Hey, /g/.

I've used linux quite a few times in the past. I've tried almost every distribution under the sun that I thought would appeal to me. However, there's a process I find myself repeating.

>Use windows
>Start to think about how much I'd like the flexibility of linux
>Install linux
>work with driver issues first
>work with ricing
>realize that in the process of doing this I've installed numerous drivers that didn't work, I riced incorrectly or I don't know how to do something, etc. Suddenly my system feels "bloated".
>Reinstall Windows 7 and install drivers/remove shit I don't want
>repeat


Now, this is relevant to my question. I have 3 seperate hard drives - 1TB, 250GB, 150GB. Latter two are from old computers, so I figured I'd throw em in my build since I had the sata cables and why not, you know? So, down to my question:

Can I use one of my smaller drives as a "testing ground", and if all works well, copy the exact installation to my main hard drive and boot from it without any issues with my bootloader or anything?