What is difference, hibernate/standby/shut down

[Dorlaie]

I have read the differences in using power....So would I
use shut down when I am going away for a day or two,
standby for a few hours and hibernate when it is 5 or more
hours let's say?

 

[David Adner]

Simple definitions:

Shutdown - System goes through its shutdown cycle by stopping all
programs and services, then powers off the system completely.

Hibernate - System stores whatever's running in memory to a special
hibernation file, then powers off the system completely. When you power
the system back up, the OS reads the hibernation file and restores what
was running back into memory.

Standby - System goes into a partial shutdown where it keeps everything
in memory but still requires a minimal amount of memory to maintain
everything. So if you unplugged the system or the battery drained in a
notebook, you'd lose what was in memory.