Upgrading my laptop's hard drive...?

Any computer whizz kids out there who could tell me how easy it is (or isn't) to swap/add to my laptop's internal hard drive capability by adding/replacing the C drive. My laptop is a Toshiba Satellite Pro 4300, about 5 years old, but works just great apart from the fact that it has only a 9.35Gb fixed memory. (I already have an external hard drive added, of 250Gb, but I cannot run system files or store my ever expanding anti-virus/anti-spam software on it).

Thanks very much.

Upgrading my laptop's hard drive...?software

Pretty easy.

Your hard drive is most likely installed in a slot that is accessible from the underside, along the left or right edge. There's probably a single screw holding the drive in place. Take out the screw and the hard drive should slide out. Some models hide the hard drive underneath the keyboard, which makes it a bit tougher to get to. I'd check Toshiba's website for a manual for your model. Check to see where the hard drive is located.

The hard drive slides in and out really easy. Once you remove the hard drive, if it slides in from the side, you'll have to take out four screws in order to remove the old hard drive from the tray it is installed in. Swap the drive, replace the 4 screws, slide the drive back into the HD bay, and replace the remaining 1 or 2 screws.

You'll need your Installation/Recovery/System CDs, whichever ones came with your laptop. The difference in the make/model and size of your new hard drive from your old hard drive shouldn't matter. You should still be able to insert the System disk and reinstall your original operating system, drivers, and software.