Couldn't have said it better. You should have at least 2 GB just for installation, but you will want a lot more if you want to install more programs. I would make the partition at least 8 GB.1. Get a new hard drive.
2. Are you dual booting? If so, do you have extra space on your Windows partition? If so, you can shrink it down a bit to make more free space for Linux.
3. Delete Windows and do a Linux-only installation.