EIDE SATA vs Sata, Whats the diff

I was on a notebook website and I saw a notebook but the drive said 80 GB EIDE SATA Hard Drive. Of course I want more harddrive space so I was going to possibly purchase and then get a new harddrive, probably 160 or more. But what does EIDE sata mean, and will I be able to put a 160 gig normal sata notebook drive in?

 

EDIT: Misread post.

 

What notebook, and what site? EIDE and SATA are 2 completely different formats. I am guessing you saw a misprint or error.

 

Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics (EIDE). The preferred interface for SATA is Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) which allows features such as Native Command Queuing and others. If the MoBo and chipset do not support AHCI then SATA controllers typically operate in "IDE emulation" mode which does not allow features of devices to be accessed that are not supported by the ATA/IDE standard. Windows XP does not officially support AHCI Vista does. It sounds like the MFG is being honest here saying it runs in IDE emulation not AHCI. Many are running SATA with out all the benefits of that standard. Since it is not running in AHCI I suspect it is incapable since involves MoBo and chipset but can't be sure from the limited info.

To answer your question yes you can upgrade with a “normal” SATA drive. The first mention I have heard of notebooks using NCQ is Alienware. So I think many are running in emulation at this point kind of a dirty little secret of the HDD industry.

I am not an expert on this so if anyone wants to correct me go ahead.

 

thanks guys.