If your Windows computer has low disk space, you might be looking for a way to clear disk space – especially on the System Drive. Now, does Windows show you all the files and folders it contains by default? No. There are some protected files and folders that remain hidden by default. The Hibernation file or hiberfil.sys is among these protected and hidden files.
The hibernation or hiberfil.sys file is created by the Windows operating system. This file is used when a user puts his system in hibernation mode. Many users confuse the term hibernation with sleep mode. Though both of these modes are used to save power supply when the system is not in use, there is a difference between hibernation and sleep mode.
While Sleep mode saves the data in RAM, hibernation mode saves data on the hard drive. Due to this feature, the hibernation file takes massive space on the System or C drive. Since the C drive should have empty space for the better performance of the system, many users have a question, “Can I move the hibernation (hyberfil.sys) file to another drive?”
Read: How to reduce the size of hiberfil.sys.
Can I move the hiber.sys file to another drive?
Can you really move the Hibernation file? The answer is No!
When you hibernate your PC, Windows stores the current state of your system in the hiberfil.sys file. When you turn on your PC after hibernation state, it takes the information stored in the hiberfil.sys file and lets you resume your work from where you had left. This means that the hibernation file is required in the boot process. For this, it needs to be placed in the system’s boot drive.
If a user wants to read the boot files off the disk, he needs the file system driver, which is located on the disk. The hiberfil.sys also follows the same pattern. In the case of the hibernation file, a miniature file system driver is used. The miniature file system only knows to locate the file in the root directory of the boot drive and load it into memory whenever required. Also, the miniature file system does not understand the mount points.
To change the location of the hiberfil.sys file, the miniature file system should know the location and mount points. For this, you have to access the Disk Management Tool and configure the hard drives, which is a complex process. That’s why Windows does not support moving the hibernation file from the boot drive to another drive.
Can I delete the Hibernation file?
This is another question that many Windows users have. Many users want to delete it to free up space. Well, you can – and the best way would be to disable Hibernation by executing the following command in CMD:
powercfg /hibernate off
When you turn off Hibernation on your laptop, the hiberfil.sys file will be deleted.
Hope this article helped you understand why you cannot move and delete the hibernation file.
Read next: How to specify Hiberfile type as full or reduced.
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