now that i feel confident with the clone, i've reinstalled os x on the laptop. i used the original disc that came with the laptop and everything went well. then it's a series of download updates since the release of that disc. that's probably 2 years of updates. (who knows how long that laptop was sitting on the shelves before i bought it.) then run a couple of programs to check the integrity of the drive. nothing was reported as being physically wrong with it. the scans came out ok. i guess it was just my poor maintenance of the drive and cramming it full of shit that caused it to freak out. the computer gods scared me and i have learned my lesson.