As you guys can see, I am not a computer savvy tech...but recently my Sam sung HDD crapped out in my HP (only 1 year old). I backed up most important things on DVDs, but my PC is running slow. I visited newegg.com and I am thinking about purchasing a new HDD to replace my faulty one. My questions are:
1.) Should I purchase the same brand/type/capacity?
2.) Should I use my emergency bootable disks first on old HDD?
3.) What should I expect with a new HDD?
4.) If I put a different brand HDD in my PC, will it crash?

Can anyone direct me to helpful links?

Thanks