The hibernation file, when present, requires disk space equivalent to the size of installed RAM. Whether you are protecting yourself from loss of battery power, accidental contact with the power switch, or a power blackout, hibernation mode is designed to save your work. I actually find the use of hibernation mode to be extremely useful on my desktop. All my active work is saved, and should we lose power during monsoon season, recovery and return to work is very fast and efficient. If you have sufficient drive space, and a processor capable of supporting Windows 7, you should not see a noticeable performance hit.
With the advent of advanced power settings in Windows 7, the Windows hibernation file (hiberfil.sys) is more commonly present on the hard drives of both mobile and desktop devices.
