Can find a drive to install OS X on my operating system

Go into the Disk Utility and mount, repair, or erase the internal drive. If it doesn't show up there, it's dead or not properly connected.

(201370)

Not knowing how your Mac was formatted, or its age, it may be that your Mac's format is too new for certain operating systems.

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3003

If you lookup the EMC# on the foot, we can tell you what format you should have, if the drive is healthy, and if external hard drives of a certain type are supported.