With the official release of Win8, the user's attention to Windows8 has penetrated into all aspects, of which the speed of Win8 switch has been recognized by users, even on the configuration of luxury computers. It is 8 seconds to complete Win8 boot. Weibo and the forum are also about the discussion of the speed of the Win8 switch. If you don't try it yourself, it is really difficult to understand the speed of the Windows 8 boot.
We have done some tests on the boot speed of Win8 in some of the earlier articles. What is the truth about Win8 booting? Let's take a look at the bottom of the question, and with these questions, to get a deeper look at the root layer of Win8 boot speed can achieve such a realm. Comprehensive analysis of the various technologies behind the Win8 switch.
false shutdown or true sleep? Win8 switch machine planing roots
This article will analyze the evaluation of three questions
What is "mixed start"? Win8 integrates the existing boot mode and the new fast sleep and wake-up features to reduce the data write of memory temporary storage, greatly reducing the time for hard disk read and initialization at boot time. In this way, the quick start of Win8 is realized. The details will be analyzed one by one in the following content;
What role does hibernation play on Win8? Win8 goes from sleep mode to boot, the process of booting saves a lot of data reading necessary for the system;
When do I need to shut down when I can sleep? In fact, this is a very direct problem. Before the Win8 system, the user's choice of shutdown and hibernation was very accurate, and also given a clear positioning. So now after the launch of Win8, hibernation and shutdown seem to be blurred. When to shut down when to sleep, the author will specify.
What is "mixed start"?
Win8 hybrid startup, that is, Win8 integrates the existing startup mode and the new fast sleep and wakeup features, so that the operating system turns into a sleep-like state, while reducing the data write of the memory temporary storage. Significantly reduce the time it takes to read and initialize the hard disk at boot time.
Basic principle of hybrid startup
Sleep only the system core file, and can greatly increase the system startup speed. What is the difference between hybrid startup and hibernation?
It's not that simple! Mixing starts faster and saves data more perfectly. As you know, personal privacy protection can arise if you restore directly to the user's desktop. However, Microsoft should be able to handle this aspect of the matter, it should automatically switch to the lock login state after waking up. However, when it comes to true boot and recovery speed, it should be the first choice for a new generation of SSD drives, just as the storage technology in Apple devices is a truth.
Desktop and notebook users choose the way to turn off the computer
Data shows that 57% of desktop users and 45% of laptop users choose to turn off their computers instead of putting them into sleep mode .
Win8 Shutdown Options
"Control Panel→All Control Panel Items→Power Options→System Settings" to enter the Win related options, Win8 will save some of the kernel dialogs that should have been closed to a named hiberfil In the .sys disk file, the content is written back to the memory directly at the next boot, thus improving the system startup speed. And this is the same as the "hybrid shutdown Hiber Shutdown" of the year.
Microsoft used the hybrid boot function in Windows 8 to replace the shutdown function. When you want to shut down, Hybrid Boot is actually using the advanced sleep function, so the computer restart speed will be greatly improved. Of course, you can choose from the Start menu.
Win8 Shutdown Buttons
This is actually a must for tablet devices and smartphone devices. In the previous development version, Win8 defaults to the hybrid boot technology, at the bottom of the start menu, of course, this hybrid boot can also be directly banned, find and disable it in the power options under the early control panel can.
Reduce memory scratch/data writes
Either operating system needs to rely on hard disk storage, and Windows 8 is no exception. The speed of Windows on/off seems to be inextricably linked to hard drives and hibernation. So, what kind of secret is this?
Windows 8's system turns into a sleep-like state, while reducing hard disk cache call data, memory temporary data writes, greatly reducing the time of hard disk read and initialization at boot time. So it can be divided into two parts of the hard disk cache and sleep for analysis.
Hard Disk Cache
The original meaning refers to a kind of RAM whose access speed is faster than that of general random access memory RAM. Generally speaking, it does not use DRAM technology like the system main memory, but it is expensive but more expensive. Fast SRAM technology also has the name of the cache memory. In the hierarchy of computer storage systems, high speed small capacity memory between the central processor and main memory.
How the cache operates on data
The high-speed small-capacity memory and the main memory together form a level one memory. The scheduling and transfer of information between the cache and main memory is automated by hardware. Some machines even have a secondary level 3 cache, and each level of cache is slower and larger than the previous level. At this time, the high-speed small-capacity memory at the beginning is called the first-level cache. In this way, the hard disk cache does not need to be called too much when the Windows 8 system starts up, because the kernel session of Win8 has not really been disconnected.
Memory Buffer
When the operating system is started or restored from the off state or the hibernation state, it needs to call the hard software resources of the computer to start smoothly.
Empty comparison between startup processes
The default size of the hibernation file is 75% of the physical RAM. This file is essentially used to hold hibernate data and will be written while the system is in hibernation. Usually the space actually used is much smaller. For fast boot, the space used is usually about 10%-15% of the physical RAM, but it will vary depending on the specific drive, service or other factors.
The way the system handles hibernation files is also slightly different from the way other files on the disk are processed, such as the volume snapshot service. Run powercfg/hibernate off from an elevated command prompt to disable hibernation and reclaim this space. However, it should be noted that if you choose to do so, you will completely disable hibernation, including some very useful features, such as quick start and hybrid sleep. The hybrid sleep function allows the desktop system to go to sleep and hibernation at the same time, thus ensuring power interruption. The system can recover from hibernation.
Use advanced sleep function instead of shutdown function
Hibernation is to save the current running data on the hard disk. When you sleep, you can completely disconnect the power of the computer. The time to automatically turn off the display and hard disk is set to How long it takes to be appropriate depends on what you need.
What is dormancy, why do you need to sleep?
Hibernate, in the broadest sense, includes suspending memory (STR standby) and suspending hard disk (called STD), and the sleep we usually refer to is actually STD. When the computer goes to sleep, the computer first copies the state of the memory to the hard disk and then turns off the power. At this point, the computer is almost as "quiet" as the normal shutdown, you can completely cut off the power, because the data saved to the hard disk will not be lost due to power failure
Description Windows7 sleep
In addition, although the computer hardware is running The speed is getting faster and faster, but the size of the operating system is also expanding, so that when the computer is turned on and off, more and more programs are started and closed, and it takes longer and longer. Therefore, how to make the computer start up quickly and enter Windows when it is turned on becomes a problem that users care about.
Recovering the system in a dormant way is presumably the most efficient way to start a computer. Therefore, combined with the complementary relationship between computer software and hardware, using hibernation can ensure low power consumption during sleep. It also ensures a quick start of the Windows system.
When do you need to shut down completely?
Windows 8 sleep button
Compared with standby, hibernation can not be awakened by an external device, it starts the computer just like normal boot. However, compared with booting, booting the computer after hibernation does not need to be started one by one, just need to read the memory image in the hard disk into the memory. With the upgrade of hardware and software, the operating system began to introduce advanced power management. Its function is to turn off some devices when the computer is idle, and put the computer into a waiting state. When the computer needs to be used again, it can directly wait for the rest state as soon as possible. Reverts to the original working state, which is similar to the effect of quick start. At the same time, you can save a lot of power without using a computer.
Of course, you still need to perform a complete shutdown, for example, when you open the system to add or replace some hardware. Or some friends think that after the computer is used for a long time, I feel that the computer system is very slow, they will restart the system. This method is very effective, but this problem may be under the Win8 system, and it may not be necessary to consider it.
Do you choose to shut down or sleep?
People tend to shut down because they want the PC to "turn off" completely and no longer consume any power in order to extend battery life or reduce energy consumption. Hibernation is also a good choice, and it does not consume power in this mode, so it has won the favor of many people.
However, this model is obviously not for everyone, because we have heard that many people want to start a "new start" after starting the computer, instead of continuing to run all the transactions in the previous session.
Windows8 Shutdown Shortcuts
On today's PCs, sleep/recovery is the best choice for fast on/off switching, but in this mode it still consumes a small amount of power to save in RAM. Content, although it consumes very little power on a well-optimized system, it is also possible to run out of battery power. Looking back at how we're currently using your phone, you'll find that we rarely restart it and always put the phone in a sleep-like state. In fact, this is a necessary form of shifting thinking in the traditional PC platform to mobile devices such as mobile phones.
Sleep/Hibernation Considerations
Generally, the actual space used is much smaller. For quick start, the space used is usually about 10%-15% of the physical RAM, but it will be based on the specific drive, service or Other factors vary. The way the system handles hibernation files is also slightly different from the way other files on the disk are processed. For example, the volume snapshot service ignores the file (slightly improving performance).
Run powercfg /hibernate off from an elevated command line prompt to disable hibernation and reclaim this space. Note, however, that if you choose to do so, hibernation will be completely disabled (including some very useful features, such as quick start and mixed sleep), and the hybrid sleep feature allows the desktop system to go to sleep and hibernation at the same time, so that if there is a power outage In the case, you can still recover from hibernation.
Generally speaking, unless the system has very limited disk space, it is recommended that you keep the default values. This new fast-start mode benefits almost any system, whether it's a rotary hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), but it's especially effective for next-generation systems with high-speed SSDs.
The advantages and disadvantages of Windows sleep/hibernation, we have almost talked about it, so for so many conditions and restrictions, you will choose to sleep, or choose to shut down?
In fact, the mystery of the speed of the Windows 8 switch is that the shutdown is directly the complete degree of shutdown, Windows8 shutdown uses the deep sleep mode.
So what is the mode of complete shutdown used by traditional operating systems? Let's first understand the process, and then we will summarize the final mystery of the speed of the Windows 8 switch.
Traditional operating system boot process: After pressing the power button, the PC's firmware starts the power-on self test (POST) and loads the firmware settings. After detecting a valid system disk, the pre-boot process ends;
Win7 shutdown process
Traditional operating system shutdown process: the user selects "shutdown" from the "Start" menu or presses the power button to start the shutdown process; Or the application initiates the shutdown process by calling an API such as ExitWindowsEx or InitiateShutdown.
Uncover the mystery of Windows 8 fast switch machine
The kernel session will no longer be closed
As in Windows 7, Windows 8 will close the user session, but will not close the kernel session, but will sleep it . Full sleep contains a large number of memory pages that are being used by the application, compared to session 0 sleep data, which greatly reduces the time it takes to write to disk.
Win7/Win8 system shutdown integration comparison test (from the network)
In short, hibernation is to save the system state and memory content to a file on disk (hiberfil.sys), and then Re-read the file on recovery and restore the contents to memory. With this technology, boot time is significantly reduced, because on most systems, the way to read hibernation files and reinitialize the driver will greatly speed up the startup (in most systems tested, the speed is generally improved by 30-70). %).
Hibernate Recovery Segmentation Startup Processing
The workload of restoring a hibernating system session is greatly reduced compared to performing a full system initialization, which is one of the reasons for the faster startup. At the same time, the multi-stage recovery feature we added can take advantage of all cores of multi-core systems in parallel, and will split the work of reading hibernation files and decompressed content, which is another reason for the faster startup speed. This is also good news for readers who prefer to sleep, because this feature will also speed up the recovery of hibernation.