Ata-6....ide?
 

Ok, whatever I know about computer hardware this is my first laptop (tho I've had it 4+ years now)....

anyway, my sister picked up a used Gateway laptop...appears to be 6+ years old (it's got a 1.2 processor)...

Little of that matters, really...but her OS failed on her and it appears it's her hard drive.

I believe these are the specs for the bad drive:

IC25N020ATCS04-0 - IBM Travelstar 20GB 4200RPM 2MB Buffer 2.5" IDE Notebook Hard Drive

Specifications

IBM 20GB 2.5-Inch Notebook HDD
20 GB formatted capacity
4200 RPM spindle speed
12 ms average seek time
7.1 ms average latency
UDMA/100
2.5-inch form factor
9.5 mm height

Not that I really need more space or anything, the thought crossed my mind to put THIS hard drive in her laptop and buy a new HD for MY laptop rather than hers...

I believe this is the specs on my drive:

Description

IC25N080ATMR04-0 Hitachi 80GB Laptop Hard Drive

Specifications

* Capacity: 80 GB
* 4200 RPM
* Buffer - 8MB
* Interface: ATA-6
* Seek time: 12.0 ms
* Height: 9.5 mm
* Fluid dynamic bearing motor technology

First questions first (or I could just shut this thing down, pull my HD and look!).....could I even get away with putting this HD in her laptop? I'm just not familiar with ATA-6...still PATA I believe ain't it? which would mean it'd work?

...actually maybe I wouldn't have more questions......I just don't see my sister needing even the 20 gigs she's had, and not seeing anything below 80 available....and I wouldn't mind at least gettin' more speed

You should be able to pull it out; however, just plugging it into her machine will not work.

You will need to get an install disk [email me if you need help with this]. You will have to put the HD in, and start it up. Put the disc into the slot and then restart. Once is starts booting, hit ... 'Del' I believe.

Once in setup, you need to putz around and find out how to change the boot order. You want to boot from CD first. Save the settings and restart the computer.

When the computer starts to reboot, it will ask you to 'Hit any key to boot from disc' or something similar. Hit the key, and follow the on-screen steps.

Questions, you know how to get a hold of me.

Nick