Laptop HDD Replacement?

[exoabyss]

Hello!

I currently own a Laptop and I recently noticed that the HDD has been acting really weirdly. Its usage always spikes up to 100% and the transfer speed is no more than 500 kb/s Picture of it in the Task Manager: http://i.imgur.com/hV9x0uz.png

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After noticing this, I quickly bought a replacement off Amazon (the exact same HD)

I have a few questions regarding this though.

1. How should I go about transferring my data from one hard drive to the other?
2. Because this is a laptop, do i merely open it, take the old one out, and plug it in?
3.Because this is a laptop, I do not have a recovery disk / setup disc for the Operating System, however I did make a copy of the operating system when I first setup the Laptop, it's in 3-4 discs. Will this work? (Will I have to install a new operating system at all..?)
4. I can still cancel my order. Is there any recommendations for Hard Drives you all may recommend? Anyones that may provide a quicker performance / more memory possibly?

My Laptops Specs:

intel Core i7-4700MQ CPU @ 2.40GHz
12GB DDR3 Ram
Intel HD Graphics 4600
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My apologies for all the questions and my apologies if i didn't make things clear enough. It's the first time something like this has happened and I have no clue as to what I should go about doing with my new hard drive when it comes in tomorrow. An explanation as to what I should do would be great.

 

[LordConrad]

Sounds like the drive is about to fail so replacement is a good idea. As far as copying the data: Once you install the new drive, put the old drive in an external enclosure, and plug the the external enclosure into your laptop. Now you can run a cloning software or copy the data directly, your choice.

If you're mechanically inclined, swapping out the hard drive should be fairly easy. The hard drive should be located under a door on the bottom of your laptop. Just take it slow and keep track of the tiny screws.

I don't see why the discs you created wouldn't work. But if they don't, you can always call the manufacturer of your laptop and they will send you the recovery discs (for a small fee).

Hard drive performance is pretty much the same from one manufacturer to the next. You'll get a slight speed increase when switching to newer drives due to a greater data density per platter. The greatest speed increase comes from using SSDs instead of hard drives, but you'll likely sacrifice some storage space in the switch (high capacity SSDs are expensive).