Formatting a new Samsung 860 SSD

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Formatting a new Samsung 860 SSD

I put a fresh Samsung 860 SSD in thae usb caddy connected to a mac running HS but it did not offer to format the disk and disk utility did not see it either. Happily, I still had Sierra on another machine, which I used to format the drive as HFS+. I then connected it to the HS machine and used disk utility to format as APFS.

Since the Sierra machine won't be around for ever, my question is how would I address the unrecongnized drive problem in HS? It might not be an immediate problem but I am pretty sure it will happen again because my institution is currently supplying us with Samsung SSDs.

iMac 27", 10.12

Posted on Feb 3, 2019 1:52 AM

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Answer 1

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Eric Root

Level 10

684,045 points

Feb 3, 2019 7:22 AM in response to oxcart

When you attached the drive to the High Sierra computer, did the drive mount?

See mount section in 1st linked article.

Disk Unmount Using Terminal

Disk Utility – Force Mount Disk

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Answer 2

Feb 3, 2019 2:55 AM in response to oxcart

Apple does not publish a hardware compatibility matrix for any third-party drives, much less Samsung. Just because your company is force-feeding you Samsung 860 (or subsequent drive models), does not mean that they are entirely compatible with macOS, or the underlying HFS+/APFS filesystem.

I could see someone trying to save money and buying up a supply of earlier generation 860 drives, which may require firmware updates for proper macOS compatibility, or perhaps none.

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Answer 3

oxcart Author

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93 points

Feb 3, 2019 7:49 AM in response to Eric Root

Hi Eric, Yes, the disk did not mount. That is what I meant when I wrote that disk utility did not 'see' the disk. It was as if I had not plugged the caddy into the USB. Thanks for the links, those were exactly what I was looking for. I can't test the solutions without a fresh drive to hand, but I think there would be something there for me.

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Answer 4

Eric Root

Level 10

684,045 points

Feb 3, 2019 7:51 AM in response to oxcart

You are welcome.

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Formatting a new Samsung 860 SSD

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