Fresh Build Having Difficulty Adding a HDD

Hello all. Having read and found many useful answers on this forum in the past, I thought maybe I could turn here in this dark hour. I just finished my new pc build, and everything fired up first try. I got windows 7 installed on my SSD (HDD was disconnected per some suggestions I had seen online about making sure all system files go on the SSD). The drivers that came with my setup were a little confusing, specifically the motherboard disc (their site is equally confusing in some regards). My basic problem is this: the HD slows down boot up significantly when plugged into the motherboard in SATA- the actual difference is around a minute of additional time (under 15 secs on SSD alone, minute+ with HD plugged in). The boot order is correct in UEFI, and I've even disabled the HD as an option for boot, but the delay remains. It's set to AHCI, though it may not have been for the windows install. I tried to format and add the drive through administrative disk management, but an error message stopped me and said the drive cannot be reformatted. I had tried to do GPT the first attempt as the SSD was already set to MBR. Virtual Disk Manager said the format did not complete successfully and windows tried to the same effect, leaving the drive listed as RAW file system and the message to check to see that the disk and drive are connected properly (they are- tried in 3 different sata 3 ports) as well as to make sure that the disk is not read-only. Trying to initialize the HD as MBR results in data error: cyclic redundancy check.

I tested the HD on its own, plugged into the same port that the SSD had used and tried to install windows 7 on it (Also changed the power plugs out on it between attempts). Got the message that: "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in the computer's Bios menu." Ahci was enabled at the time (tried IDE after to the same result). It should be noted that after my first attempts to add the HDD through the device manager as detailed in the first paragraph, the bios had the controller listed as Raid, which I promptly changed back to AHCI and tried the same steps to the same effect.

My setup is as follows:
Asus Z97-a Motherboard
Intel i5-4690k CPU
Corsair Dominator 8GB 1866mhz RAM
Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD
HDD 1TB|WesternDigital WD1003FZEX
Gigabyte 970GTX Gaming
Corsair RM 650 PSU

All the parts are new, received in the last week.

I thought I had the fix earlier as I removed the quick format checkbox, and it appeared to be working, reformatting for abount an hour before it gave me the same failure message right at the end that the format had failed. At this point, I'm pretty much out of ideas beyond reinstalling windows and redoing the drivers, even the non-essentials/bloatware. I have a feeling that won't work either, and it's just going to be another wasted morning. Does it sound like this HD is just a bad part? Shouldn't a HDD just hook in and be ready to go (or format)? Could it be a motherboard, or even a PSU issue? I feel like those are eliminated by the trial I did replacing the HD in the same config that the SSD worked in. The slow down effect is weird, since it even impacts boot and post when removed from the boot device pecking order. Any feedback on this would be much appreciated. I'm in the healthy hardware phase and would like to identify and returns that need to be made during my 30 day window. Regards,

Brandon