I have a Dell Dimension 8300 running Windows XP with SP2. After resuming out of hibernation, I sometimes get the message "[path to directory] is not accessible. The device is not connected" after double clicking on a directory on a partition on the hard drive connected to a HPT371 UltraDMA controller card, a WD80. (I have a separate onboard SATA controller card that controls the hard drive my system partition is on) In the event viewer I see an error 15 with the source listed as disk. It says: "The device, \Device\Harddisk1\D, is not ready for access yet." This error repeats several times. I also get one or two error 50 caused by FastFAT which is a delayed write failed. Eventid.net doesn't list that much about the first error except with regards to cluster servers which this is obviously not. When I restart my computer, everything is fine. Could this simply be because the controller card does not support hibernation? I saw something about 80 pin and 40 pin cables, but I don't think that's the cause of the problem either as it appears to work fine otherwise.

You may on the right track. I don't use WinXP so I can't say if things work better there but I have found that the hibernation crap isn't worth the trouble. I let the monitor go to suspend and thats it. How much electricity can the HD use?

If your desktop PC computer is NOT a laptop then you can stop Hibernate. Hibernation, reserves disk space equal to your RAM. http://www.softwarepatch.com/tips/hiberfil-sys-xp.html http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=guide&dId=145&dPage=5

I have 160 GB total hard drive space. Hard drive space is not an issue. My assumption is that the system as a whole (not including the monitor) does use a decent amount of electricity. The reason I am putting it into hibernation is to save money on electricity (not originally what I would have done). If I'm not saving that much by doing so, please tell me.

You have not told us , if your comp is a laptop . Hibernation is to save battery power on a laptop , so it lasts longer . http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=xp+hibernation&btnG=Google+Search&meta= http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/russel_02march25.mspx ======================================== Power Management http://www.sbclub.org/fhc/systems/xpcustom.htm Right click the desktop, select Properties, Screen Saver, power management. Set Monitor Power Scheme parameters as follows for a library environment: Monitor Off: 10 minutes Hard Drive Off: 20 minutes Standby: 30 minutes Hibernate: never Disable Hibernation Screen Saver: none ==================================== More info here . http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=XP+Power+Management&btnG=Search&meta=