Q: If I don't back up my MBP before installing a new hard drive...

Really fast question:

If I don't back up my hard drive before installing a new SSD hard drive, will the MBP (early 2011) "know" how to download all the appropriate OS X software, and that kind of thing? I guess my question is: Is the recovery portion of the hard drive part of the same hard drive? Or on a separate physical disk.

I do not have a time machine, and it would probably just be easier to start from scratch.

Thanks!