Unable to install new OSX on erased MacBook Pro hard drive

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My 2012 13" MacBook Pro started freezing on boot last week to the point where I could do nothing. It was stuck on the Apple logo with every boot. Disk utility in Recovery mode said that my hard drive was fine. Tried so many boot up possibilities that are not even worth mentioning because they are redundant now. Suffice it to say, nothing worked.

Important note: I upgraded to OSX Mojave and have had progressively worse problems over time. After speaking with a local Apple repair technician over the phone, I was advised to erase my hard drive and downgrade to OSX High Sierra. That is where I'm currently at.

This is the process I've since gone through:
• Used Target Disk mode to retrieve necessary data. Worked fine.
• Erased Hard drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
• Created a Bootable USB with OSX High Sierra (downloaded from the Mac App store)
• Started up Mac with bootable USB (Option-G)
• Installation process seemed to be going fine until almost the end when I got a message that said that "An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again?"

I tried installing again on a different USB port and got the same error. Internet is on too. No go.

I also tried internet recovery mode and it seems fine for a while before the globe stops spinning and things freeze. I waited an hour for something to happen. Another no go.

The only thing I haven't tried is to revive my computer with a Time Machine backup. I'd rather not do this because the last backups were all with Mojave and I'm not interested in using that operating system anymore.

Not sure where to go from here. This forum is my last hope before I resign myself to an expensive service technician. Would be grateful for any advice out there. Thanks!
 
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M1 Mac Studio, 11" iPad Pro 3rdGen, iPhone 13 ProMax, Watch S7, 2018 15" MBP, AirPods Pro
Do you have another external drive you can try to install the OS onto?

It sure seems like the internal drive is dying/dead? Or, is it an SSD? When you are booted from the USB installer, and you open Disk Utility to erase the drive, what are you selecting, the drive, or the partition?
 
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I believe I selected the drive. It was the one that I named and it was indented on the selection list. I don't know much about partitions...
 
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M1 Mac Studio, 11" iPad Pro 3rdGen, iPhone 13 ProMax, Watch S7, 2018 15" MBP, AirPods Pro
I believe I selected the drive. It was the one that I named and it was indented on the selection list. I don't know much about partitions...
If you selected the "indented" in the sidebar, then that is the volume. Select the top item, above the partition. I believe it is listed under "Internal"? That will be the drive, and it should say something like "Apple HDD........ or Apple SSD.........". Then try the Erase procedure again, making sure to choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled), with GUID Partition Map.
 
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Thank you ferrarr! That worked for me! Should have come here in the first place. Would have saved me a lot of frustration. I know better now. :D
 

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