Daddy Bob

DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A

 

May 2, 2010

Q. I never use hibernation on my computer so how can I delete the hiberfile.sys file and regain that hard drive space?

A. If you don’t use the Hibernate mode option in Windows, you can save some hard drive space by disabling it. Hibernation mode may be useful on a laptop to save battery, but it has little use on a desktop that has power all the time. Disabling the hibernation mode will automatically delete the hiberfile.sys file and restore that space, amounting to several megabytes, to your hard drive.

Note: There is no Hibernate mode on computers with more than 4GB RAM memory and since this is fast becoming the norm, hibernation mode as we know it is fast becoming a legacy feature.

Using the Command Prompt might be the easiest way to enable or disable Hibernation. This way will work in XP, Vista and Windows 7, but the process is a little different due to the permission restrictions in Vista and Windows 7.

In XP, you simply click Start, then run and enter CMD to get to the command prompt.  In Vista and Windows, click the Start orb and type CMD into the search box and an item "cmd.exe" will be listed under programs. Right-click on the icon and select Run as administrator.

The Command Prompt then opens and you type in powercfg /h off to disable hibernation. Likewise this same command can be used to enable hibernation by using the command powercfg /h on.

There are other ways to disable hibernation as well. For XP, the process is covered in detail a previous article of December 24, 2006 that can be accessed in the Archives section of this site or by clicking HERE.

Other ways to disable hibernation in Vista and Windows 7 are via the Control Panel  and editing the registry. To managing hibernation via Control Panel, Click on the Start orb, open the Control Panel then click on Power Options. On the left side, click on Change when the computer sleeps and click then on Change advanced power settings.

In the Advanced Power Options window expand the Sleep tree by clicking in the little + in front of Sleep and then expand Hibernate the same way. To disable hibernation, set the minutes to 0. You can also set the number of minutes the computer will wait after all activity has stopped before going into hibernation. After you’ve made your selection click Apply and Ok then close out of the remaining screens.
To disable Hibernate by editing the registry, click the Start orb, and enter regedit to open the registry editor. Note the usual warning about rendering your computer  unstable or stop functioning if the wrong modifications are made and is only recommended for experienced (or otherwise daring) users.
To completely disable Hibernate mode through a registry edit, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Power and change  HibernateEnabled value data to zero. To enable, set this value to 1. After you’ve made the changes close out of the Registry Editor and restart the machine.
Now, if you try any of the above options to turn hibernation on but the Hibernate mode still isn’t available, then you will probably need to disable Hybrid Sleep by expanding Allow hybrid sleep and turning it Off. Hybrid Sleep is found in the same listing as was the Sleep option in the above.

Then if you have disabled hibernation, you will no longer have Hibernate and Sleep as part of the power options in the start menu and they will also not be available as an option when you hit Ctrl+Alt+Del. Conversely, if you enable hibernation, these options will be available.

The file, hiberfile.sys will be automatically deleted from the Windows folder when hibernation is disabled. This file is a system protected file and can not be deleted manually, but only by disabling hibernation mode.
Regaining this amount of disk space may seem like very little compared to the very large capacities of modern hard drives, but if you don’t need Hibernation, why not reclaim that space?

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