Should I power off or shut down my laptop?

[Hyperwolf122]

So I was wondering when I'm done with my laptop for a long while should I just close all programs and files and turn it off with the power button or shut it down? I've seen mixed answers when I google it and I was wondering which one is more likely the best option?

[Porthos]

It depends on what you mean by this.

7 minutes ago, Hyperwolf122 said:

I'm done with my laptop for a long while

In any case, don't use the power button. Use the start button. Be aware on Windows 8 and 10 machines, shut down is not really shut down due the default feature/setting called fast start. If fast start has not been disabled you can override the setting by holding the shift button when doing a shut down from the start menu. 

By not turning off the fast start or overriding it at shutdown your computer is still using power and will drain the battery if not plugged in the whole time. 

[Amaroq_Starwind]

Fast Start is actually a reduced version of Hibernate; while Hibernate saves your current session to the hard disk and loads it into memory as soon as the computer starts, Fast Start just saves the current status of the kernel. What @Porthos is thinking of is Hybrid Sleep, which combines Sleep Mode and Hibernate. There is honestly no reason to use Hybrid Sleep, and if you have an SSD then Fast Start isn't very helpful either (in general, it causes more harm than good). There are tweaks you can do to disable Fast Start but still have the option of manually performing a Hibernate operation, while keeping the power button's default function as an actual shut down.

[Porthos]

34 minutes ago, Amaroq_Starwind said:

while keeping the power button's default function as an actual shut down.

By default (at least the last time I looked) the default setting for the power button is sleep (can be adjusted of course). Since I use my laptop for invoices in my shop 6 days a week I just sleep it by closing the lid. It is always plugged in. 

[Amaroq_Starwind]

I don't use sleep mode on my laptop at all. When it goes to sleep, it never wakes up and I have to hard reboot it.

[Porthos]

Just now, Amaroq_Starwind said:

I don't use sleep mode on my laptop at all. When it goes to sleep, it never wakes up and I have to hard reboot it.

Yes, That can happen to some computers. My old e6530 does not have this issue.

[Amaroq_Starwind]

I got an E6510 with an aging hard disk (160 gigabytes of failing sectors), a hand-me-down of sorts. Also, my dad has mistakenly put Windows 10 32-Bit on it. I'm desperately looking for a way to upgrade to 64-Bit without losing anything, and also trying to get my hands on a new SSD to migrate to.

[Firefox]

1 hour ago, Amaroq_Starwind said:

I got an E6510 with an aging hard disk (160 gigabytes of failing sectors), a hand-me-down of sorts.

No matter what work you do on this computer, its a gamble (almost a lost cause) as the hard drive is failing.  Backup that data now, get a new drive and install a fresh copy of Win10 64bit.

[Amaroq_Starwind]

Yeah, still trying to get my hands on the replacement drive in the first place.

[Hyperwolf122]

So I should just use hibernate but disable faststart on my laptop? I'm not sure if this was the reason but before I reset windows on my pc when I just closed the laptop putting it to sleep (I forgot to close open programs a lot of times) some files got corrupted (and the PC was clean from any infection) and I've read that having programs open and just putting the pc to sleep for a long time can cause files to be corrupted?

[exile360]

Yes, corruption is possible with any kind of sleep/hibernate function.  It shouldn't happen often, but it can happen, especially after a long period of time.  I personally just shut my system down completely when not in use since it boots to the desktop in a matter of seconds.

[Porthos]

1 hour ago, Hyperwolf122 said:

for a long time 

You never defined "for a long time".  Hours, days, weeks?

[Hyperwolf122]

Oh sorry about that, a few days is what I meant

[Porthos]

13 hours ago, Hyperwolf122 said:

Oh sorry about that, a few days is what I meant

I will still say the following in your case. Shut it down.

On 3/18/2019 at 9:06 AM, Porthos said:

Use the start button. Be aware on Windows 8 and 10 machines, shut down is not really shut down due the default feature/setting called fast start. If fast start has not been disabled you can override the setting by holding the shift button when doing a shut down from the start menu. 

By not turning off the fast start or overriding it at shutdown your computer is still using power and will drain the battery if not plugged in the whole time.