standby vs hibernate

[zahir]

I often find myself leaving the laptop alone for a bit, esp if i'm at the office or need to take a call or something... at this time, when i'm not charging, whats better, hibernate or standby? By better i mean whats eats lesser battery power and are either harmful to the laptop? Also what advantage does one have over the other?

[pianowizard]

Hibernation uses less battery power, but requires a substantial amount of hard drive space.