Unable to connect Samsung T5 while running OS Catalina

I haven't yet upgraded to Catalina, and after reading this I am wondering if I'd be wise to hold off doing so.

I store my Capture One image files in a Samsung T5, but as far as I'm aware there is no software on the SSD, the C1 app is on my Mac. Will this issue affect me or will I be OK to move to Catalina if I'm just using the T5 to store files?

I have two Macs with a total of four T5s attached - holding my Lightroom Raws and backups. There are no issues. The T5 comes with Samsung drivers (that are unnecssary), and some folks install these. That may be a source of the issue some folks report.

I've upgraded to Catalina, and in the two days I have used it I have not had any problems accessing my C1 Catalog on my T5.

I too didn't install the Samsung drivers, so it's looking more likely that you are right, that only those who did install them have this issue.

Yess, I am. And I’m running two T5s, the Macintosh HD fusion drive with it, I have a Bootcamp install on my fusion boot drive. (I tried to put Bootcamp on my external SSD, but it needs to be on Macintosh HD. I’ve got all the ports clogged, though I discovered that I can fill all the ports as long as they’re USB powered. Apple’s insistence on making my model difficult to replace the magic internal hard drive seems less than ideal.

I have a samsung ssd running Mojave. When I tried to install Catalina, it said my ssd was not formatted APFS. So my plan is to do an clone update from my ssd back to my iMac drive. Then boot back to the iMac drive, update to Catalina, verify it works, reformat ssd to APFS, clone Catalina to ssd, then check for bootability. I did not realize when I installed the ssd that I needed to format to APFS. Instead, I formatted to journaled Mac. I am hoping this will work. Running my machine with the installed drive is slow AF. I would not have bought the **** thing if I knew it was going to be so slow. I figure this update will take all day.

You just need a backup of your present boot. Then you format your present drive with apfs and then Catalina. And then pull all your data off the backup with Migration Assistant in Catalina. Migration Assistant takes time, but it my experience it gets you to an almost perfect copy, and the cruft is removed.

I received the following reply from Samsung Memory Support samsungmemory@hanaro.eu

"Thank you for contacting Samsung memory Support.

We are sorry to learn that you are having issues using your SSD with the activation software version 1.6.5 on your Mac OS version Catalina.

Please be informed that we have escalated the issue to the concerned departments and they are currently busy with analyzing the issue.

For the time being, in order to access your data, you can do one of the steps available in the video clips that you will receive as attachments via WeTransfer:

You have two options: 

- Uninstall the software and use it without a password as explained in the video clip "Activation Software Remover".

- Use the SSD with a password by following the installation procedure in the video clip "PSSD 1.6.5 Working".

If you wish to use the software, please do the following:

- disconnect and connect the PSSD to the computer

- let the installation message appear. 

- Proceed with the installation until the end. 

- Once the installation is complete, click EXIT. 

- At this point, you should be able to enter the password.

If you are still having problems, you can take the following steps:

- revert to the previous version or one of the previous versions of Mac, and try disabling the password

- You can also try disabling the password on a Windows computer. This will be possible only if the file format is eXFAT, since it is compatible with both Windows and Mac.

In order to assist with the problem analysis, we will need the following information:

- A brief description of problem and possibly a video-clip showing that you are unable to open the software.

- Screenshot of error message

- System information or computer model

- SSD serial number.

We will forward the information to the software developers to aide with the analyses.

We do hope to have adequately informed you and look forward to your response."

Based on the e-mail info, I went through the Portable SSD software re-installation, ignored the incompatibility warning and supplied the password using the Portable SSD software, and the OS was able to see my password encrypted T3 SSD drive and access it without any problem. I took the opportunity and downloaded all my data from the SSD drive to a regular one just in case.

It’s impossible to install the SSD T5 software after Catalina has already been installed. A dialogue pops up informing us that the software is incompatible with Catalina and the only choice is to quit the installer. The option to install the drivers doesn’t appear.

Now it works: undo the password with another mac (under mojave or older). Afterwards it will be accessible without the driver from samsung. You can reformat with disc utility and add a password there if you want to. Works fine.

Convenient, if one happens to have a second Mac one has not faithfully and eagerly upgraded to Catalina like a rabid chihuahua 🙈

Has Samsung mentioned anything at all regarding the reason behind their small-South-American-republic-sized f%#k up? No casual mentions of any senior management bottoms being ferociously gnawed upon I suppose? I wanna access my data.

Solution:

Find a Mac with another OS. My husband's MacBookAir is too old for further OS updates (2011)

Connect the T5

Download the Mac package

The format is exFAT

Once downloaded, open Utilities/Disk utilities

Click "Erase"

Choose "Extended (Journaled)" in the pop up.

When the procedure finishes, the pop up should now show "Extended (Journaled)"

Does anyone know how to find the version number of the T5?

When I contacted Samsung support (not an intuitive procedure), they blamed Apple for the "untimely" release Catalina.

They did not have time to update their firmware I was told.

I won't blame Apple.

They also lied to you. They had at least a year to upgrade their firmware as well as a minimum three month Beta testing period during which they could download and run the Catalina Beta software. Developers were given copies of the first Beta release earlier in the year.

If you want to make your Samsung Portable SSD T5 a bootable backup drive (ala Carbon Copy Cloner) in Catalina, I believe it must be formatted as APFS.

As far as I know, you need the Samsung SD T5 software installed to easily find the firmware version.

Contact Samsung tech support. There may be problems with certain models' compatibility with Catalina.

I got the exact same problem?? now I can't access my files :S