How do I install Mac OS X Lion on a New Hard Drive

Use the Apple Recovery HD Assistant Tool. This tool allows you to transfer your computer's Recovery HD into an USB flash drive or external hdd. I believe that the size of the partition is about 650 MB, but I am not sure. Anyways here's the download link for the tool.

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433

Once you have transfered the Recovery HD image into a USB flash drive this is what you have to do in order to install OSX Lion in your new HDD after installing it.

1. Connect your external drive or stick into one of the MacBook's USB ports.
2. Turn on your MacBook.
3. Hit the "option" key as soon as you hear the start up shime.
4. When the selection of bootable drives appear on screen appears, select your extenal drive by using your keyboard arrow keys.
5. Once you have your boot drive selected hit the "return" (known as "enter" key in the Windows world).
6. Wait for the Recovery HD image to load up.
7. Select your language.
8. Wait for the screen dialog to appear.
9. Select the option that says "Disk Utility".
10. Once Disk Utility opens, you'll see a sidebar with the available drives for your computer. Select your main hard drive (which is the one that you have installed).
11. When selected, on the center of the screen you will see five tabs. Select the one that says "Partition".
12. Specify the number of partitions that you want on your drive, in most cases select the "1 partition" option. This option is in a dropdown menu located under the header "Volume Scheme"
13. In the section "Volume Information" label the drive "Macintosh HD" in the "name" box (or your preffered name).
14. Below the "name" box, there is another box called "format"; select "Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)".
15. Go back to the "Volume Scheme" header. Move your mouse to the end of the big partition box. You should see a button labeled as "options" (or something similar) click on that box and select "GUID Partition Table". Click "OK".
16. Then click the "partition" or "format" button (don't remember that well 😝) to finish the process.
17. After that process is finished, quit Disk Utility.
18. Back on the Recovery HD option screen click the option labeled "Reinstall Mac OS X Lion". In the installer screen you should be able select your hard drive. Select it and then click the "install" button.
19. Agree to the terms and conditions.
20. Wait for OSX Lion to load into the drive and then install. Your computer may restart multiple times during this process.
21. Use the Welcome Assistant to set up OSX Lion and all your personal data.
22. Enjoy Lion!

Well that's all to it. Good Luck!

I don't know if you'll see this... I just put a new hard drive in my iMac. I downloaded the HD Recovery image and put it on an USB stick. When I restart my computer and hold down Option it doesn't show up as a bootable drive.

I created a boot disk of Lion when I purchased it. I don't know if there's something on there that will help. It shows up when I restart with Option or C. It won't install Lion but I can see everything in Disk Utility.

Any ideas?