If you are a Windows user, you might have come across or have used a popular feature known as hibernation mode. For someone who wants to save their work and resume from the same bookmark where they left off, it is one of the widely used features. It’s an alternative to the shutdown that happens when the lid is closed as the default in most laptops. If it’s not the case with your laptop, you can follow these steps officially given by Microsoft.
It’s a convenient measure, not shutting down the system, just moving from one hibernation session to another. For many, it’s the default way to power off.
But! Is it a wise thing to just hibernate the PC every time you wish to take a break? Well! It may feel harmless, but it comes with a hidden cost, especially for the systems that are using SSDs (Solid State drives).
In this article, we’ll have an idea about why repeatedly hibernating your PC can degrade the capability of your SSDs. How it works behind the scenes and what measures should you take to protect your drive’s health.
The Impact of Hibernation on SSDs
When you hibernate your system, despite simply pausing your work, the system makes a smart move of writing the entire content of your RAM into a file on SSD called hiberfil.sys. This file is used to restore the entire session into the RAM once you turn the system on.
Now, technically, every time you hibernate, there is an interaction of writing between your SSD and RAM. Your SSD is forced to write tons of data, regardless of whether you want it or not, in the next session. This is more problematic if you have large-capacity RAM like 16 GB or 32 GB. Just imagine writing 32 GB of data every time you close the lid off.
Having been designed with a finite number of write cycles, SSDs can accelerate wear if the cycles written reach the threshold of cycles allowed. Especially if we consider the low budget of DRAM-less SSDs, it is one of the main causes of the gradual degradation of SSDs.
In short, frequent hibernation can become a serial killing move to your SSD, degrading it over time without your realizing it. The more RAM you have, the more severe the effect.
As the impact of all these technical means, over time, the constant strain from hibernation can lead to performance slowdown, noticeable hiccups, and in some cases, even drive failure, especially in SSDs with lower write endurance.
Even NVMe drives that have some of the most premium price tags aren’t immune to this. Although they write data faster, they are still prone to wear if subjected to frequent and large unnecessary writes, particularly in systems with systems having higher memory.
Many users hibernate the PC with the impression that it is the smartest and the fastest way to resume work. But in reality, if the hibernation is bloated with some memory-heavy sessions, a regular shutdown + startup can sometimes be faster.
Why writing cause wear and how does hibernation contribute to it?
SSDs have various mechanisms like wear-leveling, TRIM, and garbage collection to either reduce or manage the wear to its flash memory. Writing the data to SSDs is destructive for the NAND flash cells. Each memory cell is made up of either a floating gate or a charge trap flash transistor. The data is stored in the form of different charge levels inside these cells.
If we have to write the data to a cell, the charge has to pass through the insulation layer, as you can see in the image above. Each time we write the data to a cell, this insulation layer degrades, and over time, the data retention capacity reduces. Wear leveling is used to distribute this damage over the memory cells.
All SSDs are designed to reduce the unnecessary writing of data as much as possible. But hibernation doesn’t align with this concept and adds to the total written data without any real need for most users.
Alternatives to Hibernation
If you are using hibernation for convenience, there are still smarter and SSD-friendly measure that offers almost the same benefits along with assured less write load.
1. Use Sleep Mode for Short Breaks
Sleep mode can be a good alternative to hibernating. While you are in sleep mode, the RAM keeps running but with minimal power. Sleep is ideal for short sessions of breaks. It resumes instantly and never writes anything to your SSD. Conceptually, both can sound the same, but in the sleep mode, your system isn’t off, and the data stays inside the RAM. In hibernation, the system is shuts down completely with the current data loaded off the the secondary drive.
2. Fast Startup (Windows)
In Windows, there is a feature called Fast Startup. You can think of it as a hybrid option between shutdown and hibernation. It’s a bit similar to hibernation, but the data saved is only limited to kernel level (not your entire session), resulting in a faster boot. Here is how you can enable it.
- Press Windows Key + R to open the Run menu and enter powercfg.cpl
- Inside the Power Options menu, click Choose what the power buttons do.
- On the next page, click the option Change settings that are currently unavailable.
- On the next page, check the box that says Turn on fast startup (recommended).
This is a great alternative to hibernation because it helps the system start faster after you shut it down manually. Restarting is not affected by this option.
2. Proper Shutdown and Restart
A clean shutdown and restart is always the healthiest option to choose, as it helps in clearing memory leaks, refreshing system processes, and improving the overall stability of the system.
Expert Tips for SSD Health
If you really want your SSD to last longer, beyond just hibernating, here are some pro-level tips to keep your drive at peak performance.
1. Enable TRIM
NAND-based SSDs write the data in pages. 128 pages together form a data block. TRIM helps erase a data block that is no longer needed on the drive. This helps in fast writing with minimal wear. On Windows, TRIM is a default setting, but in case it is disabled in your system, you can enable it following this guide.
2. Update Firmware Regularly
The firmware support in SSD is not just a boast; firmware updates actually fix bugs, improve the stability, and increase the lifespan of the overall drive. All you need to do is to buy an SSD with firmware support and regularly visit the manufacturer’s website to see if an update has been pushed to your specific model.
3. Use an SSD-friendly OS
The most popular operating systems, such as Windows 10/11, macOS, and modern Linux distros such as Ubuntu, Fedora, and Linux Mint, come with prebuilt SSD optimization features, such as enabling background TRIM and disabling scheduled defrags.
4. Use a good SSD with high TBW
SSDs come with different levels of TBW limits, and one with a higher TBW means it would have higher write endurance as well. So, this, in general, will give you peace of mind for the stored data.
Myth Busting
“Hibernation is always safer than sleep.”
Many users believe that hibernation is the smartest way of saving a session, especially during power loss. It’s true that hibernation writes data to the disk, making it recoverable, but modern laptops are designed to handle sleep extremely efficiently as well, with low-power mode and smart battery management.
Unless you plan to leave your device off for certain days, Sleep mode is safe, fast, and less harmful for your SSD.
“Modern SSDs can handle anything.”
Agreed that today’s SSDs are far more capable than their predecessors. But that never means they are invincible. Write endurance matters. Besides, just because your SSD won’t fail tomorrow, you should never ignore long-term wear from excessive hibernation practices or frequent large file transfers.
Conclusion
Most of you might have assumed hibernation was a harmless shortcut, but in the long term, it can silently kill your SSD, especially in the case of a large RAM setup. Apart from relying on just one shortcut, it’s always a wise idea to consider other alternatives like sleep mode for short breaks, fast startup for quick boots, and regular shutdown to make sure your SSD lasts longer.
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