Installing Vista/recovering the system on a new harddrive

[ortszentrum]

Hello,

I bought a new 500 GB harddrive for my X61. However, I'm not sure how to proceed. I remember with notebooks I had in the past the raw operating system with all the drivers could be replicated through special CDs.

Firstly, I'm not sure whether I had similar CDs as part of my purchase since I'm abroad for a longer period and don't have direct access to my X61 accessories. So can I obtain/download the respective recovery system files somewhere? I understand that licensing shouldn't be a big issue since the license is represented through the sticker at the bottom of my X61.

Secondly, can I use my other, external harddrive to boot with the empty internal harddrive and install the new system? Or what would be the alternative?

Thanks a lot for your help!
William