I'm a noob with this, so please have some mercy. I've searched a lot. But I still don't feel sure.

I've read, according to one tutorial, that it's possible to flash the Hitachi drive firmware 78 using a sata-usb adapter. But would this work on a laptop? My laptop is a Pavillion zv5000 (northbridge ati rc300m/rs300m). Or does using a laptop only work with older Hitachi versions? Could someone spell it out for me or point me in the right direction?
Thanks
