Question Help with understanding Sleep vs Hibernate vs Hybrid modes ?

[TalkingTomCat]

This 3 things always confuse me, even after reading so many topics on internet.
Please explain this in easy language and what is best to use on a system whose hardware is around 8 years old.

Thanks

 

[Colif]

Sleep:

Once the Sleep mode (Standby in earlier Windows) is called for action, the machine enters a low power mode. The power supply to the components, except the RAM, gets disconnected. RAM retains the state of the computer while it’s asleep. When the machine wakes up, all the services and apps previously running get back to their normal operation.

Hibernation

The Hibernation power mode also involves cutting the power supply to the machine. So, how is it different from Shutdown? In hibernation, the state of the system is transferred to the hard drive as a file before disconnecting the power source. The state of the system is reinstated when the system is powered on. Hibernation is beneficial over Sleep Mode as it saves more power, but the machine takes more time to wake up compared to sleep.

Fast Startup

Fast Startup mode arrived with the release of the Windows 10 OS back in 2015. It’s a combination of the hibernation and the shutdown process. Like hibernation, the machine’s state is saved on the hard drive, but it only includes the basic services that load during the system startup. It doesn’t include other non-essential apps, like your video player or any third-party Windows apps. This enables the machine to start faster in comparison to a normal boot.

https://fossbytes.com/whats-the-difference-between-fast-startup-hybrid-sleep-hibernate-sleep-shutdown/

I don't think it would be fair of me to copy the descriptions from here so -

Hibernate vs Sleep vs Fast Startup: Differences, PROs, CONs

Want to know the differences between hibernation, sleep and fast startup states of a computer?They're different technologies that allow your PC to resume

binaryfork.com

Difference between Sleep, Hybrid Sleep, Fast Startup and Hibernate on Windows 10

If you want to know about the features of different power modes present on your computer, then read out the difference between Sleep, Hybrid Sleep, Fast Startup and Hibernate.

windows101tricks.com

the too much info version - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...shing-fast-startup-from-wake-from-hibernation

If you have an SSD or NVMe, fast startup doesn't really help anymore as they fast enough it doesn't really help.

 

[TalkingTomCat]

Thanks.
Which mode is ideal for me?
I have a 500 gb ssd = OS drive
1 tb sata = data drive.

 

[Colif]

hibernate isn't bad, it seems to be faster at turning my pc off than actual shutdown is.

try turning fast startup off and see if you can tell any difference - https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4189-turn-off-fast-startup-windows-10-a.html

 

[kerberos_20]

Thanks.
Which mode is ideal for me?
I have a 500 gb ssd = OS drive
1 tb sata = data drive.

hybrid mode is combination of both sleep versions, this one is usualy set as default

when you put your computer to sleep under hybrid sleep, hibernation ram backup is stored on drive, but ram remains powered on, but only for few minutes then it switches to deeper sleep (S4) powering off your ram

so sleep effects on your wakeup times:
sleep (S3)
power draw like 10watts - short PC wakeup

hibernation (S4)
power draw like 0.5watts - slower PC wakeup (PC has to boot from bios where it resumes your PC state from hibernation file)

hybrid sleep (S3+S4)
its a mix of both, short sleep = fast wakeup, long sleep = slow wakeup

 

[TalkingTomCat]

Thanks, I still do not understand what settings to keep sleep or hibernate (with/without hybrid mode)
I am new to Windows 10 (switched 2 weeks ago, was using Windows 7 due to my work, which required Windows 7)

 

[Colif]

what did you do on win 7 when not using PC?
Did you turn it off?
if you don't use sleep or hibernate you can just ignore them.
Or disable them so they don't show on that menu

1. to disable, right click start
2. choose power options
3. choose advanced power options in next screen
4. this opens control panel, in this window, on the left, click "Choose what the power button does"
5. next to the blue/green shield, click "change settings that are currently unavailable"
6. untick sleep or Hibernate or even Fast Startup, they all in same place.
7. save changes & close window.

There is no reason you have to change how you used PC before. They are just extras.
Hibernate & Sleep existed in Win 7.

 

[kerberos_20]

Thanks, I still do not understand what settings to keep sleep or hibernate (with/without hybrid mode)
I am new to Windows 10 (switched 2 weeks ago, was using Windows 7 due to my work, which required Windows 7)

ah then its easy, no change between win 7, win8, win10, win11

 

[TerryLaze]

Thanks, I still do not understand what settings to keep sleep or hibernate (with/without hybrid mode)
I am new to Windows 10 (switched 2 weeks ago, was using Windows 7 due to my work, which required Windows 7)

Sleep keeps your PC running so it's only good for short term, unless you want your PC to draw energy all the time and increase your power bill. This is set up in windows to start after a few minutes of not doing anything, you can change that number to something that makes more sense for you.

Hibernation saves all your ram to the ssd so after it turns off it only uses the standby power, you can even turn it off from the switch to not draw any power and it will still continue from what it saved on the ssd. So this is good for turning the PC off at night or if you are not going to use it for a long time.
You can use this in the power settings of windows as well, just like sleep.

You can try and turn off hibernation and see if that is much slower or not, both at shutting down and starting, it is the same as hibernation only that it doesn't keep a save on your ssd.

If you go to "edit power plan" in windows settings and then choose "change advanced settings" and then select sleep in the window that shows up, there you can set sleep to whatever minutes you want and hibernate to whatever minutes you want,


TL,DR:
For example put sleep to 15 or 30 minutes, so if you don't use the PC for a little while it doesn't completely shut off, and put hibernate to 60 or 90 minutes so if you leave your system alone for that long it goes to hibernate to save power.
Change the numbers to whatever best reflects the way you use your PC.

 

[Bob.B]

Thanks.
Which mode is ideal for me?
I have a 500 gb ssd = OS drive
1 tb sata = data drive.

Just use shutdown and forget about that other stuff.
K.I.S.S.