dd and pv

progress

# (pv -n /dev/sda | dd of=/dev/sdb bs=128M conv=notrunc,noerror) 2>&1 | dialog --gauge "Running dd command (cloning), please wait..." 10 70 0

# (pv -n /dev/sda | dd of=/dev/sdb bs=512 count=1) 2>&1 | dialog --gauge "Running dd command (cloning), please wait..." 10 70 0

other option

http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-copy-mbr/

dd command to copy MBR (identically sized partitions only)

Type dd command as follows:
dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=512 count=1

sudo kill -SIGUSR1 $(pidof dd)