Running GParted gives me an error that says

fsyncing/closing dev/sdb: input/output error

Using Gnome Disk Utility under the assessment section it says

Disk is OK, one bad sector

Clicking to format it to EXT4 I’m getting a message that says

Error formatting volume

Error wiping device: Failed to probe the device ‘dev/SDB’ (udisks-error-quark, 0)

Running sudo smartctl -a /dev/SDB I get a few messages that all say

… SCSI error badly formed scsi parameters

In terms of the physical side I’ve swapped out the SATA data and power cable with the same results.

Any suggestions?

Amazon has a decent return policy so I’m not incredibly concerned but if I can avoid that hassle it would nice.