Well not enough information to answer this...

What model is the laptop? You will likely need a 2.5 inch drive, but they come in a few flavors. IDE or SATA. Which determines the type of connection that you want. It depends on how old the computer and hard drive is.

If you are going to do the replacement by yourself, you can take all the screws out the bottom, making sure that you do not loose any, then remove the HD and either read the label or take the HD with you to the store.

If your HD is messed up and you want to try to save it, you will have have to download the software to try to fix it. (www.grc.com) Though I am not sure you can run it from a laptop.

Google the exact make and model and "replacement internal HD" and you should get what you want.