Mac Mini - REcovery Disk - no option key

Hi all,

New to the forums (and to Macs) so easy does it

I've recently bought a Mac Mini and am about to add a second HDD (SSD) as the primary boot disk.

It's the latest model running Mountain Lion so I've downloaded the recovery assistant and have created a recovery USB stick. I'm just reading up in advance on what I need to do to get the OS back on. I know and am comfortable with adding the new drive so no problems there.

I understand that when all is installed and working correctly I need to start the machine up holding down the option key and here lies the problem...

I have no Apple keyboard for this machine. I have a MacBook Pro which I use to connect to it as and when necessary but basically I use it as a server and home theatre machine - it's pretty much just running Plex server and Client on the foreground and sharing files in the background.

Is it possible to use the recovery stick without an Apple Keyboard (and the option key) or should I just purchase Lion / Server and do a fresh install - if so, which..?

 

OK, thanks.