Vista has what is called hybrid sleep. It is a combination of sleep and
hibernation.

When the computer goes into sleep (either by the sleep timer or by you
manually placing the computer into sleep mode) the hibernation file is also
created.

When you wake the computer normally it resumes from sleep.

The nice part is - if the power should fail for any reason the computer will
resume from the hibernation file. It takes a bit longer but it brings you
back to the same state that sleep would have, had the power not interrupted.


--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience & Security


"John Goche" <johngoche99@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:2cd04252-d8a8-41a7-8aba-24be996b0909@15g2000yqy.googlegroups.com...
>
> Hello,
>
> Could anyone explain to me from a theoretical
> or practical point of view what exactly is the
> difference between the Windows Vista
> Sleep and Hibernate options on the
> shutdown menu from the start button?
>
> Thanks,
>
> John Goche