Samsung SSD T3 and Windows 10

[mariscalcus]

Apologies if this issue has appeared previously although I was unable to find any such reference.
The T3 SSD (500GB) works fine with my Mac - it automatically backs up my Mac HD. However, when I connect to my Windows 10 PC (MS Surface) the SSD is not recognised under Devices and Drives. It does appear in the Device Manager and under Disk Management. All drivers are (apparently) up-to-date. Under Disk Management I have 3 partitions - 200MB "Healthy (EFI System Partition)", 465GB "Healthy (Primary Partition)" and 128 MB "Unallocated". Right clicking and trying to "Convert to Dynamic Disk" results in an error "The operation is not supported by the object". I can create a "New Simple Volume" but only for the 128MB "Unallocated" partition.
Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can get my PC to access the SSD which my Mac can do without issues?
Many thanks.

 

[theradeonxt]

Hello,

I'd ask first how was the SSD formatted. I wonder if you used it first on Mac. Then the issue is that Windows does not support such partitions.

The 465GB partition is probably using a Mac-specific filesystem which Windows does not recognize. The 128 MB works because it is simply raw unformatted space.

If this is the case, after reading this http://www.osxbook.com/book/bonus/ancient/whatismacosx/arch_fs.html I assume that it's using HFS+.
Then I would point you to this article http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-ways-read-mac-formatted-drive-windows/ so that you add HFS+ filesystem support for your Windows.
The first method involves installing an Apple driver and I think then you will be able to use it normally.

Post back with results or if this is not the case I may have misunderstood your problem.

 

[mariscalcus]

Ah ha! How simple was that? You are exactly correct. I used the SSD first - brand new out of the box - on the Mac where it worked flawlessly. I then thought I could move data to and fro between my Mac and my Windows laptop. Obviously not - there are limits between Mac and Windows compatibility.
Great explanation and much appreciated. I will follow up on your recommendations for a solution and report back.
Strange, is it not, that a 125GB thumb drive costing a few bucks works flawlessly between OS but not an expensive SSD!
Many thanks again.

 

[theradeonxt]

Glad it helped.

Well in the case of USB drives that's easier, most of them use the FAT(32) or exFAT filesystem which is common in SD cards also. It has been adopted by most OS makers so it is "standardized" let's say.

Anyways, good luck!

 

[mariscalcus]

Your explanation was great but the soluition in the URL you quoted does not seem to work. I followed the steps - downloaded and installed the 2 Apple drivers and activated the Reg file; rebooted and nothing. The SSD is still not recognised and no Mac-formatted drive appears under Devices and drives only the Windows C drive of the laptop. Or am I missing something???

 

[theradeonxt]

Okay, can we go through these questions:

1. From your Mac, can you see some properties of the drive (especially partition information)? If so post them here.

2. From the linked article, are you sure you chose the right version of the driver (Windows 10)?

3. Can you afford to reformat the 465GB partition into exFAT? This may be the last option, if you can make a temporary copy of it. But be sure to have a good back-up first!
The top part of this article can be of help: http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/format-drive-for-windows-and-mac

 

[mariscalcus]

1. No. I can seen them on the PC as noted in the original post
2. Yes
3. Yes - I'll proceed with Step 3

 

[mariscalcus]

That did not go well!! I followed the steps in (3) as suggested on the Mac. After erasing it came back with a message "Disk erase failed. Couldn't open device" this despite taking about 30 minutes erasing. The properties now show the full 500 GB available with all data seemingly erased. When I tried to Partition the same error occured "Partition failed. Couldn't open device". I connected the SSD to the laptop and it is still not recognised in the Devices and Drives although, as before, it appears in Disk Drives in Device Manager. I reconnect it to the Mac and nothing has changed - all the previous data are still there about 400GB. Nothing has been erased; nothing re-formatted. For some reason the steps as suggested do not permit me access to the SSD which is strange - it seems to be controlled by Time Machine with automatic back-up every time I connect it to the Mac. Ultimately this is acceptable if I use the SSD solely as a Mac back-up but it means I need another SSD for the laptop and there seems no way for the SSD to communicate between the two. Maybe I should stick to high capacity USB sticks instead