dd (disk destroyer) will cause anyone a big headache if you have no idea what you are doing ...
dd = diskdump
$ sync && sync && sync && dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sda bs=4096 && sync;
Absolutely true. The question was whether there was software available to the public to make a bit-for-bit image of a hard drive, and those were some applications that immediately came to mind because I use them quite often. But if you don't know what you are doing, you can hose things up quite spectacularly.