Help please, Disk Imaging\cloning?

Hello, I purchased a new HDD...

HDD1: 500gb, win7 64
HDD2: 1tb, nothing

What Id like to do, is move EVERYTHING from HDD1 onto HDD2, Id then like to install linux on HDD1. What im wondering is, if I "CLONE" HDD1, can i "paste" that onto HDD2, and still use everything like i previously did? Security programs, games etc. I really would prefer not having to install everything over again.

 

You shouldn't have any problems doing this using one of the many drive cloning applications available.The good thing is that by copying the data to the new drive,you can test it out before you delete the original data,just to be sure.

Personally I like Easeus Todo Backup,which is easy to use and for me has been very effective:

http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm

Other options you might look at are:

http://www.minitool-drivecopy.com/drivecopy.html
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx