Hibernate, sleep or shut down?

[PoliSlix]

Since Macs don't have a "hibernate" option, it's always sleep for me in my household. Rarely, we shut down the iMac, usually only if we're going someplace away from the home for many days.

 

[Brendino]

I just use the sleep/standby mode, just because it takes a very long time for my computer to boot up after it was turned off. I used to do hibernation, but my system crashed the last 2 times I tried it, so now I just put it in sleep.

 

[Mr Cat Dog]

With my laptop, I tend to alternate between shutting it down completely and closing the lid so it goes into standby mode. The battery can last for a few days in sleep mode so I don't feel as guilty about it as if I were to leave a desktop open... but sometimes I want the security of knowing that my laptop is off, hence the occasional shut-down. Although my old roommate would never turn his laptop off and have it on constant, which I always thought was a bit of a waste.

Oh, and 6,000 posts! Yay!

 

[curiousnathan]

Hibernate tbh; I can't be bothered shuting it down since it is guaranteed that I am going to use it again. XD;

 

[Dr.Kotov]

Shutdown when I can, but since I use the computer a lot, I leave it on hibernate, or usually, just switch the monitor off. Most of the time it's like that, on hibernate.

 

[Captain Hobo.]

I always just shut down, because that is what my dad told me to do :P

 

[~Ryukaa]

With my desktop, I always shut down. It's ancient, and I wouldn't want to make it worse than it is. The laptop, on the other hand is usually on hibernate when I'm not using it.

 

[Cherrim]

I used to use hibernate for all my computers but I've sort of grown out of that habit now.

With my desktop, I either leave it on all the time or shut it down every night. :/ I remember hibernating it soon after I got it and it kept whirring which kept me awake and I haven't really tried it since.

On my netbook, I have the power button set to standby, so that it sleeps quickly and turns on right away when I want to use it again.

 

[Buoysel]

My Netbook is either shutdown or sleep mode depending on how soon I'm going to be using it next. My laptop, which I use as a desktop almost never gets shut off. Both computers are set to hibernate if battery reaches critical level so I can continue what I was doing before the battery ran out. My file/print server is also never shut off.

 

[Archer]

My desktop just gets turned off. Overclocking and sleeping don't always give the best results :D

My Macbook just sleeps, however.

 

[Raiskit]

I either sleep or hibernate; I rarely ever turn off my computer. Usually because I have something up; but even when I don't I rarely shut it off.

 

[Pyrax]

Shutdown.
My laptop tends to overheat if I leave it on for too long.

 

[Stash]

My desktop just gets turned off. Overclocking and sleeping don't always give the best results :D

My Macbook just sleeps, however.

I literally wanted to say the exact same thing, or something similar at least.

So, yeah. I pretty much shut down my desktop and 'sleep' my Macbook.

 

[linkinpark187]

My desktop generally gets put into hibernate when I'm not using it, unless it's a long period in which it's a shut down and unplug. The laptop gets put into hibernate, but not all the time. I don't enjoy, nor will I ever use, sleep again. And if you use it for your laptop, I highly recommend not doing that. Hibernate is the better choice for laptops if you plan on using it again, soon. Sleep still leaves the hard drive spinning. This means that if your system is still running and you drop it, you might as well kiss your data goodbye.

 

[donavannj]

My desktop generally gets put into hibernate when I'm not using it, unless it's a long period in which it's a shut down and unplug. The laptop gets put into hibernate, but not all the time. I don't enjoy, nor will I ever use, sleep again. And if you use it for your laptop, I highly recommend not doing that. Hibernate is the better choice for laptops if you plan on using it again, soon. Sleep still leaves the hard drive spinning. This means that if your system is still running and you drop it, you might as well kiss your data goodbye.

Not true, actually. Sleep state on modern OSes (like Vista and 7) saves the system state to the RAM and copies that to the hard drive as well, cutting power to the hard drive as soon as it's done copying the RAM onto the hard drive, to prevent the loss of data from power loss. Older sleep states just save the system state to the RAM and skip copying it to the hard drive.

Hibernate, meanwhile, actually cuts power to the RAM after saving the state to the hard drive, so it takes longer to restore from Hibernate mode as opposed to Sleep mode because it absolutely must load the state from the hard drive, while Sleep mode only has to to that when it loses power.

Just so you're aware: RAM does not have any moving parts at all. It works very similarly to flash memory.

 

[danno 507]

I put mine on sleep mode(close the lid) for the day cuz i know im goin to use it later and im not bothered waiting for it to start up all over again then when i go to bed i shut it down for the night.

 

[Legobricks]

Desktop: I shut it down. If I'm going for a short time I'll only turn the monitor off (leaving the actual computer running normally).

Sleep state on modern OSes (like Vista and 7) saves the system state to the RAM and copies that to the hard drive as well, cutting power to the hard drive as soon as it's done copying the RAM onto the hard drive, to prevent the loss of data from power loss. Older sleep states just save the system state to the RAM and skip copying it to the hard drive.

Tell me if you can, do any of Windows 95, 98 or 98SE do that?

 

[donavannj]

Tell me if you can, do any of Windows 95, 98 or 98SE do that?

I don't think so. I'm pretty sure that feature was absent from XP, as well. It seems to be a development that has occurred since 2005.

 

[Pokemon Trainer Touko]

I put it on sleep mode; I rarely shut it down. XD

 

[Meganium]

I always put it on sleep mode. Hibernation is just the same as shutting down except that hibernation saves your stuff. I find sleep mode easier to manage because whenever I open my laptop lid, I just enter my password and boom. I'm on. xD