The Hard Drive of the Dodoes

[cavortingcheetah]

I would appreciate any advice on this little problem of mine.
I have a DELL laptop, bought about three years ago, so, no warranty available.
It is now completely dead and I have been told that the hard drive is dodoed.
Without going the route of perhaps sending the machine back to DELL, what might be the best way of finding a new hard drive for the machine? All information that was in the computerhas been backed up on CD and the machine itself is completely void. In fact it's resemblance to my knowledge of computers is extraordinary.
I expect it to be somewhat expensive but that's a better bet than a totally dead computer and all the drives and bits that go with it.
Many thanks in advance.
cc

[ORAC]

See here.

[Background Noise]

Are you just wanting a new hard drive or to upgrade the whole thing? You can get laptop hard drives quite easily for about £1 per gigabyte.

[cavortingcheetah]

Thank you both for taking the time and trouble to respond to my request.
The solution to my problem has now been found. Whether the outcome is successful is another story.
Many thanks again.
cc