes when it powers down due to inactivity.

 

[LEVAMDG]

lol that's fine I appreciate it! I have set up a custom power setting that has my pc going to hibernate instead of sleep when I close the lid or press the power button.

If anyone would recommend different settings, please let me know!

 

[Digerati]

It should not matter what mode you use. But what may be happening is you are closing the lid then carrying it away in one quick motion, not giving the system time enough to save the image. Give it a few seconds to ensure all the drive activity is done, before picking it up.

 

[LEVAMDG]

I'll work on giving the pc some time to go to (whatever) mode, but I was afraid that moving the pc while it was in sleep or hibernate was a problem as well. Again, I'll stick to hibernate, since that does turn the computer off, but if that's not a good idea, someone let me know.

 

[Digerati]

I was afraid that moving the pc while it was in sleep or hibernate was a problem as well

That should not cause a problem. You just don't want to be jostling the machine around while the drive is writing - these drives are good at protecting themselves from damage when moved, but since you are moving multiple times a day, you are at greater risk. This may not be your problem at all, but I think it is work the caution.

 

[karlsnooks]

Levamdg,

I do not use sleep mode.
I do not use hibernate.
I shut down the computer and don't close the top until computer has stopped.

I've not had any problems this way.
My laptop goes with me everywhere.

 

[cluberti]

In sleep mode or in hibernate, the HDD is off - jostling it once it's asleep in either mode should not be a problem. The only real difference is sleep mode stays in a low power state to keep data in RAM, in RAM - hibernation moves that data off to disk and basically shuts off. I would have to agree with digerati - if you aren't actually waiting for the sleep to occur before moving the laptop, this is in fact dangerous over time, as the HDD is churning at this point saving things off and shutting most things down. If you are waiting for sleep to finish before moving, this is not the cause of your HDD failures (in most cases for a laptop, the killer for any component is heat, not movement).