Copy old drive to new drive - is it possible?

[Tig]

Hi, I have a hard drive which is on its last legs. I also have new hard
drive to replace the old one. I was wondering if it is possible to
simply copy everything from the old drive to the new (after formating
the new drive) and have my system back up and running, or do I need to
reinstall the OS and everything else?

Tips, URL's or a simple 'from personal experience, best to reinstall'
comments more than welcome.

Thanks for your time.

-Tig