How To Enable Sleep, Hibernate and Hybrid Sleep on Windows 10?

Have you worked on for hours and require a break or power nap of a few minutes? Your computer, though the machine, requires a few minutes of rest too and while doing so it would save energy. Instead of keeping your computer turned on, you can put it to sleep, hibernate or a combination of both. Read on to know the difference of various power saving modes and which would be best suited for you.

What is Sleep in Windows 10?

Sleep is a power-saving option in Windows 10 that enables the PC to slip into a low power mode to conserve energy. The low power is supplied only to RAM which takes a snapshot of your computer in its last active state. Once the user activates the PC, it resumes from the exact same state, gathering information from the RAM within seconds. The PC does not take time to wake from sleep and can be put to sleep voluntarily or by adjusting power settings and setting it to switch to sleep mode within a few minutes of activity.

Note: if the PC exhausts its battery to 0%, then the RAM loses the power and the memory of the last working state is lost. It would start as a new reboot with no memory of your previous work.

What is Hibernate in Windows 10?

As compared to Sleep mode, Hibernation consumes the lowest power or no power at all. Instead of saving your current work on the RAM, hibernate mode saves it all on your hard drive. It is important to have the same amount of free space on your hard disk as the capacity of your RAM. It saves the current snapshot of your ongoing processes in the form of a file by the name of Hiberfil.sys. When the user wakes the computer from the Hibernate mode, the computer takes more time as it reads all the data from the hard drive instead of the RAM. Though it was designed for Laptops to conserve energy and save power, this feature is also available on desktops as well.

Note: Even if the laptop loses power, the previous working state of the computer can be restored from the hard disk at any time in a hibernating computer.

What is Hybrid Sleep in Windows 10?

As the name suggests, Hybrid Sleep combines the best of both Hibernate and Sleep modes. It captures the current snapshot of your computer’s ongoing processes into the RAM and hard drive as well. This enables the user to wake the computer with immediate effect and if during the Hybrid sleep the computer loses all its charge, the computer can still restore back via the file saved on the hard drive.

Note: If the hybrid sleep mode in Windows 10 is turned on then putting your computer into sleep mode will automatically put it into hybrid sleep.

Differences between Sleep, Hibernate & Hybrid Sleep Mode.

All these power-saving modes do sound similar at one point or another. But there are subtle differences between them and in order to understand them clearly, take a look at the table below:

No	Feature	Sleep	Hibernate	Hybrid Sleep
1	RAM	Running	Stopped	Running
2	Power	Low Power	No Power	Low Power
3	Restart	Immediate	Takes time	Immediate
4	Point of Resume	Same	Same	Same
5	Storage Memory	Not required	Free Space required the same as RAM.	Free Space required same as RAM.

Which mode to choose and when?

Power Saving modes are important not just because they help conserve energy and same your electricity bill but also it provides rest to your computer when not in use

1) If you have a power outage and you are using UPS in its final stage, it is better to put the computer in hybrid sleep so you can resume your work when the power resumes.

2) It is not convenient to shut down every time you are not using the computer. You would have to save all your work and close all the open files and applications. Sleep mode would allow you to save your session and conserve the power at the same time.

3) Hibernate mode is best used while traveling as you are not sure when you would get an opportunity to plug in the laptop to work on and charge it.

How to enable Hibernate in Windows 10?

Laptops have one major limitation which is regarding their power backup. Keeping that in mind, Microsoft has activated Hibernate mode as default on Laptops. On desktop computers, hybrid sleep gets the advantage of being activated. However, we can activate both modes on both the devices with a small change in the settings.

To enable or disable hibernate mode in Windows 10 on desktop computers, follow the steps given below:

1. Press the Windows key and the letter “I” together on your keyboard, to open the settings window.

2. Choose ‘System’ from the list of setting options.

3. From the list on the left, choose ‘Power & Sleep’.

4. On the far right, click on ‘Additional Power Settings’. A new window will open.

 

 

5. Click on the second option on the left which is labeled as ‘Choose what the power buttons do’. The window changes its options.

 

6. Click on ‘Change settings that are currently unavailable’.

7. This would allow you to select the ‘Hibernate’ option which was greyed out earlier.

8. Click on ‘Save Changes’ on the bottom of the window.

 

9. Close all the windows. Check the power options by clicking the start menu button on the left-bottom corner. You will find that the Hibernate option is now a part of the shutdown options.

Note: The above steps can also be used to turn off hibernation in Windows 10.

Hibernate mode in Windows 10 is the best power-saving mode as it saves work in progress on your hard drive. It does take a minute extra to wake from the hibernation, but it guarantees that the work would always be saved, and you can restart from where you left off. And it does not consume power in doing so.

We hope you find this article helpful. Also, do let us know your thoughts on which power saving mode you think is the best.

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