Samsung SSD T3 shows tiny volume only

jonjelfs

Commendable
Mar 21, 2016
5
0
1,520
Oh dear, I seem to have messed up my newly acquired Samsung T3 portable SSD 500GB. I am not sure what I have done - I allocated it a drive letter in disk management (Win10) but it is only showing a single partition of 127MB exFAT with no unallocated space. Not able to expand partition at all. Anybody help?
 
Solution
Guys, it's solved! The small partition contained Samsung Portable SSD T3 Activation Software. When I opened this I could set security code then the whole drive became visible. Many thanks - it was your hints that helped me see this. Very grateful.
Can you examine the disk in Disk Management and post a picture of what you see? Disk Manager is at Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management - Storage - Disk Management, or type "Create and format hard disk partitions" in the search box.
 

jonjelfs

Commendable
Mar 21, 2016
5
0
1,520
T3_diagnose.jpg

14wal36.jpg

Thanks for responding. I hope I have posted the image OK.
 
Well, that is the darndest thing. I was going to walk you through deleting partitions, re-initializing the drive, partitioning and reformatting. But the space just isn't there.

Personally, the first thing that I'd do is download diagnostics from the manufacturer - but I haven't even looked to see if Samsung provides them. This may be a defective unit, and there is an outside possibility that this is the second counterfeit drive we've heard about here. There used to be a fairly large problem with fake thumb drives.

I've asked for other storage experts to weigh in on this. I'd call or email Samsung with the serial number and 1) ask if it's legit, and 2) tell them that it arrived with only 125 MB of space and get their support. Best I can do.
 
In an interesting coincidence, I'm looking for a fast hardware-encrypted drive to take sensitive data home to work on. The Samsung T3 came up as the best choice. Given that it supports encryption, could the rest of the storage be hidden in an encrypted partition?
 

COLGeek

Cybernaut
Moderator
I have an Ironkey HDD that has a hidden partition that requires the use of a decryption application that is in a small partition. WK suggested something similar might be on the small partition of your SSD. Are there any files in that partition?
 

jonjelfs

Commendable
Mar 21, 2016
5
0
1,520
Guys, it's solved! The small partition contained Samsung Portable SSD T3 Activation Software. When I opened this I could set security code then the whole drive became visible. Many thanks - it was your hints that helped me see this. Very grateful.
 
Solution