The “Hibernate” function on Windows XP

The hibernate function on Windows XP is basically the same as stand by, but with one difference. The files and programs you have open will temporarily be saved onto a specific location on the hard drive, instead of RAM.

This means that the computer can be switched off while hibernating and it will consume no power. When you turn your Windows XP on again, everything will open instantly, just like after a standby. No startup screens and waste of time.

But there is one problem with hibernate – you can only do it once. For some unexplained reason, Windows can’t hibernate severeral times in a row. The temporary hibernate file on your hard drive can’t be overwritten and you need to do a normal shutdown before you can hibernate again. I hope this problem will be fixed in future versions of Windows. (Not sure if it already is on Vista…)

How to hibernate

Another mystery is why the hibernate button isn’t shown on the shutdown menu by default. After all, hibernating is a lot better than standing by -no power consumption, longer than standby, computer can be turned off and makes no noise…

Anyway, to hibernate, go to the shutdown menu as usual: Start -> Turn Off Computer and hold down the shift key to relpace “stand by” with “hibernate”, It’s as easy as that.