Trying to install new hard drive...HELP

Hey all,
I managed to cook my hard drive on my laptop. A Toshiba Satellite 2415-2505. I bought a replacement 40gig and popped it in. After putting in my recovery cd I've encountered an error message. It appears to erase all existing data on the new hard drive and then formats it. About a minute into the restore I get an application error 437 cannot read from file. I've tried to reinstall it several times and get the same hick-up. Any suggestions?
Thanks

 

often times, if the computer only came with a recovery disk, its not a full windows installation. The recovery disc looks for files stored on a recovery partition on the original drive and uses those files to complete the install.

If this is the case for your toshiba, it should say somewhere that the recovery disc is not a full version of Windows. Unfortunately, aside from finding the required files online (unlikely as far as I know), you will need a windows disc and genuine product key.

 

i agree with InYearsToCome, there is a second way of solving this problem.
you can clone the old drive and then restore it on the new one, you won't need windows installations cd. try migrate easy from acronis, it's a very good prog, i've tried it recently and it fulfiled all tasks perfectly.