ATA 5 & ATA 6? what's the difference?

[TheJackal]

i plan on adding a new hard drive to my thinkpad r50e, and all i know is that it's a 40gb 4200rpm hitachi drive. i am looking at getting this:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1418999

or

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1205724

but when i look around, i notice that there are ATA 5 and ATA 6 drives. so, how will i know which one to get? i know how to get around in desktop drives, but i just got into the notebook market. basically i am looking at getting a faster hdd, and one that's compatable with my r50e, so maybe you guys know of any good notebook hdd's that are compatable with mine.

thanks. <3

 

[TheJackal]

bump

 

[tdg]

ATA-4 = up to 66 MB/sec
ATA-5 = up to 100 MB/sec

For a laptop it doesn't matter which you use so much, since laptop drives are not speed demons by nature. Personally as a laptop technician I wouldn't recommend either of those drives, Hitachi's are by far the best for laptops. This drive from ZZF would be the best choice for a 40 GB IMO. If you do have to chose between those two at Tigerdirect, the Toshiba would be my 2nd choice. Samsung hasn't proven themselves in the mobile field yet.