Trying to install OS X to new hard drive but broken optical drive

I replaced my macbook pro hard drive with a new one but can't install OS X onto the new hard drive because my optical drive doesn't work. I have an external optical drive that I can connect to my macbook pro but the OS X install DVD won't run.
I have settled for now to putting back my old hard drive into my macbook pro and have been trying to figure out a solution to my problem by looking around and the only possible solution I could find was replacing the optical drive itself which as much as possible, I am trying to avoid as my macbook pro is past 3 years old (approaching 4).

Will it work even though the hard drive itself is blank and I am trying to install OS X into the blank hard drive that I put inside my macbook pro? I thought by start up it meant that OS X was already installed on the hard drive. I hope that made sense.
Thank you though. I'll try it out and post what happened.
Sorry. I'm not really that literate technologically speaking or with configuring macbook pro settings. I'm just really trying things I've been searching and going along with what I can find.

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