Originally Posted by
seriousblack
Thanks for your reply. I'm afraid I don't really think I'm technicly minded enough to try removing the hard drive - I really have no clue about these things 
Pity. Because the step by step stuff they'll tell you to do here is very heavy indeed. If it's a Dell laptop, the instruction book tells you how to remove a drive. Putting it into an external USB enclosure that must buy is covered in that product's instructions.
You'd need a second computer obviously for the external drive to be connected - dunno if that's a problem for you.
Perhaps get a friend in who is more confident to help you out.
BVut, of course, don't go too far outside your confidence zone - although I'm suggesting you ratchet it up a bit.
Good luck.