Can't get 8.1 or 8.2 to format 8.5G WD hdd?

[MTP]

Sorry for the long title.
I tried to install 8.1 on my 8.5G WD hdd, it kept getting snagged in the format section with /mnt/hdc1 invalid arguement . I tried 2 8.5G WD hdd. Funny thing is I can install 8.0 on those hdd with no problems? (same commands) so I figured it must be my copy of 8.1 (although I've used it before).
So I downloaded 8.2 beta4. Exact same thing. Won't install on my 8.5G hdd. So I grabbed my 6.5G WD hdd and boom, it loads just fine (well so far, past the damn format section at least.

Anyone else run into this??

[IronBits]

You should never see this message under normal circumstance.
One way that this message can occur is if more than one partition is set "active" or bootable; only one is allowed to be at a time.
It is possible that the master partition table has become corrupted.
The standard DOS and Windows disk utilities will not allow you to set more than one partition active.
If you are using any funky utilities to manipulate the partitions, for example in a multiple-operating-system environment, run the fdisk dos utility from a floppy disk and make sure only one partition is set active.

Partition it with 8.0, then sneak it into the 8.1... does that work?

[FoBoT]

use ranish partition manager to "wipe" the drive clean, i.e. do what ironbits said

then try it again

put ranish onto a boot disk and run it, it will let you delete any type of partition and load a "neutral" boot sector, that will clear out any active partition thingys like what IB said

[MTP]

Well I finally got 8.2 beta 4 to load, but only on an old hdd and my IBM 15G deskstar.

My modem is a little weird, and the layout is allot different. It'll be a few days before I can figure this one out.