Hey guys was able to get this to work with ANOTHER external harddrive by simply using the dd commands above. I was able to use the cloned image, restore it to this other drive.
Clearly, the newer USB 3.0-powered harddrive that I was trying to use earlier in the post wasn't properly working for whatever reason. Here's the model number:
Iomega
500GB Prestige USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive
SERIAL NUMBER: GRAB3000RD
I tried to clone to it using Ubuntu 12.04 both with my PCs USB 3.0 connection and 2.0 connection. Iomega site doesn't have any support for linux, and well you know where that leaves me.
Can't believe it was a hardware issue.
Final question: Is there anything that can be done on the uboot startup to accommodate for what might be taking place?
Thanks for your help!