Enabling hibernation in Linux Mint

[kjbinstl]

I've used linux for, I don't know, 25+ years. Lack of an easy hibernation option is now the single issue that almost makes me regret having linux on my laptop.

Seriously, has any laptop user ever NOT wanted a "hibernate" option?! Sure, suspend to RAM is great for 5 minutes or half an hour. But if you put your laptop into a case for a flight, you'd better hope it doesn't reactivate (even to shut down) and then overheat in the airless, insulated case and ruin the CPU or the battery. And shutting down and restarting as an alternative ... I mean, on a laptop? The whole point is to have it on quickly when you turn it on.

Anyway, my considered (and obviously correct ) opinion is:
Hibernation setup should be a routine option during installation, and then it should be integrated into the shutdown & power-saving menus. And whole-disk encryption with hibernation should be fairly automatic, too.

[import_antigravity]

I also would like to have this feature. Thank you.

[smurphos]

And shutting down and restarting as an alternative ... I mean, on a laptop? The whole point is to have it on quickly when you turn it on.

Have you tested linux Hibernate restart speeds recently - hint - it takes longer to boot and load a hibernation image to RAM than it does just to boot.

What you really want is Hybrid Sleep as the default for laptops - suspends to RAM, with a Hibernate backup image should the machine run out of juice whilst suspended to RAM.

[Cosmo.]

The wish of the OP is understandable and it could be supported, but

There are a serious number of machines, which give problems with hibernation. From this group there are those, which do not hibernate at all and the others, which do hibernate, but do not properly get back to the working system.

The first group is the more lucky one, because the hibernate command (if added to the GUI) sits there as a fake command, but it does no harm. The latter group is the really problematic one, because it does probably mean data loss.

If your machine belongs to those, which can properly restore from hibernation, than you are lucky. (I belong to them, so I have experience with it.) But that are too few of them and with hibernation offered as an option for all it would mean, that very many users fall into the data loss trap.

Under the line: Providing hibernation as a routine option would lead to a great number of users complaining about data loss. This again could lead to a bad reputation for the distribution.

it takes longer to boot and load a hibernation image to RAM than it does just to boot.

From my experience this is only partially correct. With a magnetic drive this is actually true, but with my nvme drive there is no difference, but the advantage, that the working environment is back at the state, where I left it. At the end I have saved time.

What you really want is Hybrid Sleep as the default for laptops - suspends to RAM, with a Hibernate backup image should the machine run out of juice whilst suspended to RAM.

This is already there in the power setting, you only need to activate it. But it is only there, if the possibility to hibernate is activated, without that it would anyway have no meaning. I agree that this is perhaps the most important usage of hibernation, but only if it is ensured, that the machine can properly restore the session.

[Pjotr]

There are a serious number of machines, which give problems with hibernation. From this group there are those, which do not hibernate at all and the others, which do hibernate, but do not properly get back to the working system.

+ 1

In the past, I've seen too many victims of that in Ubuntu. We're better off with the current default non-availability of hibernation. That's just the way it is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlRQjzltaMQ

[mideal]

And shutting down and restarting as an alternative ... I mean, on a laptop? The whole point is to have it on quickly when you turn it on.

Have you tested linux Hibernate restart speeds recently - hint - it takes longer to boot and load a hibernation image to RAM than it does just to boot.

What you really want is Hybrid Sleep as the default for laptops - suspends to RAM, with a Hibernate backup image should the machine run out of juice whilst suspended to RAM.

My two cents:
Hybrid Sleep would just be great, and the fastest solution.
As long as that is not available (where's the problem, or why isn't a solution lonked here?) I'm fine with a full hibernation (i.e. suspend to disk).
Indeed, a fresh boot to dsktop is faster than thawing a 16GB machine even on a fast nvme sdd.
But who would hibernate an empty desktop?
I got five workplaces with thunderbird, libre office, several nemo windows, ext editors, and IDE, firefox with seven Windows and about 80 tabs, VLC, Gnote, Warpinator, one or two terminals, Filezilla, jameica, Youtube, offline magazines and cheat sheet pdfs open.
When I want to continue where I stopped without hibernation I have to write myself down some notes...(I do, in fact, since I setup my system last week from scratch again and haven't reactivated hibernation yet.)

[smurphos]

Link viewtopic.php?p=1692822#p1692822

[Hoser Rob]

There are a serious number of machines, which give problems with hibernation. From this group there are those, which do not hibernate at all and the others, which do hibernate, but do not properly get back to the working system.

+ 1

In the past, I've seen too many victims of that in Ubuntu. We're better off with the current default non-availability of hibernation. That's just the way it is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlRQjzltaMQ

I totally agree. This isn't just a Mint issue, it affects all distros. If you think Mint is gonna solve ths longstanding issue you're quite mistaken.

I think the best solution for laptop users would be to replace their spinning drive with a SSD and then just use suspend instead. Then you don't have to worry about the HD not being parked during transit.

[nekrub2]

Where do you see the difference between hibernation and suspension?

I just click on the pause key and it sleeps immediately. Clicking on any other key makes Linux wake up in a second.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

When using a UPS, the only way for it to be able to automagically safely shut down an unattended computer when there has been a power outage for, say, more than a minute or two, is to tell the computer to hibernate. In this case, hibernation definitely is needed!

[Cosmo.]

Where do you see the difference between hibernation and suspension?

Suspension still needs a small amount of power. Hibernation does not need any power, so you can hibernate the machine as long as you want.

[nekrub2]

Thanks a lot for this clarification. As my battery is gone, so far I have always made a complete shut down, when relocating. Maybe I will try hibernate.

[nekrub2]

Tested out hibernation on Acer Aspire 4820TG from 2010 with only 4GB Ram on Mint 20.3 cinnamon but a separate swap partition. Hibernation works fine for me. Wake-up from hibernation in about 1 minute.

[poutnikl]

Have you tested linux Hibernate restart speeds recently - hint - it takes longer to boot and load a hibernation image to RAM than it does just to boot.

Waking up from hibernation may take longer time than booting, but shorter time than if one wants/needs to restore the applications to the state before being shut down or hibernated. Not speaking about the needed manual effort to do so.

How it comes I do not remember Windows having hibernation troubles, AFAIK? Except "wise" decision not to support hibernation in Vista 64 bit with 4+ GB RAM, returning it back in Windows 7 to calm down angry users.

[SMG]

Moderator note: bobihot's problem can now be found here Problem with one display when resuming from hibernation.

[AZgl1800]

I've used linux for, I don't know, 25+ years. Lack of an easy hibernation option is now the single issue that almost makes me regret having linux on my laptop.

Seriously, has any laptop user ever NOT wanted a "hibernate" option?! Sure, suspend to RAM is great for 5 minutes or half an hour. But if you put your laptop into a case for a flight, you'd better hope it doesn't reactivate (even to shut down) and then overheat in the airless, insulated case and ruin the CPU or the battery. And shutting down and restarting as an alternative ... I mean, on a laptop? The whole point is to have it on quickly when you turn it on.

Anyway, my considered (and obviously correct ) opinion is:
Hibernation setup should be a routine option during installation, and then it should be integrated into the shutdown & power-saving menus. And whole-disk encryption with hibernation should be fairly automatic, too.

IMO, Hibernation should NEVER be allowed, it is a constant source of problems.
I do NOT use any form of sleep mode, Lid closed is "do Nothing" , screen blankers, etc....
the only thing I do, is have the Screen Power OFF after 15 minutes of Non-use, and that has been working for me since computers were invented.

[duracell80]

At least having the option to hibernate and defaulted off would be the right way to go. There are support issues, but basically SSH into a machine and it'll tell you there's no guarantee the software will work. Enable the feature and have support policy around it that it's not a vendor supported feature, you continue at your own risk and level of support is at the community level only. That way then it's there as an option.

Not all progress is necessarily good progress as LTT notes with "Modern Standby".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHKKcd3sx2c

Modern = We thought it was a good idea at the time.

But what is the problem hibernation solves and can we find a way to emulate it properly? It's not boot speed, so to say boot speed is slow therefore we won't do it ... that's not the strongest reason. I don't use hibernate for resume speed, I use it to save battery. Right now my suspended most of the day and unplugged laptop is at 29%. This costs power, electricity is getting expensive.

The problem is save state to non volatile memory so that the machine is off.

Suspend is way worse for my laptop than Hibernate, what's the point of a laptop that is suspended and when needed is at 13% battery. Useless.

Standards could solve this. If the amount of memory being used is 4GB or less allow hibernate and if greater than that inform the user hibernate might not be the right approach with so many apps open. Apps could have the ability to save state upon "Faux Hibernate" that is to say it's an actual full shutdown but the open documents in an office app are saved to a database for example. Upon relaunch of the app (or better yet the DE), there's an agreed standard for a modal that asks to resume where you left off or start fresh.

Part of this problem is with manufacturers. Laptops are not smart phones or tablets, the machine doesn't need to stay active and even if it did, why not use two batteries, with one that maintains whatever phone like functionality is wanted while saving the main battery for active use.

[duracell80]

Or an even better solution ... if the machine has been suspended for x amount of time in a power consuming way. Suspend to disk automatically. Self preserve. It covers everybody, you get fast resume if you lift the lid under the x time and anything over that time you get a fuller battery when you slowly come back up. That difference between "fast" and "slow" resume may not even be all that big a difference but what's worse than a laptop at 8%? A brick, get some chalk and you can write notes on it.

Without hibernate in order to suspend and keep your battery charged you should never unplug the laptop ... it's "modern" this is progress

[robsku]

And shutting down and restarting as an alternative ... I mean, on a laptop? The whole point is to have it on quickly when you turn it on.

Have you tested linux Hibernate restart speeds recently - hint - it takes longer to boot and load a hibernation image to RAM than it does just to boot.

What you really want is Hybrid Sleep as the default for laptops - suspends to RAM, with a Hibernate backup image should the machine run out of juice whilst suspended to RAM.

That's, a) subjective, and b) not an issue for me.

By subjective I mean I guess it depends on how much memory you have (actually how much were you using at the time) and what kind of disk you have. With 16GiB RAM used and storage being spinning rust HDD, it's no wonder if it'll take ages.
My ThinkPad T450 with 20GiB RAM lost to my netboox from around 2010 (Asus Aspire One D270, IIRC). It had ~2.9GiB RAM (curious story - you can check wikipedia for that model and find this explained, so please people DON'T offer ideas for fixing it - but the thing only officially supports max. 2GiB, however if you put 4GiB RAM stick in it, the BIOS will show 4GB, but all OS's both 32- and 64-bit ones see only ~2.9GiB) and it's a real potato in comparison, but it resumed almost instantly in comparison to the ThinkPad which usually took a bit of time.
However, I only hibernate as last means. The important bit is that I can keep my work open, not if resuming takes a bit longer than starting fresh. Getting back to where I was with all applications is nearly impossible and takes much longer anyway.

But yes, I would love hybrid sleep.

[wwblm]

This was an interesting thread for me. Have only used Mint on laptops and had no idea that they weren't hibernating. Ignorance is bliss sometimes and thankfully, never experienced any issues during the time one of my laptops was running a spinning HD. As a long-time Mac laptop user, I just expected it to go to "sleep" when the lid closed and it sure appeared to me to do just that. Did not know that there was a difference between hibernate and suspend until today. As a practical matter, I use my computer pretty much every day. I did have a mint laptop that was only for more occasional use. I did notice that sometimes when I would want to use that machine it would be dead. Now that I understand how things work, it is pretty simple for me. Shut down if not going to use for a few days. Otherwise suspend is fine for me.