2007 iMac - New SSD installed, need to install Mountain Lion

[sick z33]

Hopefully this is the correct place to post this, apologize if the mods need to move it.

So my sister gave me her old 2007 iMac that has a bad HD. I decided to upgrade the HD to an SSD but there is also a problem, she doesn't have the original discs. It had 10.6.3 loaded on the system before the HD crashed.

So the SSD is installed, but I am not sure what to do next. Would I need to purchase The Mountain Lion installation from the Mac store on any of my current Mac systems and set up a bootable USB? Or do I need to find a set of original discs and install whatever OS it had originally and upgrade to Mountain Lion? ? I've seen a few articles online how to do this. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[toddzrx]

Since the SSD is essentially blank, I think you will need to find an older copy of OS X on a disc and try to load the OS that way. Then you can install OS X onto the SSD. Your iMac is too old to have OS X Recovery.

Of course, if one is close by, you could always bring it to an Apple store.

 

[QCassidy352]

How about using another Mac to buy ML from the App Store and put the installer on a flash drive (I think it'll be over 4 gb)?