Hibernation is a useful power management feature that's often sadly ignored despite its great benefits. When you hibernate a laptop, you're essentially turning it off. So, unlike Stand By (Sleep) mode, a hibernated laptop isn't using any battery power at all - that laptop is off!
The secret behind hibernation is that before you turn off the laptop, everything you're doing with the computer is saved. (The contents of memory are saved to the hard disk.) When the computer is turned on again, it recovers from hibernating by reloading all the saved information and restoring your laptop to exactly the same condition it was in before it was hibernated.
Briefly, hibernation works like this:
1. You activate the hibernation feature.
Hibernation is activated differently depending on how it's set up.
2. The laptop hums as everything in memory is saved to disk.
3. The laptop turns itself off.
It's really and truly off: The battery isn't being used, and it's safe to store the laptop or put it away until you need to use it again.
To recover from Hibernation mode, just turn the laptop on. In some cases, the laptop may recover from hibernation when you press a key or touch the mouse pad. You can try that trick first, before you punch the power button.
Obviously, hibernation plays a key role in prolonging your laptop's battery power. And unlike when you put your laptop in Stand By mode, you can leave your laptop in a hibernated state for as long as you want. Even if the batteries eventually drain, the system returns to where you left it after the computer is plugged in and started again.
Hibernation mode requires hard drive space. So you should be aware that when hard drive space runs low, it's possible that Hibernation mode won't work.
Hibernating a laptop in Windows Vista
To hibernate your Windows Vista laptop, follow these steps:
1. Save your stuff.
The documentation does claim that your stuff is "saved" by the hibernation processor. Uh-huh. Better be on the safe side and save anyway, before you hibernate. But there's no reason to quit your programs or close open windows.
2. Click the Start button.
3. Choose Hibernate from the pop-up menu.
The laptop powers off into Hibernation mode.
Turning on Hibernation mode in Windows XP
In Windows XP, you have to activate Hibernation mode before you can use it. Follow these steps to activate Hibernation:
1. Click the Start button.
2. From the Start menu, choose Control Panel.
3. Open the Power Options icon in the Control Panel.
4. In the Power Options Properties dialog box, look for and click on the Hibernation tab.
If you don't see a Hibernation tab, there's your answer: The laptop isn't capable of hibernating. Oh, well.
You might want to check the laptop's Setup program to see whether you can activate Hibernation there.
5. Select the Enable Hibernation option by clicking the check box to place a check mark in the box.
6. Review other options, if they're available.
7. Click OK to confirm the changes and close the Power Options Properties dialog box.
Optionally, close the Control Panel window, as well.
Some laptops may require you to restart Windows for this change to take effect.
Hibernating in Windows XP
Follow these steps to hibernate your laptop in Windows XP:
1. Save your work.
Do this as a precaution; you should always save your stuff. Even so, you don't need to quit any applications now.
2. Click the Start button.
The Start menu appears.
3. Click the Turn Off Computer button.
The Turn Off Computer box-thing appears.
4. Press the Shift key.
The caption beneath the Stand By button changes to read "Hibernate." Keep that Shift key down when you perform Step 5!
If the caption doesn't change, your laptop lacks the Hibernation feature (or you haven't enabled it).
5. Click the Hibernate button.
The laptop hums for a few moments, and then it hibernates and turns itself off.
