Unable to read last block of the device

I'm mid way through replacing the hard drive in my MacBook Pro (mid-2009). I've created a boot disk (10.8) on a SD card which I am booting from.

On trying to format the new drive with disk utility (in from the installer) I am being presented with the following error.

Disk Erase Failed
Disk Erase failed with the error:
Unable to write to the last block of the device

Googling suggests this error message is somewhat ambiguous. The drive is brand new and from disk utility the SMART status is "verified".

Thanks in advance

The solution was really rather simple. A dead HD cable causing the HD to show up (and verify) but not function.

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