I'd like to replace my hard drive.  How do I know what to buy for my 15-inch early 2008 MacBook Pro?

I am out of room on my hard drive.  I'd like to get a new hard drive and restore my data to the new drive from Time Machine.  How do I know what kind of hard drive to buy for my 15-inch, early 2008 MacBook Pro?  Also, how hard is this to do? 

I have changed HDDs several times on the old MBP.  Currently it has a Hitachi 500 GB HDD that came out of my new one.  My adage is that one cannot have too much storage and I think that the 1TB HDD is an excellent choice.  Not only do you get generous capacity, the performance should be (theoretically) comparable to a 750 GB 7200 rpm HDD.  I will be very surprised if there are compatibility problems.
If you bought the HDD from OWC, you should have received Installation instructions.  If not, go to the OWC website and look at the video.  I actually downloaded it so that I could hand write the instructions down step by step.  Also check out iFixit website.  They have step by step instructions that may prove to be useful.
Tools you need:  00 Phillips and #6 Torx Drivers (get good ones).   The instructions make mention of a plastic pry bar (spudger).  I use a stiff piece of plastic like a credit card.
Tips to keep in mind:  Get a large open table space and place a large clean towel on it.  That will protect your MBP and when you drop a screw (and you will) it will not bounce far so you will not have to spend an hour looking for it.
As you take out a set of screws, keep them together (I use wide masking tape.  The little screws will stick to it.)
Keep the sets in sequence.  That will make reassembly much, much easier.
The most difficult steps are removing the keyboard from the MBP body and removing the ribbon cable from the mother board.  In case of the former, work from the back (the display) to the front.  You will initially have to pry it up and then do a lot of jiggling to remove it.  Don't be too timid about it.  At the end of the ribbon cable there is a rectangular connector.  Use your credit card to remove it.  Just pry it off.
The #6 Torx driver is used to take off the 4 mounting pins on the HDD and if I remember correctly there is another place where it is needed, specifically in the battery compartment ( I think).  If the instructions don't say so, keep that in mind and inspect the screw before you select the driver.
Good luck and make sure that you don't have parts left over.
Ciao.

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