It is entirely possible you cannot restore the data from your Time Machine drive to your newly installed
HDD. If you were running High Sierra before you it would make sense to install High Sierra on your mac.
Open Safari and click on this link,
How to get old versions of macOS – Apple Support
Go to the Download OS section and click macOS High Sierra.
This will redirect you to the App Store High Sierra download page
it should say Get or Download. This will download the High Sierra
installer app directly to your Applications folder, it will be 5.23GBs in size.
Double-click on it to start the installation.
Connect your mac to your router via cable rather than rely on WiFi.
Do not use your mac while it is downloading
and do not use any other devices that share the same internet connection.
If the App Store says ‘Open’ then it is detecting a previous download of the install app
go to the Applications folder locate Install macOS High Sierra.app.
Move it to the Trash, empty the Trash.
Restart, click on the link again, the App Store should say ‘Get' or 'Download'.
Once installed open the App Store Updates page and install any updates available.
Install any third party apps you may have been using before.
When ready you can use Time Machine to restore only your personal data, do not
restore any system or library files or apps.
When Time Machine opens select the <Home>/User folder (House symbol) in the Sidebar you should be
able to scroll through the backups to the backup you made before installing the new drive and click the Restore button.
