You can install a 2.5" SATA hard drive in the laptop. However, they come in different heights (thickness) ranging between 7mm and 15mm. Naturally if you buy a HDD that is too tall, then it will not fit in the laptop.
You should call Toshiba and ask them what height HDD can be installed. There seems to be Win 7 drivers for your laptop model. Click the following link and enter the model # to get a list of drivers.
http
/support.toshiba.com/support/modelHome?freeText=1909174
Here are all the available 2.5" HDDs from Newegg:
http/www.newegg.com/All-Laptop-Hard-Drives/SubCategory/ID-380
You can buy Win 7 OEM 64-bit for $100 at Newegg. OEM means it is tied to watch specific PC / laptop you are installing to. Everytime you need to reinstall the OS you will likely have to call Microsoft to unlock the key so that you can reinstall again. The price for the 32-bit and 64-bit are the same so might as well get the 64-bit version. Just double check that Toshiba has Win 7 64-bit drivers 1st!!! If they do not then buy the 32-bit version of Win 7.
http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986
The laptop you inherited is rather old and it only supports a max of 2GB of RAM, no more. Spending $150 - $200 for both Win 7 and a hard drive may not be worth it. I am sure you can buy a basic laptop by Black Friday / Cyber Monday for under $400 that will perform much better than that old laptop.... maybe even at the $300 mark... but it will likely have Win 8.
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