Hi... I need to upgrade my hard drive in my old, old laptop (circa 1996-97). She is a Compaq LTE 5300, and uses a Compaq HD, in a metal case. Inside this case is a thin wire connector which is soldered to the drive, but is removeable from the case via screws. The case is what unplugs from the laptop to changeout drives. The drive's specs are as follows:

Manufacturer: Toshiba
Model: MK1302MAN
Power: DC +5V @ 0.8A
Drive height: 17mm
Capacity: 1358MB (1.358 Gigs)
CYL:2633, Heads: 16, Sectors: 63
The connector is: 34mm x 4.5mm, is rectangular with a keyway on both sides and at the top, and has 6010 EC molded on the top of the connector.

I suppose my question is. can I buy a generic laptop drive for this thing, and just put it into the case? Or a Toshiba drive, of some type? I am not that familiar with laptop hardware (other than my own), as this is the first laptop I have owned. I really like it, although it is a bit slow (P133, 48 MB RAM, 6x CD) and the battery time sucks (around an hour, if I don't use much peripherals). Besides, I really don't have the money for a new one right now.

As the Compaq replacements are expensive as hell for this laptop ($250+ for 2 Gigs!), and they don't have replacements over 3 GB anyway, Compaq drives are out of the question. I know that there is some kit made by Simple Technology, but that costs a bunch, too ($350+ for 4 GB, more 6 GB). Compaq says that the BIOS can handle a 5 GB, and maybe a 6 GB. I dunno how I am even gonna change the settings because the BIOS setup doesn't have a way to change hard drive settings, anyway... it must be an autodetect BIOS.

Anyway, sorry for the long-windedness, any thanks to any and all who can help, in advance...