There are two basic methods to increase the amount of disk space on a laptop PC. One method involves swapping a smaller, older drive for a bigger, newer one. The other involves adding one or more additional drives to the pool of available storage.

If your laptop PC has two internal drive bays with only one hard disk installed, you can add an additional disk without replacing the original one. In addition, if your laptop PC has a free USB port, you can connect an external USB drive and extend your storage by 500 GB (gigabytes) or more.

Adding or replacing an internal laptop PC drive

Before you undertake the project of replacing an internal drive or adding a new one, check with your laptop manufacturer to make sure you won't void your warranty. To replace a hard drive in a laptop PC, follow these general steps:

1. Identify and acquire a compatible drive, such as a 2.5-inch IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) or SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) model.
2. Look for information, illustrations, or instructions on how to open the case, what tools will be needed, how to dismount the old drive, and how to insert the new one. Also be sure to back up the data on the drive you're replacing so you can restore its contents to the new drive, if necessary.
3. Power off the laptop PC and remove the battery.
4. Follow the instructions to open the drive hatch or hatches. Ordinarily, you only need a small Phillips-head screwdriver to perform this step.

Websites such as Repair4Laptop.org. list numerous HP laptop PC models and offer photos or videos that show exactly what to expect and what to do when adding or swapping an internal laptop PC drive.

5. Remove the old drive and add the new drive, or install an additional drive into an empty drive bay.

Once you've reassembled your system, the PC should recognize the new drive the next time you reboot. If you've replaced your system drive, you must reinstall your operating system or use a bootable USB or CD image to boot the PC.

If you replace a lower-capacity, older internal drive with a higher-capacity, newer drive, consider purchasing a portable USB enclosure for that drive. You can convert it to an external storage device for as little as $15.

Using external USB drives

There's a plethora of offerings available for laptop PC use, but these fall into two form factors: 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch drives.

Small, lightweight, highly portable enclosures are usually built around the same 2.5-inch hard disks that go into modern laptop PCs. These cost a bit more and provide less storage space but are designed to go with you on the road without adding too much bulk or weight to your laptop bag. You can find drives in capacities from 40 GB to as high as 160 to 200 GB.

Many of these portable external drives feature a dual USB plug arrangement and thus require two available, powered USB ports. That's because USB ports are each limited to 500 mA (milliamps) and 4.75 to 5 V (volts) of power, and most hard disks require more than that to operate. The first USB plug handles data and power, whereas the second plug is for power only. Both plugs must usually be connected and working before the drive will work. These also draw on your laptop PC battery, so factor this draw into your battery life calculations.

Larger 3.5" external USB hard disks offer larger capacities -- 80 GB to 1 TB (terabyte) -- at lower prices but must draw power through an external power supply (called a brick) that plugs into a wall socket. This means you can't use these drives when you're on the go; however, it makes them very handy for use at home or in the office for backup and extra storage space.

Using flash drives

For extremely portable storage, nothing beats a USB flash drive. Capacities vary from 1 to 16 GB. This is enough storage to carry all of your email files and entire libraries of project files with you wherever you go. It's hard to beat these devices: you can carry sizable amounts of data with you and plug into just about any desktop or laptop PC to retrieve whatever you need.

Make your desktop portable

There are a number of specialty software environments designed to enable users to pick up and carry their electronic desktops with them wherever they go. This technique works with equal facility on portable USB hard disks or flash drives, depending on how large a filespace you wish to make portable.

Products such as Migo, Ceedo, and others let you grab your email application and message archives, desktop settings, browser favorites, and all the other personal elements of your workspace and store them on a flash drive or a USB hard disk. When you plug that device into a laptop or desktop PC, it shows you your familiar virtual surroundings and desktop, and lets you work just as if you were on your usual PC at home or in the office. Thus, laptop users who bounce between a desktop and a laptop PC may find this technology extremely useful.

Next, learn how to upgrade your laptop PC's memory.