Mysterious "VolumeCheck" Error when Installing Original OS X on New HD

I have an old MacBook Pro (ca. 2006-7; possibly Power PC based). I recently replaced its dead HD with a new 500GB HGST 7200rpm HD.

When I ran the original OS installation disk, the new HD would not appear on the list of "destination" HDs to install the OS on. I used the back button to back up a few pages to the "Accept terms/conditions" page. There I selected Disk Utility and noticed that, though it did not appear on the list of destination drives at the "select destination" step, nevertheless the new HD was indeed listed under Disk Utility as the only HD. (The installation DVD was listed as the only other "destination".)

Note: Any attempts to format/erase/zero out/partition the new HD from this Disk Utility results in either an "input/output error" or a "Disk Utility has lost connection, please close and retry" error (this 2nd error is my paraphrase).

Using my other MacBook pro (ca. 2007-8; possibly intel based), I used a USB to SATA cable to format the new HD with 1 partition, using the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Apple Partition Map (non GUID) setting (including Mac OS 9 drivers). When I re-run the OS installation disk, the new HD now appears on the list of "destination" HDs to install the OS on. However, it is marked by a RED exclamation point and when I select it as the destination for installation, I get the following error:

You cannot install mac os x on this volume. An error was encountered while running the the volumecheck tool for mac os x.

(This error quote is verbatim, including the 2 "the"s.)

Note: To be sure that I was using the correct installation disk (being that I have 2, thanks to my 2nd MacBook pro) I ran the other OS installation disk and found that it would immediately produce an error stating that the OS could not be installed on the machine. Because the 1st set of OS disks permits me to go farther (all the way to the "select destination" step) I must assume that the 1st disk is the correct disk.

I have read numerous forums (dating back to 2008) that list this "volumecheck" error, but none of them yield a solution.

Note: The original (dead) HD was labeled in such a manner that I could not discern if it were a 7200rpm or 5400rpm HD.

Is it possible that (due to the age of the laptop) a 7200rpm drive is never compatible and, therefore, the possible solution is to replace this new HD with a 5400rpm drive? (Along these lines, is it also possible that the laptop is so old that the size of the HD is too big?) Any input/guidance would be appreciated. Thanks!

Best,

VC

Message was edited by: VeritasCinema