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Title says is it all. Is there any real difference between the two?

+3  A: 

MD5 has some known vulnerabilities, whereas SHA-256 does not. Because of this I would suggest SHA-256. Here's a link that describes why. Although I have no idea if they are actually affiliated with the US Department of Homeland Security, the site does explain what I mean.

The Wikipedia article on MD5 also discuses the weaknesses.

Chris Thompson
great link...thanks.
HDave
Happy to help :-) oddly enough the official spring security book that was released for version 3 not long ago doesn't mention this at all and still advocates the use of MD5
Chris Thompson