dd (and all of the variants mentioned here) makes a sector-by-sector copy of the physical disk. It doesn't care what filesystem is used because it isn't reading at the filesystem level. It's reading the actual bits that make up the filesystem structures and the files themselves. So if you properly use dd (capture the correct partitions) then you will get an image that will allow you to do a "bare metal" recovery without having to reinstall the operating system.

Wayne Davis wrote: 
In the event of a catastrophic drive failure, Will this recover a system 
WITHOUT re-installing the OS first?  I didnot see a mechanism for doing 
that.

  Arconis uses a boot cd that enables USB, network shares and uses image 
files Ive created on a 80 gig USB drive formatted  NTFS as well as other 
images on shared NTFS drives.


Erich Newell wrote:
  
I just popped in and have seen a ton of comments regarding proper 
imaging of a hard drive, and thought I'd throw in my two cents.

One of my favorite tools is dcfldd ( 
http://www.forensicswiki.org/wiki/Dcfldd and 
http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/dcfldd/). It is a forensic version 
of dd, that can be used over a network. It essentially does the same 
things that many have been describing, but in a much cleaner interface.

A snippet from the wiki:

-------- snip -------

*dcfldd* is an enhanced version of dd 
<http://www.forensicswiki.org/wiki/Dd>. It has some useful features 
for forensic investigators 
<http://www.forensicswiki.org/index.php?title=Investigator&action=edit>:

    * On-the-fly hashing <http://www.forensicswiki.org/wiki/Hash> of
      the transmitted data.
    * Progress bar of how much data has already been sent.
    * Wiping of disks with known patterns.
    * Verification that the image is identical to the original drive,
      bit-for-bit.
    * Simultaneous output to more than one file/disk is possible.
    * The output can be splitted into multiple files.
    * Logs and data can be piped into external applications.

The program only produces raw image files 
<http://www.forensicswiki.org/wiki/Raw_image_file>.

-------- end snip -------

I thought some may find this useful.

-- 
"A man is defined by the questions that he asks; and the way he goes 
about finding the answers to those questions is the way he goes 
through life."
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