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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
December 24, 2006
Merry
Christmas!
Q.
I have found a file on my computer called "hiberfile.sys"
that is taking up over 1000 megabytes.
What is this file, and can I delete it?
A. This
is a normally hidden file that is used by
the computer when it goes into hibernation
mode. Hibernation mode is a feature of the
Windows operating system where the contents
of RAM memory is written to the hard drive
before powering down the computer. Later the
computer can be restored quickly to the
state it was in before hibernating, so that
everything can continue to work just as if
nothing happened.
Unlike
hibernate, standby mode only cuts power to
devices like the hard drive, monitor, CD
drive, modem, etc., but doesn't completely
power down the computer. There is no actual
"Sleep" mode in Windows XP, just Standby and
Hibernation. In Vista, standby is now called
called Sleep, and hibernation mode has been
changed to allow it to be user modified and
includes all the features of the previous
standby and hibernate.
Unfortunately, sometimes waking up the
computer from hibernation could be compared
to waking a hibernating bear. To say that it
doesn't always perform as desired is an
understatement. Microsoft promises that this
problem has been fixed in Vista, and on the
one computer I am using it on, it appears
that this is so. How it works on every
user's computer remains to be seen.
Although
hibernation mode is a part of the operating
system and usually enabled by default, it is
seldom used on a desktop computer. It is far
more useful and often used on laptops as
they can generally be set to automatically
go into hibernation mode if the lid is
closed or the battery gets very low.
If all
goes right, restoring from hibernation is
faster than a complete reboot, although
depending on how much you had open when it
went to sleep, it can still take some time.
To use hibernation the hard disk needs to
have at least as much free space as there is
RAM memory in the computer. This can make
the hibefil.sys file on the hard drive
pretty large.
If you
don't intend on using your Computer's
hibernation mode, then this file can be
deleted to reclaim space on the hard drive.
However, since this file is a system file it
is protected by Windows, and cannot be
deleted manually. Here's how to force
Windows to delete this file for you.
Right
click on your desktop, choose Properties,
click he Screen Saver tab, then the
Hibernate tab. This will open the Power
Options Properties dialog shown here:
Uncheck the box in front of "Enable
hibernation", then click Apply, and OK. This
will turn off hibernation and delete the "hiberfil.sys
file from your Windows folder.
The Free disk space value is the
amount of hard drive space you have
available on the volume that contains the
Windows folder before you delete the
hiberfil.sys file. The Disk space required
to hibernate will equal the amount of RAM
you have installed in the computer. |
