Member Avatar for Ritesh_4

Hello, I recently activated the hibernate option on my computer, but found out that the Hiberfil.sys file takes around 2-3GB of space on the hard-disk. Why is that so?

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is correct that Hiberfil.sys exists to preserve RAM contents for hibernation, but a few clarifications help explain the 2–3GB size and whether it can be moved.

The file is reserved on the boot/system volume (typically C:\hiberfil.sys) and its size is tied to physical memory. Windows needs enough room to store the active contents of RAM (plus a small overhead for kernel state), so a machine with roughly 2GB of RAM will typically show a ~2GB hiberfile. On newer Windows builds there are options that produce a smaller, “reduced” hibernation file used for fast startup, but that trades off full hibernate support.

It is not supported to relocate the file to another drive. Resume happens very early in the boot process, before other volumes or advanced filesystem redirections are reliably available, so Windows requires the file on the system/boot partition root. Attempts to use junctions, symbolic links or manual moves can break resume and are not a safe solution.

Practical alternatives: if hibernation is not needed, remove it using the supported system tool (requires administrator rights) and Windows will delete the file; if hibernation is desired but disk space is tight, consider using the OS powercfg options to switch to a reduced hibernation file (this reduces space but disables full hibernate), move large user data off the system partition, or increase the system drive size. Never delete C:\hiberfil.sys by hand — use Windows tools — and always test changes on a backup or non-critical machine first.

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Member Avatar for siungaku

hi. Hiberfil.sys is file, where windows stores your current data in Ram for Hibernate power management. so 2-3GB is normal. on my PC it takes arount 4Gb. you can disable Hibernate mode, and this file will be deleted. powercfg -h off command will disable Hibernate mode. note, that you should run command prompt in administrator mode

Member Avatar for Ritesh_4

thanks for the info...
Is it possible however to move this file to another hard-disk with more space available and use it from there?

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