Samsung Portable SSD T7 not recgonized on Macbook

nickjb wrote:

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When you say encryption, do you mean FileVault?

I've seen a post or two on the Apple forums that seems to indicate using FileVault was problematic. I assume if you're recommending, you don't think that's true?

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Apple sold 20 MILLION Macs last year, and they typically last several years. The forums are a lightning-rod for folks having problems. if all you saw was a few problems with a technology as complex as FileVault, that is working GREAT!

So yes, I affirm FileVault works great, and can easily be used on external drives.

HOWEVER: It is industrial-Strength encryption. NO ONE can break into it in a reasonable amount of time. THAT INCLUDES YOU. YOU MUST be methodical about creating Backups, or you WILL lose your data. Especially in the case of Hardware failure, there will be no survivors.

Encrypt and protect a storage device with a password in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support

Turning on or off encryption for a device that contains a lot of data takes only a moment -- but sets in motion a conversion process that can take DAYS to complete, and can NOT be cancelled.

Do not use the vendor's disk software.

Instead, use Disk Utility to ERASE the ENTIRE Device by its immutable device-Hardware-name.

If you depend on the Vendor's software instead, the device can ONLY be used AFTER the vendor's software has loaded. That means it can not be used in Safe Mode, Recovery mode, or on anther Mac, because the vendor's Driver has not been loaded.

Were you able to resolve this issue and still have the drive be secure either through the fingerprint reader on the drive or through the MacBook? I'm looking to purchase the T7 Touch as a secure drive to hold sensitive data when I'm on the road. Thanks!

If you turn on encryption when you begin using the drive, it can not be read unless the password is supplied. Just try to read it, such as on another computer, and every block (including the Directory of which file is where) is gibberish.

You do not need the additional complexity and likelihood of failure of a fingerprint sensor on the drive to keep its data secure.

Hi Grant -

When you say encryption, do you mean FileVault?

I've seen a post or two on the Apple forums that seems to indicate using FileVault was problematic. I assume if you're recommending, you don't think that's true?

I'm also assuming I can just select that external drive for encryption?

So you understand my situation, I'm a photographer and filmmaker, so I need to keep my MacBook Pro hard drive as empty and clean as possible, so I'm putting all my business and personal documents, so sensitive and important documents, on the external SSD. As I'll be carrying it around when traveling, I need it to be secure in case of loss or theft. I will of course have a backup in the office and a copy in the cloud (which of course has it's own security issues, but that's for another discussion).

Lastly, to keep passwords simple, any reason I shouldn't use the same password on the FileVault encrypted external HD as I use for the MacBook Pro itself? I'm up to date on Catalina.

Many thanks for your insights and cost savings. It may only be $20 difference in the thumbprint and regular Samsung SSD, but it all adds up.

Thanks Grant!

One final question (especially noting your comment that turning encryption on or off - rather than using the password - can take days to complete), do you know what the process looks like for backing up the encrypted data on the external HD?

Is it as simple as using the password to unlock the HD, then using Chronosync (which is my preferred method) to simply copy over the updated data to the backup I keep in my office? That backup does not need to be encrypted.

Similar with my cloud backup?

Many thanks for your help

MacOS does "encryption/decryption on the fly". It is capable of reading and writing encrypted data, and converting as it is reading/writing. That process takes no more time per data block that a plain text read or write.

To set up a drive as encrypted is best done when erasing. That setup (or conversion of an empty or nearly-empty drive as encrypted), takes about a minute.

It is only the process of converting from encrypted to decrypted or decrypted to encrypted the takes that huge amount of time. The system has to read in multiple files, changes their state, then write them back in the other state. Moving all that used data is what takes the time. The additional overhead for encryption/decryption is negligible.

Format the drive for your Mac and use Disk Utility to manage your drive. Do not use third party utilities to manage your Mac formatted drive.