do you hava a hdd in box?
if it's western digital BLACK please pull out of the box and flash
Why should the HDD or SSD model be an issue? Have you direct experience of what you claim? And, if so, are you sure it wasn't a coincidence or it wasn't a failure in your HDD the problem?
Such a statement is quite absolute: the experiment should be replicated by (at least) two items of the same model.
I very much doubt the HDD or SSD model would do any difference in the flashing process: surely, it'd be the first time ever.
Usually, the reasons are elsewhere.
Another suggestion to @chris_found is to try a different USB port. Although the guides always refer to the front port, the flashing process might work also when using the other ones. Perhaps your front port does not work.
But, remember, 95% of times the issues originates from the USB stick.
If you have a friend using MacOs, ask him to format under this system as MS-DOS FAT: I've never ever had any need of changing USB stick. I think I've used so far at least two dozens of totally different stick without problems formatting them by a Mac...