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Presence of hiberfile sys file for several months

randall Posted messages 531 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   -  
fabul Posted messages 42325 Registration date   Status Moderator Last intervention   -

Hello,

On my desktop PC running Windows 10, when I click on shut down or disconnect, I have 4 options: shut down, disconnect, restart, and sleep.

I don't have the hibernate option, and I can't find it in the sleep options.

However, on my hard drive, I can find the hiberfile.sys file of 8 GB that is dated October 2023.

How is it possible that I have such a file from that date, even though I don't have the hibernate option?

Can I delete this file, and how do I do that since it's a system file?

Thank you for the answer.

5 answers

  1.
    fabul Posted messages 42325 Registration date   Status Moderator Last intervention   6 097
     

    Hello,

    Hibernating damages SSDs by writing to the SSD while emptying the RAM, which is no longer powered each time, unlike sleep mode which keeps the RAM active, but not the rest.

    Even if the file has not been used, it maintains its default size.

    If you don't have a disk space issue, you can leave it.

    But it is possible to reduce the hiberfil.sys file size to, for example, 20% with a command.

    powercfg /h /type reduced

     

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    1. brucine Posted messages 25338 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   4 196
       

      Hello,

      The presence of the hiberfil.sys file makes no sense if there is no hibernation (I don't have it); the command (admin) powercfg -h off normally disables it and removes it, but nothing prevents you from deleting it manually if that's not the case.

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      1. fabul Posted messages 42325 Registration date   Status Moderator Last intervention   6 097 > brucine Posted messages 25338 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention  
         

        Hello,

        Back in the Vista days, I had 8GB of RAM and I think I removed it at the time and had big problems, coincidence? After an accidental sleep mode, since then I've been leaving it alone, even though Windows has evolved well since then and the risks might be lower.

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      2. brucine Posted messages 25338 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   4 196 > fabul Posted messages 42325 Registration date   Status Moderator Last intervention  
         

        As mentioned, I have neither on my new Windows 11 PC nor on the Windows 10 Pro virtual machine that I recently installed (which, by definition, can only use a portion of the RAM, 8 GB in this case), and without any particular issues.

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  2. randall Posted messages 531 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   9
     

    Thank you for the response, but when I look at my PC, it is indeed the hibernation mode that is active because when I click on sleep upon restarting, I find myself with the software I had open. However, I do not have the hibernation option in the sleep settings in any of the modes, only the sleep mode, and therefore I cannot uncheck hibernation.

    Where can the hibernation option be located?

    Thank you.

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  3. randall Posted messages 531 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   9
     

    Thank you Brucine for your response. I just found the explanation for my problem, which is that I have the SSD Fresh software that optimizes SSD drives, and one option disables hibernation. I tried using the administrator command powercfg -h off, but it doesn't work, and it's impossible to remove it manually since you need administrative privileges.

    What should I do?

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    1. brucine Posted messages 25338 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   4 196
       

      Notwithstanding flo88's suggestion to test, connect under an administrator account or go through Unlocker, but I don't know your third-party software and how it might influence the issue (nor, for that matter, why one might need to "optimize" an SSD):

      https://www.commentcamarche.net/telecharger/utilitaires/22737-unlocker/

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    2. fabul Posted messages 42325 Registration date   Status Moderator Last intervention   6 097
       

      You can always create a Ventoy USB drive, put the latest Ubuntu ISO on it, boot from Ventoy, then boot from the CD in Live mode (Try Ubuntu) instead of Install Ubuntu, and with that, you can delete whatever you want without any issues.

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  4. flo88 Posted messages 28539 Registration date   Status Contributor Last intervention   Ambassador 5 191
     

    Hello

    Depending on the BIOS configuration and the versions of Windows, sleep mode is often just a normal shutdown (shut down).

    It's easy to see; just look at the task manager, performance tab, processor, and check the bottom of the dialog box for the "up time" line. If it is greater than the elapsed time since shutdown-startup, then your Windows is indeed going into hibernation.

    Signature
    Waiting for more responses; I attract trolls....

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  6. randall Posted messages 531 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   9
     

    I am getting back to you. I have reactivated hibernation on SSD Fresh and then deleted hiberfil.sys with powercfg -h off. It was successfully deleted, and I reactivated the hibernation deletion function on SSD Fresh.

    SSD Fresh is a very useful software that optimizes SSD disks with plenty of settings, including disabling file indexing, enabling TRIM, and disabling fast boot, kernel paging, and hibernation, etc.

    Thank you all for the inconvenience.

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    1. fabul Posted messages 42325 Registration date   Status Moderator Last intervention   6 097
       

      I use SSD Booster .NET for my part

      Which is just an executable with no installation.

      But I have also used SSDFresh in a Giveaway.

      It's good what these programs do to limit SSD wear.

      @+

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