External Samsung T3 SSD problem

[krs]

@bob:
His T3 was protected with a password with the built in Samsung software.

I just read through this thread - I don't remember any comment that the T3 was protected by a password.
But regardless, even it it was, would one not expect the drive to mount, then see the request to enter the password, and then not open the volume if the password is not correct?

What struck me is that all the Macs used trying to access the external were running Catalina - long shot, I know,but I would try to find a Mac running an earlier macOS to see if that changes anything.

 

[MacInWin]

@bob:

His T3 was protected with a password with the built in Samsung software. He migrated data from an older MacBook Pro which he no longer owns so it's very likely the data on the T3 is still there but can not be viewed. I suspect the ability to unlock the T3 was on his old MacBook Pro but was not carried over when he migrated the data to the new machine.

I'm sure he will be able to find someone in Israel who can unlock the T3 and recover his data. Hopefully it won't be expensive to do so.

Charlie, how do you know about the password? He never mentioned a password. It would seem to me that even with a password the partition map would be accurate. Or does Samsung muck with the actual drive structure with its software?

 

[MacInWin]

krs and I posted at the same time...

 

[chscag]

@Jake and krs:

The OP also posted additional information on another forum which I am also a member. He somehow did not post that same information here or we could have responded differently. What I posted above is only my opinion of what went wrong.

And I suspect that Jake might be correct in that the Samsung software may have encrypted the drive. He also mentioned in the other forum about using the MA (migration assistant) to transfer his data from the 2015 MBA to the new one. I don't know what that may have to do with his current problem though.

My advice to him was not to continue to mess with that drive and let someone there in Israel help him to retrieve the data.

 

[MacInWin]

Ah, then, if he encrypted it, it makes sense that it won't mount, but I'm surprised that the partition isn't even showing. I suppose he could try installing the Samsung software on his new machine and then try to remember the login/password?

 

[krs]

I suppose he could try installing the Samsung software on his new machine and then try to remember the login/password?

Sounds like he tried that already - installing the Samsung software (post #7)
Is there any indication on the other forum that he forgot his login/password? That would be a REAL problem.

If the basic problem is the Samsung drive encrypted with Samsung software, then I would think the next step is to contact Samsung support or at least an active Samsung discussion group.

 

[IWT]

I think I can say without detriment or offence to anybody that we can only work with the information we are given; either voluntarily or in response to our questions.

If an OP, no doubt unintentionally, withholds critical info from us, but posts that same info elsewhere, we are at a considerable disadvantage. A lot of us have spent a great deal of time & effort trying to solve this challenging problem. We are now presented with a totally different set of circumstances and there may even be an element of doubt about their existence and/or relevance.

Nevertheless, onward and upward, eh.

Ian

 

[chscag]

Sounds like he tried that already - installing the Samsung software (post #7)
Is there any indication on the other forum that he forgot his login/password? That would be a REAL problem.

If the basic problem is the Samsung drive encrypted with Samsung software, then I would think the next step is to contact Samsung support or at least an active Samsung discussion group.

No, he did not forget his password. When he attached the Samsung to his new MBA he was expecting it to mount and then ask for the password as it previously did. But as we now know, that did not happen and the partition which was encrypted has disappeared. The only partition which shows up is the EFI FAT partition. His data is still there so it's a matter of gaining access to it.

At this point in time it would be better for him to have someone in his home country (Israel) to extract the data for him.

 

[Rod]

I encountered the same offer to password protect the data on my Samsung TS portable SSD when I first plugged it in and registered it with Samsung. There was a serial number I was advised to keep which I recorded, just in case but I did not lock the device. The device also installed an app which I have kept too just in case I want to repurpose the device at some time. The next thing I did was opened Disk Utility, erased the SSD and reformatted it as APFS/GUID. I created two partitions on the device, one for myself and one for my wife. I perform a weekly CCC backup of both my wife's and my MBP's on this SSD. I have no problem swapping between devices and both partitions show on both MBP's.

My point is whenever purchasing an external drive for a Mac or even if it is to be shared between different platforms it is wise to erase the proprietary software by reformatting it to a suitable format and partition map even if it is to the same as the format it came with eg FAT32, ExFat, NTSC, MacOS Extended (Journaled).

Obviously this is no help to Chaver4U who I fear may have lost all his data, short of ferrarr's suggestions I cant think what else could be done.

Do you have another backup for your device that may have included your lost data in an incremental backup at some point?

 

[Chaver4u]

Thinking back, the problem arose after upgrading to Catalina. I migrated all from my 2015 MacBookPro to my new 2020 MacBook Air. This is the only (very) serious issue I encountered. Everything else works perfectly. Also my other external SSD that I use as timemachine for my MacBook works perfectly.

It's only this darn Toshiba T3.
I actually see it is connected but I only showing Samsung setup apps of 31MB, not the 150GB stored data.
On Disk Utility I see the same. Just 31MB of data and it also shows the capacity of the SSD as 131MB, while the SSD capacity is 250GB.
It is formatted Fat32. I never did that unpurposely. Samsung set this automatically I assume. Some people advised me to reformat to HFS, but that would erase everything on the SSD.

I have tried several recovery apps but they don’t show more than what Disk Utility shows. Only one app (DiskDrill) shows after a deep scan 105MB of a few deleted folders, but not the 150GB data.

I tried on a friend's MacBookPro: same problem. Also that one has MacOS Catalina.

I am thinking about downgrading to Mojave and see what happens. I see however it's not that easy, but I will give it a try.

Thanks for all your advice. I hope to get this resolved

Rpbert

 

[ferrarr]

Are you using the exact same user account, from Migration Assistant? Or did you create a new user account on the new MBA?


Sent from my iPad using Mac-Forums

 

[krs]

I am thinking about downgrading to Mojave and see what happens. I see however it's not that easy, but I will give it a try.

If ou have a spare external drive you can just connect that and install Mojave on it rather than downgrading from Catalina.

Also - have you contacted Samsung support to see what they have to say?
Might take a few tries to get someone familiar with Macs.

 

[TurboSteve]

It might be a shot in the dark, but i read in a few different places that external drive cables/plugs can go bad. Do you have another you can try?

 

[krs]

It might be a shot in the dark, but i read in a few different places that external drive cables/plugs can go bad.

Yes, cables and connectors can go bad or become intermittent, but in this case the OP commented just a few posts back (post #30)

I actually see it is connected but I only showing Samsung setup apps of 31MB, not the 150GB stored data.
On Disk Utility I see the same. Just 31MB of data and it also shows the capacity of the SSD as 131MB, while the SSD capacity is 250GB.

..so the assumption is that cable and connector are fine.

 

[twizzard]

I have tons of data on my external Samsung T3 SSD. It worked perfectly on my MacBook Pro 2015 which is gone.
I now have a MacBook Air 2020. Great laptop!

But.....the T3 no longer opens. I get a warning that the T3 is disconnected. Attached screenshot
But it is connected according to the Disk Utility. Also attached screenshot.
Strangely enough, there are at least 150GB (very important) data on he T3 but Disk Utility only shows 31MB 'setup data'.

I am totally stuck.

Anybody any advice what to do?

Robert

Fab

Talk to your friends and see if they have a computer you can use. If the drive mounts copy all the data onto a new external drive, freshly formatted as Mac, journaled, not encrypted.

Install the oldest version you can find of Mac OS on your old laptop.
If the drive mounts copy all the data into that old laptop, and then onto a new external drive, freshly formatted as Mac, journaled, not encrypted.

Go to grc.com and get a copy of Spinrite 6; inexpensive and unbelievably good utility. Your purchase will also entitle you to the coming Spinrite 6.1 which will run on Mac. Use your new Mac to download and create bootable media. Spinrite 6 is tiny (written in pure assembly language), so it will fit on any media you have (even a 3.5 inch floppy if you have A USB connected floppy drive). get an old PC - thrift store version is fine, as long as it has USB ports. With the T3 connected boot the PC to Spinrite and try Level 2.

 

[twizzard]

Thinking back, the problem arose after upgrading to Catalina. I migrated all from my 2015 MacBookPro to my new 2020 MacBook Air. This is the only (very) serious issue I encountered. Everything else works perfectly. Also my other external SSD that I use as timemachine for my MacBook works perfectly.

It's only this darn Toshiba T3.
I actually see it is connected but I only showing Samsung setup apps of 31MB, not the 150GB stored data.
On Disk Utility I see the same. Just 31MB of data and it also shows the capacity of the SSD as 131MB, while the SSD capacity is 250GB.
It is formatted Fat32. I never did that unpurposely. Samsung set this automatically I assume. Some people advised me to reformat to HFS, but that would erase everything on the SSD.

I have tried several recovery apps but they don’t show more than what Disk Utility shows. Only one app (DiskDrill) shows after a deep scan 105MB of a few deleted folders, but not the 150GB data.

I tried on a friend's MacBookPro: same problem. Also that one has MacOS Catalina.

I am thinking about downgrading to Mojave and see what happens. I see however it's not that easy, but I will give it a try.

Thanks for all your advice. I hope to get this resolved

Rpbert

You hopefully have backups -- a computer without a backup is a computer that will fail and lose data. If you have a backup for your old Mac laptop, restore that backup onto the old laptop. Then you might be able to mount the T3 and copy the data to a new drive. Then you could erase the old laptop again. As a standard practice I keep a backup of each retired computer on the shelf, untouched for years.

 

[BudVitoff]

I didn't realize you lived in Israel...

Yup. He’s in Israel all right. I’m going back about 75 years to remember this, but “Chaver” means “friend” in Hebrew. And if you read 4U as “for you”, It’s obvious that he’s a pretty friendly guy. BTW, that “Ch” is not the CH in “chair”, but rather the throat scraper that makes you want to follow it with “ptui!” ?