Need to see more of the screen shot. There isn't enough there to see what is going on.
In general, if there is a partition that does not have a file system, the mount button will show but will be grayed out. If there is no partition, the format button will show. I'm not sure exactly when preclear creates the partition, but I think if you stopped it before it was completed, the partition wouldn't be created.
You also have to erase the preclear log before the format button will be active.
I don't understand your comment about sdi being in limbo because I can't see any device designations except for sdi at the top.
Do you have today's release of UD?