I would initialize it with Western Digital "Lifeguard" tools that you can download from their site. It will let you copy over your old drive too if you have a way to connect both of them.
I usually do it on my desk top machine using a 2.5" to 3.5" cable adapter if it is PATA (IDE). With 2 adapters you can do it directly or if you only have one adapter and a spare 3.5" drive you can copy to the spare, then copy back to your new drive. I just did that last week for someone.
If you are not trying to copy anything over you can do it all on your laptop. It is usually easier to just clone the old drive if you can. Backup and restore may not actually get you back to where you were. The Lifeguard copy will make it exactly like the one you took out.
