Swapping HDD between SATA II and SATA

[asmith80]

I just want to make sure this will work before I go and spend $150 on a new HDD.

I have an Alienware M11x, with a 160GB SATA II HDD. I'd like to upgrade to one of the Seagate Momentus XT hybrid HDDs. In the tech specs for the Seagate it says it has a SATA 3 Gb/s interface. I've never switched out a laptop HDD before, having only ever worked with PATA HDDs on desktops, so this is kind of new for me.

Is a SATA II connection compatible with a SATA 3 Gb/s interface?

[patio]

If it is not they are backwards compatible and it will revert back to SATA II...
Check your Owners Manual for specs.

[asmith80]

That's fine with me. I'm not worried about it working to it's utmost, just it working at all

[Calum]

Just to add to the above - SATA II and SATA 3Gb/sec are the same thing.  The original SATA interface had a max transfer rate of 150MB/sec (1.5Gb/sec), SATA II doubled this to 300MB/sec (3Gb/sec) and SATA III doubled this again to 600MB/sec (6Gb/sec).  All SATA interfaces are forwards and backwards compatible so there should be no problems.  Enjoy your new drive, I've heard those hybrid drives are pretty good.
P.S. Welcome to the forums!