Comment 34 for bug 430333

I would suggest to overwrite the device with a random, but defined pattern instead of all zeroes (like DEADBEEF or something :P). This way, you can verify the integrity afterwards. Zero bytes can be produced by accident, DEADBEEF can't. So you will then see where the drive fails, i.e., whether the defined pattern is really written on the device.

As far as the trouble with Arch, Debian and Windoze is concerned, I am pretty sure that no code in Linux is capable of producing a failure like this if it wasn't for (at least another) bug in the drive firmware or hardware.

Please verify that the issue does not occur if Windows (or another distribution) is installed on an entirely drive.