The Difference Between Hibernate, Standby and Sleep Modes
Lifehacker referred a great article explaining the simple difference between Hibernate and Standby mode on Windows computers.
I’ve always wondered what the exact difference was, other than a noticeable resume speed variation, if I put my PC to standby or hibernate.
After reading this article from Productivity Portfolio I now understand the simple difference:
Hibernate essentially shuts down [...]
Lifehacker referred a great article explaining the simple difference between Hibernate and Standby mode on Windows computers.
I’ve always wondered what the exact difference was, other than a noticeable resume speed variation, if I put my PC to standby or hibernate.
After reading this article from Productivity Portfolio I now understand the simple difference:
Hibernate essentially shuts down your computer whilst backing up your info on the harddrive, not RAM. So this is just shutting down and resuming where you left things.
Standby stores information in RAM and cuts the power to your harddrive and peripherals, hence quickly starting up and kicking in the monitor etc. Good for saving power for shorter periods of time.
What I wanted to know, after finding this out, was the Mac equivelant. Thanks to Andrew Escobar I get it:
Sleep mode does the same as Window’s Standby and saves your RAM while cutting power to anything else. This uses very little power, which is great for iBook/Macbook users.
The rest:
Powerbook users have Safe Sleep which is more like Window’s Hibernate. The Mac saves your data on the harddrive and puts the computer into ‘Sleep’ mode. If all your battery’s power is used, the Powerbook will shut down and start up again once you plug back in.
Linux users have Software Suspends which saves to the harddrive and completely shuts down your computer, resuming there after.
I hope that clears some things up, it has for me. Please let me know if there is anything I’ve buggered up or any additional information you know of.
Tags: linux
