[benmandv]

hey, i have a toshiba satellite pro a40 laptop and i want to upgrade the harddrive.
these are the specs of my harddrive in it at the mo:
capacity : 40 GB
certification : S.M.A.R.T.
height : 9.5 mm
drive rotation : 4,200 rpm
number of disks : 1
number of heads : 2
bytes per sector : 512
interface : Enhanced IDE (ATA-5)
buffer size : 2 MB

I want to know if ATA-100 hard drives will work with it, cos i can't seem to find ATA-5 hard drives anywhere?

and just another questions, i have a 2.8ghz celeron processor in it at the mo and just wondered if its possible to upgrade that? or if its worth upgrading?

cheers,
Ben

[Advertisements]

Ben -- it should be fine.

What some do not realize with the ATA series of interface standards is that each version of ATA is backward-compatible. This means they are backward compatible with the previous versions of ATA. It is sort of like how USB 2.0 devices can be plugged into older 1.0 ports and function at the older specification rates, and visa versa. This is similar to how the ATA interface works. In other words, the older ATA-1 and ATA-2 devices work fine on ATA-5 and ATA-6 interfaces. In cases where the device version and interface version differ, then they work together at the capabilities of the lesser of the two. But what you often find with using the newer drives is that they are much faster and often consume less power and hence your laptop not only runs faster, but runs longer on a battery charge in many cases and often runs cooler to possibly extend the life or to mitigate heat-related problems.

The newer high-performance 2.5" laptop drives typically have ATA-6 interfaces (or better) to support the newer laptop performance designs. Getting a new 2.5" disk is a very common thing now because of standard sizes used and standard interfaces too.

Toshiba makes good drives too as well as Seagate and others.

Newegg and TigerDirect have a large selection depending on your particular needs, so by all means check out those available for your system; you will notice they get a little pricey at or above 100 GBytes, so maybe an 80-100 GBytes version may be adequate for your needs. I alway like to at least ~double size when I get anything new like the disk size, etc.

If you desire, Newegg and TigerDirect both carry ATA-5 drives, but ATA-6 will be fine for you too...

Let us know what you decide to get, good luck!

Edited by cyberCrank, 11 September 2005 - 10:31 PM.

[cyberCrank]

Ben -- it should be fine.

What some do not realize with the ATA series of interface standards is that each version of ATA is backward-compatible. This means they are backward compatible with the previous versions of ATA. It is sort of like how USB 2.0 devices can be plugged into older 1.0 ports and function at the older specification rates, and visa versa. This is similar to how the ATA interface works. In other words, the older ATA-1 and ATA-2 devices work fine on ATA-5 and ATA-6 interfaces. In cases where the device version and interface version differ, then they work together at the capabilities of the lesser of the two. But what you often find with using the newer drives is that they are much faster and often consume less power and hence your laptop not only runs faster, but runs longer on a battery charge in many cases and often runs cooler to possibly extend the life or to mitigate heat-related problems.

The newer high-performance 2.5" laptop drives typically have ATA-6 interfaces (or better) to support the newer laptop performance designs. Getting a new 2.5" disk is a very common thing now because of standard sizes used and standard interfaces too.

Toshiba makes good drives too as well as Seagate and others.

Newegg and TigerDirect have a large selection depending on your particular needs, so by all means check out those available for your system; you will notice they get a little pricey at or above 100 GBytes, so maybe an 80-100 GBytes version may be adequate for your needs. I alway like to at least ~double size when I get anything new like the disk size, etc.

If you desire, Newegg and TigerDirect both carry ATA-5 drives, but ATA-6 will be fine for you too...

Let us know what you decide to get, good luck!

Edited by cyberCrank, 11 September 2005 - 10:31 PM.