You’ve bought yourself a brand new Samsung T7. T7 Touch or T7 Shield.
Because it’s oh so fast. The ideal addition to your MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or M1 Mac.
You’ve plug it in and what the h**k. Your Mac can’t see it. It’s not working on your Mac.
But wait.
Maybe you’ve had your Samsung T7 for a while. All was good. And then something happened and now your Mac won’t recognize your T7 storage.
Jeez and you have all those files on there.
You’re scratching your head. What do you do now?
Read on and you’ll find some clever solutions. And you’ll quickly get your Samsung T7 up and working on your Mac.
Samsung T7 Not Working On Mac: 2 Main Reasons Why
Your issues will fall into two categories.
1. Physical things that stop your Samsung T7 working.
2. Software issues.
And your not working. Or not recognizing troubles can happen after you’ve been using your T7 for a while. And so are particularly frustrating.
As the reason you got your Samsung T7 in the first place was as a place to keep your data safe.
And now it’s frightening that you can’t get to your precious files.
So, let’s dig in deep and try a few things and get that hot little drive back up and running on your Mac.
Samsung T7 Not Showing Up On Your Mac’s Desktop
You’ve plugged your T7 in for the first time. And there’s no sign of your SSD drive on your Mac’s desktop. It’s like your Mac can’t see its even there.
Here are a few things to try.
First the physical things.
1. Check Your USB Cable.
Make sure your USB cable is well seated. Both at the end where it plugs into your Mac and at the end where it plugs into your T7 SSD drive.
I got this wrong myself the first time I plugged my Samsung T7 in. And worried because it wouldn’t appear on the desktop.
If the light on your drive is not on. Or doesn’t blink when you plug in your drive then there is no power to the drive. Your T7 gets its power from your Mac.
And if it’s not plugged in right. Then your Mac’s not seeing your SSD drive.
Plus, those pesky USB cables wear and break over time.
You could simply have a suspect cable.
Also important is your Samsung T7 as a USB 3.2 Gen 2 drive. And it needs a USB C cable that’s up to that spec when it’s plugged into a Mac’s USB C port.
The USB C cables supplied with your T7 external SSD meet that specification. Is the cable you’re using the original one? If not, this could be your issue.
Change the USB cable out and see.
2. Try A Different USB Port.
What did you have plugged into the port before your T7? Did you eject the gadget properly?
You may have accidentally hung up the software on the USB port. Try another port on your MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or M1 Mac. Does your T7 work now?
You may have to go as far as a shutdown and reboot of your Mac to reset the software at the port.
Try and see if your Samsung SSD works after a full shutdown and restart or your Mac.
3. Check Your Finder Settings.
Because they may not be set up to show external drives on your desktop.
And this could be the reason you can’t see your Samsung T7.
You do this by opening up a Finder window. Then click on Finder > Settings (from Mac OS Ventura). In earlier Mac releases it’s called Preferences. You’ll find it at the top of your desktop.
Then under the General heading. Make sure that External disks have a check mark in the box.
4. USB Hub.
Are you using a USB hub?
You may have an issue with your hub. Plug directly into your Mac and see if that helps.
The exception to this is if you’re using your Samsung T7 on an older Mac or MacBook with USB 2.0 ports.
Your Samsung T7 is backwards compatible. Yes.
But.
Your T7 external SSD draws its power to work from the USB port. And USB 2.0 ports weren’t made to provide the T7 with the power draw that your SSD needs.
For sure putting an SSD drive on your older Mac can give your Mac a speed bump.
But you’ll need a powered USB hub. And by this, I mean a USB hub that has a separate power cable you plug into an outlet.
Samsung T7 SSD Not Recognized Mac
When your Samsung SSD T7 shows up on your Mac’s desktop but you can’t access it.
There could be a few reasons your Mac can’t recognize your drive.
1. Is Your T7 External SSD In A Format Your Mac Can Read?
Check the format of your Samsung T7. You can take a look at this document here.
How To Check Format Of External Hard Drive On Mac, 4 Ways
And double check.
Your Mac can read and write to a Samsung SSD formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and ExFAT. With GUID Partition Map as the scheme.
But can only read, NOT write to NTFS.
If your Samsung T7 seems somehow blocked when you try to write to it. It may be in NTFS format.
As long as there’s no data you want on your Samsung external SSD you can reformat it. And change it to the format you want. See how in this article on the site. Format Samsung T7 for Mac, When You Can’t Work Out How.
2. Could You Have Plugged Your Samsung SSD Drive Out Without Ejecting?
If you’re seeing the message above. You may have pulled your USB cable out before your Mac had a chance to write everything it needed to down to your drive. Leaving your drive in a confusing state to your Mac.
And now your Mac can’t read the drive.
Ejecting your drive, before pulling out your USB cable is crucial. Because your Mac holds information for your drive in memory.
Ejecting tells your Mac to clear its memory of anything it has for the drive. And properly unmount your drive and close everything off.
So, what now?
There are a few things you can try to get to your data.
3. Use Disk Utility To Repair Your T7 And Get It Working
Start up your Mac’s disk management software Disk Utility.
You do this by clicking on the Applications folder in a Finder window. Or on your dock.
Then click on the Utilities folder.
Next click on Disk Utility.
When your disk utility window opens. Then click on your Samsung SSD drive at the second level. The arrow in the picture below shows you where.
If you can’t see 2 levels for your SSD T7 then you’ll need to set Disk Utility to show them to you.
Look at the top of your Mac’s screen and pick View from the Disk Utility options. Then click on Show All Devices.
Then you’ll be able to pick your T7 drive at the right level.
After that click on the mount button. The arrow in the picture above shows where.
When the drive is mounted then click on First Aid.
The next Disk Utility Window pops up. And you’ll be asked to confirm you want to run your Mac’s First Aid software on your Samsung T7.
Click Run and Disk Utility will go through doing its best to repair your T7 SSD.
And after that you should be able to use your T7 again.
Your Mac Says No Samsung Portable SSD Is Connected
The majority of these issues are caused by the Samsung Portable SSD software.
Can You Use Your Samsung T7 Without The Samsung Software?
Your Samsung external SSD will work perfectly well without the Samsung supplied software. And you can use your Mac’s Disk Utility features. And Time Machine’s features to password protect and encrypt your files on the drive.
And then you can relax. Because when the latest version of Mac OS comes out. Your Mac will always understand Apple’s password protection and encryption.
But You Are Using The Samsung’s T7 Software
The Samsung Portable SSD software uses Samsung’s method of password protecting your drive. And you can use the software for downloading.
And installing the latest Samsung firmware update to your T7 drive.
The Samsung T7 Software Needs You To Authorize For Mac
You should know that Apple is protective of its users and their gadgets. And blocks software on your Mac that didn’t come from the Apple store.
Until you allow your Mac to use it.
Fixes For Samsung T7 SSD Not Recognized Mac Software Issues
1. When You’ve Just Installed The Samsung SSD Software
Before you can use Samsung’s software, you need to tell your Mac you authorize the use of that software.
And you may even see the “System Extension Blocked’ message when you try to start up the Samsung T7 software.
You fix all this in System Settings (from Mac OS Ventura). In earlier Mac releases like Monterey, it’s called System Preferences on your Mac.
In New Mac Releases Like Ventura
Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security
Scroll down to the Security heading and toggle on ‘Allow application downloaded from’ and put a mark in the box ‘App Store and identified developers’.
In Older Mac OS Releases Like Monterey
Then click on Security and Privacy.
The picture above shows where.
Then under the General heading.
At the bottom of that screen, you’ll see where to click to ‘Allow’ the Samsung Software.
If you find that changes to your System Preferences are locked.
You’ll need to click the lock icon at the bottom of the System Preferences window to unlock.
Type in your Mac’s administration password.
Then you can click Allow.
And you can click on the lock icon again to relock System Preferences. If you want.
The picture above shows you where.
2. Samsung T7 Software Not Working After An OS Upgrade
You’ve the Samsung T7 software installed. And using their password protection on your T7 SSD.
And once you’re using it you can’t unlock and get to your files without the software working.
You’ve upgraded your Mac’s operating system. And now your Mac won’t recognize your T7. And says ‘No Samsung Portable SSD is connected’. Even though your Samsung T7 is plugged in fine.
3. When You’ve Upgraded Your Mac’s Operating System To The Latest Version
And your T7 SSD software breaks.
Assuming there is a version of the Samsung T7’s software for your Mac. One that is compatible with your Mac’s operating system version.
And it’s up there on the Samsung website.
Here’s a link so you can check the Samsung website for the latest version here.
Scroll down and click on the heading for Portable SSD Software.
Pick the one for the Samsung T7.
The software is not the same for the T5 or X5 or T3
You can download the software. But you’ll need to delete the old version before the new version will install and work.
You do this by using Samsung’s clean up script. You’ll find it on your Mac at your home folder.
~/Library/ApplicationSupport/Portable_SSD/CleanupA ll.scpt
Search for its full path on your Mac in a Finder window. Run the script. And after that you can install the new version of Samsung’s T7 software.
Check.
You might need to re-authorize the Samsung software in System Settings or System Preferences. (Depending on the release of your Mac operating system.)
You can remind yourself of how to do that in that part of this article above.
4. Is It Better to Wait To Upgrade Your Mac’s OS Because Of Your T7?
If you’re using Samsung’s software with your T7. Yes.
Apple upgrades and changes its operating system frequently. And the version of the Samsung T7 software you have may not work with the upgraded operating system on your Mac.
And that does leave you at the mercy of Samsung. Waiting for them to upgrade their software.
Or you down grading your Mac’s OS after finding out the software doesn’t work.
Not an easy task. And it doesn’t necessarily work to fix the issue.
All this means you should consider carefully if you want to use the Samsung software at all.
A Suggested Solution
It’s probably a good idea before you do an operating system upgrade of your Mac. To go into the Samsung software, unlock your T7 drive. Turn off the security.
That way if your Mac’s OS upgrade causes the Samsung T7 software to break, you can still happily get to your files.
Your call.
5. Samsung T7 Not Showing the SSD Drive’s Full Capacity
This issue is related to the Samsung T7 Software security mode. When you use it to password protect your SSD’s storage.
Plugging in your Samsung T7 into your Mac will only show you a small slice of the drive. About 128 MB.
Your files are not shown at all. And the rest of the drive’s capacity is not shown.
To see the rest of your data.
You need to go into the Samsung software and unlock your drive.
Enter in your password. And only then you can see your data.
Related Articles
Samsung T7 Time Machine, How to Backup In A Flash
Samsung T7 Mac Setup (How To Checklist Inside)
Does Samsung T7 Work With (Compatible And Other Mac Questions)
MacTakeAwayData Home Page
