Well I finally had some time to reformat the drive as one single primary partition; unfortunately, the problem still persists.
I decided to see if maybe there was some weird connection issues going on but after reconnecting everything, using known cables that worked, switching which mobo port it’s plugged into, etc., I don’t believe anything is wrong with the drive in that regard.
Any advice on whether I should continue troubleshooting or should I just start up an RMA procedure with the retailer I bought it at (I still have a week or so as of this post before I’m out of their covered warranty)?
