Team Kindly assist , my MacBook Pro is unable to read or accept my Samsung T5 SSD. This is the error I get immediately when connecting the SSD.
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MacBook Pro Unable to read Samsung t5
- Thread starter Solufinder
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Blowback
macrumors 65816
Have you checked/changed connection cables ? If the drive is in a case remove and replace back in? Try connecting to a different port on the Mac? Also, is it a new drive that you haven't formatted to APFS yet? Can you open Disk Utility with the drive connected?
fisherking
macrumors G5
what's changed since you last were able to use it? and what mac are you on? if it's an intel mac, try resetting the SMC.
along with @Blowback 's suggestions... have you rebooted?
along with @Blowback 's suggestions... have you rebooted?
jchap
macrumors 6502a
Have you installed the Samsung software for this particular SSD? As you may know, you won't be able to access the encrypted partition on the drive without installing the software. The T5 has a non-encrypted setup partition that you should be able to access regardless, but the encrypted partition is encrypted on-device (SSD firmware) and requires the software to be installed on your Mac.
Also, is your MacBook Pro an Apple silicon model or an Intel model? I've had numerous problems using Samsung's software for the T5 on Apple silicon. On my MacBook Air M1 model, for instance, the machine does not even recognize the T5, even with Samsung's proprietary software installed. Have you recently switched to an Apple silicon model?
If you are using an Intel-based Mac and have properly installed the Samsung software, try updating the T5 software to the latest version on the Samsung website. The T5 has been discontinued, but the software is still up there. It does work on my MacBook Pro 2019 model (Intel Core i9) running macOS Monterey.
If you have checked all the above, you could also try running First Aid in Disk Utility after connecting the T5. This may not repair your encrypted partition on the T5, but it may repair any problems with the disk structure.
Finally, did you ever reformat the T5 to another format that wouldn't be readable on the Mac, or adjust the partition structure in any way? This may be another source of troubles in reading the drive on the Mac.
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Guys I connected the T5 to my windows Laptop and did a software update , then used the USB c cable to connect it to MacBook M1 pro suddenly it appears on my desktop.🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️. Thank you team.
jchap
macrumors 6502a
That’s excellent news! Lucky for you that you had a Windows laptop available as well.
That said, you might still have been able to do this just with the Mac by unplugging the drive, updating the Samsung software on the Mac and then plugging the disk back into the Mac. As I recall, the Samsung software runs as a background app on the Mac, and activates when the drive is plugged in, so updating that software would have been the easiest step.
Anyway, great to hear you got it worked out.
My experience of the Samsung T5 and T7 software is anything but straightforward. I have updated the firmware on several T5 and T7 drives over the last few years and it has not been straightforward. I haven't done it for six months or so, so if it has improved recently ignore this. My experience for the last two years has been on Silicon Macs.
The two problems are that first you need to boot to Recovery to change Startup Security to "Reduced Security" to be able to run third party extensions. Second, having installed the extension is getting it to load, hence detect the Samsung drives. Having got it working successfully it always seems to be knocked of its perch by updates etc, and needs redoing.
It is possible that the OPs was updated during its trip to Windows but I have never seen any observable improvement by firmware updates....I do them as an act of faith and because I am an update junkie!
The fact that the OPs T5 mounted on both Windows and Mac without being reformatted implies it must be eXFAT or similar. (unless he has some compatibility software by Paragon etc installed that he didn't mention)
jchap
macrumors 6502a
Indeed, there was that Recovery Mode "hack" that you mentioned. Actually, I tried that on my MacBook Air M1, and it still didn't work—the T5 was never recognized. I really "pulled my hair out" on that one for a long time before giving up. Perhaps as you mentioned, the extension did not load anyway on the Apple silicon-based version of macOS despite the "reduced security" setting, or due to either being blocked by the AS firmware, the security chip or for some other inexplicable reason.
They (Samsung) discontinued the T5 anyway, so let's hope that future models of their SSDs are designed with more robust software/firmware than their predecessors, at least on the Mac side. At least the T5 works well enough on my Intel-based Macs and on Windows, so no complaints there. It was a great idea to have that encryption software built into the SSD, and then use the exFAT format so that it's compatible with a whole bunch of other devices besides Apple's. The software they supplied just needed more love from their development team, I think.