Trying to install Corsair Force sata 3 SSD on my w520

[patrick2by4]

Hello all,
Trying to install a new SSD drive to my w520 and having a heck of a time.
I brought the recovery disks from Lenovo (through IBM) and it doesn't seem to work. I called tech support who said that it should work like a regular hdd but it is a no go. The computer hangs up during the installation process (near the end when it is configuring all the drivers, I keep getting this message from windows stating that the program is using a setting that doesn't exist) and tells me to start the recovery process all over (after 4 times, I give up). I tried setting the Bios config to compatibility mode from AHCI mode (no go). I tried removing the memory I added to get back to the original specs (no go).
I am wondering if I have to install a clean version of windows (more money down the drain) and then try to find all the Lenovo software and drivers... (I shutter to think of all the work involved).
There has to be a better way...

[patrick2by4]

I have a spare hdd drive and was wondering if use the recovery disks with that drive and then make a image file of the operating system on the new disk and put that in the
ssd...do you think that would work?