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powercfg /hibernate size The output showed: Hibernation file size: 40% of total memory (approx. 18.9 GB) windows 11 disable hibernation file
Frustrated, she opened and clicked “Show more categories.” That’s when she saw it: “System & reserved” was huge. In , she saw the main drive (C:) and clicked “Properties
She dug deeper. In , she saw the main drive (C:) and clicked “Properties.” Still not clear. Fast Startup is a hybrid hibernation mode
She verified with:
dir C:\hiberfil.sys “File not found” — success. Yes — but she didn’t care. Fast Startup is a hybrid hibernation mode. Without hibernation, Windows boots slightly slower (an extra 2–3 seconds on her SSD). Sleep still worked perfectly, and she gained back critical disk space for video projects. What if you do want Fast Startup but not a huge hibernation file? You can keep Fast Startup but shrink the hibernation file to 20% of RAM (minimum safe size):
She had , so Windows reserved roughly 6–8 GB normally — but here it was almost 19 GB . Why? The real issue Hibernation ( hiberfil.sys ) stores everything in RAM to disk so you can shut down and pick up exactly where you left off. But Windows 11 increases that file to up to 40–50% of RAM if Fast Startup (hybrid shutdown) or hibernation is enabled — even if she never used hibernation.