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What are hiberfil.sys and pagefile.sys files, and can I safely delete them?

How can erase or edit contents file of "hiberfil.sys" and "pagefile.sys" in windows 7. Because the first file is about 7 GB and the second file is about 9 GB on my computer. They have occupied a large amount of Hard disk space. What can I do?

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marked as duplicate by Sathya Jul 18 '12 at 11:58


You should have googled what those files are before posting a question. You would have found the answer right away... –  tumchaaditya Jul 18 '12 at 11:00
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3 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

"pagefile.sys" and "hiberfil.sys" are system files. that you cannot delete them in windows.

  1. Pagefile is a "virtual memory" that works like your ram but in your HDD. if you make it less in size (by going to system > settings > advance > virtual memory > advance) you decrease the system performance.

  2. As "tumchaaditya" told hiberfil.sys is also for putting system on hibernate. you can get rid of it by disabling hibernate.

NOTE: Windows can not work with out "pagefile" so if you delete that from another OS. then it may cause your system crash (not booting up) or windows will make another at the first start. so my advice is do not delete them.

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The hiberfil.sys can be "moved" to a separate partition: Creating a hibernation partition on Windows 7 –  Robert Jul 18 '12 at 11:57
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hiberfil.sys is required for hibernating(aka hybrid sleep) the system.
You can get rid of this file by disabling hibernate from power options.

pagefile.sys is the page memory file.
To know what page memory is, search google for page memory or swap file or pagefile.
It is practically not possible to get rid of this file.
But, you can reduce its size by changing page memory size.
I would recommend against this though.

As for the editing is concerned, I don't think you can edit these files. Even if you could, what exactly do you plan to do with the files?

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If you have another operating system installed on your PC you can safely remove the files by logging into that. Otherwise boot into Win7 installation DVD go to repair and select command prompt. You can delete it using command line. Also try using ubuntu live cd.

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