Need ATA hard drive replacement for Aspire 5520

I'm trying to replace the 80 GB hard drive of my Acer Aspire 5520-5290
laptop (Hitachi HTS541680J9SA00 ATA model). All the replacements I've
found so far are for the SATA model. I'd like to know if it can be
replaced with any generic 2.5" ATA hard drive. I'd also like to know
if ATA is equivalent to IDE. Thanks.

On Jun 19, 7:21*am, M.L. <m...@privacy.invalid> wrote:
> I'm trying to replace the 80 GB hard drive of my Acer Aspire 5520-5290
> laptop (Hitachi HTS541680J9SA00 ATA model). All the replacements I've
> found so far are for the SATA model. I'd like to know if it can be
> replaced with any generic 2.5" ATA hard drive. I'd also like to know
> if ATA is equivalent to IDE. Thanks.

The generic should be fine. Some drives have an adapter that needs to
come off the old IDE drive. It just snaps or pulls-off in most cases.
(yes it is equivalent)

bob

In news:,
M.L. typed on Sat, 19 Jun 2010 07:21:48 -0500:
> I'm trying to replace the 80 GB hard drive of my Acer Aspire 5520-5290
> laptop (Hitachi HTS541680J9SA00 ATA model). All the replacements I've
> found so far are for the SATA model. I'd like to know if it can be
> replaced with any generic 2.5" ATA hard drive. I'd also like to know
> if ATA is equivalent to IDE. Thanks.

Yes. you want a 2.5" SATA IDE (integrated drive electronics) drive.
Which is the most common nowadays in the 2.5" format.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3

On 6/19/2010 3:13 PM, BillW50 wrote:
> In news:,
> M.L. typed on Sat, 19 Jun 2010 07:21:48 -0500:
>> I'm trying to replace the 80 GB hard drive of my Acer Aspire 5520-5290
>> laptop (Hitachi HTS541680J9SA00 ATA model). All the replacements I've
>> found so far are for the SATA model. I'd like to know if it can be
>> replaced with any generic 2.5" ATA hard drive. I'd also like to know
>> if ATA is equivalent to IDE. Thanks.
>
> Yes. you want a 2.5" SATA IDE (integrated drive electronics) drive.
> Which is the most common nowadays in the 2.5" format.
>
Bill, I am not sure the OP realizes that the drive he wants to replace
is a *SATA* drive (as opposed to PATA, aka IDE/ATA). You are associating
SATA and IDE, which is confusing imho, although probably technically
correct stricto sensu.
--
John Doue

On Jun 19, 5:21*am, M.L. <m...@privacy.invalid> wrote:
> I'm trying to replace the 80 GB hard drive of my Acer Aspire 5520-5290
> laptop (Hitachi HTS541680J9SA00 ATA model). All the replacements I've
> found so far are for the SATA model. I'd like to know if it can be
> replaced with any generic 2.5" ATA hard drive. I'd also like to know
> if ATA is equivalent to IDE. Thanks.

After looking up the drive...it is SATA and not the old type drives.
Sorry!

In news:hviqs8$cdi$,
John Doue typed on Sat, 19 Jun 2010 18:22:35 +0200:
> On 6/19/2010 3:13 PM, BillW50 wrote:
>> In news:,
>> M.L. typed on Sat, 19 Jun 2010 07:21:48 -0500:
>>> I'm trying to replace the 80 GB hard drive of my Acer Aspire
>>> 5520-5290 laptop (Hitachi HTS541680J9SA00 ATA model). All the
>>> replacements I've found so far are for the SATA model. I'd like to
>>> know if it can be replaced with any generic 2.5" ATA hard drive.
>>> I'd also like to know if ATA is equivalent to IDE. Thanks.
>>
>> Yes. you want a 2.5" SATA IDE (integrated drive electronics) drive.
>> Which is the most common nowadays in the 2.5" format.
>>
> Bill, I am not sure the OP realizes that the drive he wants to replace
> is a *SATA* drive (as opposed to PATA, aka IDE/ATA). You are
> associating SATA and IDE, which is confusing imho, although probably
> technically correct stricto sensu.

Very true John. Thanks for bring this up. ;-)

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3

>>> I'm trying to replace the 80 GB hard drive of my Acer Aspire 5520-5290
>>> laptop (Hitachi HTS541680J9SA00 ATA model). All the replacements I've
>>> found so far are for the SATA model. I'd like to know if it can be
>>> replaced with any generic 2.5" ATA hard drive. I'd also like to know
>>> if ATA is equivalent to IDE. Thanks.
>>
>> Yes. you want a 2.5" SATA IDE (integrated drive electronics) drive.
>> Which is the most common nowadays in the 2.5" format.
>>
>Bill, I am not sure the OP realizes that the drive he wants to replace
>is a *SATA* drive (as opposed to PATA, aka IDE/ATA). You are associating
>SATA and IDE, which is confusing imho, although probably technically
>correct stricto sensu.

Thanks to all who replied. An ad I read stated that the Hitachi
HTS541680J9SA00 is offered in PATA and SATA formats. How can I tell
which one I have? The display name for my drive shows "Hitachi
HTS541680J9SA00 ATA Device."

In news:,
M.L. typed on Sat, 19 Jun 2010 13:54:55 -0500:
>>>> I'm trying to replace the 80 GB hard drive of my Acer Aspire
>>>> 5520-5290 laptop (Hitachi HTS541680J9SA00 ATA model). All the
>>>> replacements I've found so far are for the SATA model. I'd like to
>>>> know if it can be replaced with any generic 2.5" ATA hard drive.
>>>> I'd also like to know if ATA is equivalent to IDE. Thanks.
>>>
>>> Yes. you want a 2.5" SATA IDE (integrated drive electronics) drive.
>>> Which is the most common nowadays in the 2.5" format.
>>>
>> Bill, I am not sure the OP realizes that the drive he wants to
>> replace is a *SATA* drive (as opposed to PATA, aka IDE/ATA). You are
>> associating SATA and IDE, which is confusing imho, although probably
>> technically correct stricto sensu.
>
> Thanks to all who replied. An ad I read stated that the Hitachi
> HTS541680J9SA00 is offered in PATA and SATA formats. How can I tell
> which one I have? The display name for my drive shows "Hitachi
> HTS541680J9SA00 ATA Device."

Oh? When I looked it up, it was only in SATA format. But if you have any
questions, the PATA connector looks like this:

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...r/SL737474.jpg

And a SATA one looks like this:

http://www.lapzone.com/catalog/431407-001.jpg

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP3

Look at the connectors on the actual drive (not the adapter). PATA has a
multi pin layout while SATA has 2 slide on connectors with flat contacts the
same as the 3.5" SATA models.

Terry

"M.L." <> wrote in message
news:...
>
>
>>>> I'm trying to replace the 80 GB hard drive of my Acer Aspire 5520-5290
>>>> laptop (Hitachi HTS541680J9SA00 ATA model). All the replacements I've
>>>> found so far are for the SATA model. I'd like to know if it can be
>>>> replaced with any generic 2.5" ATA hard drive. I'd also like to know
>>>> if ATA is equivalent to IDE. Thanks.
>>>
>>> Yes. you want a 2.5" SATA IDE (integrated drive electronics) drive.
>>> Which is the most common nowadays in the 2.5" format.
>>>
>>Bill, I am not sure the OP realizes that the drive he wants to replace
>>is a *SATA* drive (as opposed to PATA, aka IDE/ATA). You are associating
>>SATA and IDE, which is confusing imho, although probably technically
>>correct stricto sensu.
>
> Thanks to all who replied. An ad I read stated that the Hitachi
> HTS541680J9SA00 is offered in PATA and SATA formats. How can I tell
> which one I have? The display name for my drive shows "Hitachi
> HTS541680J9SA00 ATA Device."

On 6/19/2010 8:54 PM, M.L. wrote:


To answer your question, take the answer from the horse's mouth:

search google with "Hitachi HTS541680J9SA00 " and select the link with
www.hitachigst.com offering a pdf. You will see that your drive is
definitely SATA.

--
John Doue