When I first set out to partition the hard drive, HDToolBox read the drive geometry and came up with 16.9GB every time. I was curious about it not being 18.2GB
Welcome to marketing gigabytes:
18.2*1000*1000*1000/1024/1024/1024 = 16.95
Can I do some sort of low level format and restore it as it should be or...?
Whatever you do, don't try to low level format. Modern drives are low level formatted at the factory and can't be re-low-level-formatted.
What can I do?
I'd recommend you use SCSIConfig instead of HDToolBox. It is the official tool provided by the manufacturer.
However, some of the problems you have sound more like some hardware problem. If you have some way of making sure the HDD is ok (SCSI controller on a pc?), that would help.
