i have a hp nx6325 latptop that has a 80gig hard drive, but although i thought it was gona be enough i have so much data that it fills up quickly. so i started lookin for the biggest laptop hard drive that i could find. www.ebuyer.com i find has the best prices for the UK so i looked on there. there is one thats 250gig IDE and one thats 320gig SATA. wats the difference? which one is better/faster etc. Are most laptops compatible with both? im pretty sure it has a IDE in there at the moment. is ATA a different name for IDE?

Toshiba 320GB 2.5" Hard Drive SATA150 5400rpm 8MB Cache - OEM
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/137456

Western Digital 250GB 2.5" Hard Drive IDE 5400rpm 8MB Cache - OEM
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132386

ATA is synonymous with IDE

SATA is totally different and is not interchangeable.

If you have an IDE/ATA laptop you cannot use a SATA drive.

SATA is 3 times faster but if you do not have the interface you cannot use it.

thanks alot. you saved me a bunch of money. i nearly bought the SATA, which would have been a big disapointment

actually, IDE is the one with about 40 pins right? and SATA is the one that slots in with the copper contacts right?

Yes.