How does sleep work?

[macmee]

After switching over from a PC several weeks ago everything's going great. On my PC I liked to use the hibernate feature when I was in the middle of something and had to run. I think on the Mac this is called deep sleep, but I can't find the option to do this. Can deep sleep be enabled on an Aluminum iMac?

Thanks,
Dave

 

[miles01110]

Well sleep mode can be accessed from the apple menu. If you want to fine tune your settings, go to system preferences -> Energy saver. I guess the equivalent of "hibernate" would be to check the box that says "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible."

 

[MooneyFlyer]

After switching over from a PC several weeks ago everything's going great. On my PC I liked to use the hibernate feature when I was in the middle of something and had to run. I think on the Mac this is called deep sleep, but I can't find the option to do this. Can deep sleep be enabled on an Aluminum iMac?

Thanks,
Dave

I'm not aware of that option. For an iMac (non-portable) isn't sleep good enough? The machine is essentially off with some small watchdog on the keyboard / mouse.

 

[Catfish_Man]

Hibernate isn't explicitly available on Macs*, but sleep mode is a deeper sleep than standby on PCs.


*laptops will hibernate just before running out of battery, but it's not something you can choose in the UI.

 

[jmann]

click apple> click sleep.

 

[allan.nyholm]

Here's a widget that enables deep sleep or safe sleep on Macs http://deepsleep.free.fr/ - read the documentation available on the website.

I have not personally tried this widget but Intel iMacs are mentioned as working so I assume that Aluminum iMacs has this feature too. Although I'm not sure.

 

[Nermal]

Some of you don't seem to be familiar with the Hibernate feature in Windows. It takes a copy of your RAM and saves it to the hard drive. You can then power off the system completely (unplug it) and then wake it from hibernation later (which takes several seconds).

 

[macmee]

Thank you for the quick responses! Can I just substitute turning off my iMac with putting it in standby, or will that wear it faster? (I'm not entirely sure what components are running when I'm in standby)

Thanks,
Dave

 

[miles01110]

Some of you don't seem to be familiar with the Hibernate feature in Windows. It takes a copy of your RAM and saves it to the hard drive. You can then power off the system completely (unplug it) and then wake it from hibernation later (which takes several seconds).

Well I don't use Windows- is this similar to when I shut the lid on my Macbook Pro and switch out the battery without the adapter plugged in?

Anyways-

Can I just substitute turning off my iMac with putting it in standby, or will that wear it faster? (I'm not entirely sure what components are running when I'm in standby)

As long as you don't mind using the minimal power it requires to maintain standby. Hardly anything is running (especially if you spin down the hard drive), so any depreciation of component life is going to be negligible compared to how long you'll likely use the machine.

 

[ppc750fx]

Thank you for the quick responses! Can I just substitute turning off my iMac with putting it in standby, or will that wear it faster? (I'm not entirely sure what components are running when I'm in standby)

Thanks,
Dave

Putting the computer to sleep (as opposed to powering it off) won't affect the lifespan of the computer at all.

 

[macmee]

Ok, thank you very much guys.

 

[gbafana]

Here's a widget that enables deep sleep or safe sleep on Macs http://deepsleep.free.fr/ - read the documentation available on the website.

I have not personally tried this widget but Intel iMacs are mentioned as working so I assume that Aluminum iMacs has this feature too. Although I'm not sure.

I use Deep Sleep it is pretty much the same as 'Hibernate' in windows.
Havent used it for long time but it is working tilll now without any problems.
Nice Widget!