SOLVED Samsung M3 external HD_Invisible in Win 10_What to do?

[nuber]

I had Win 10 pro installed half a year ago and Samsung M3 was doing fine, at some point Win got kind of clogged so I reinstalled and now is nowhere to be seen in Devices and drives, I include some screenshots form Device Manager, DISKPART and Disk Management where it shows detected but further I have no idea what to do, any tips?

 

[Wolfie]

Hi nuber,

on the 4th pic, it says that there is 32GB FAT32 partition (drive: L) and a 899.51GB unallocated partition, I assume you would need to format the 900GB to make it show up?.

 

[nuber]

Hi Wolfie and thnx for the quick reply

Did delete the 32GB but still not visible

 

[Wolfie]

Hi nuber,

did you format the entire drive to NTFS format afterwards?.

 

[nuber]

Hello Wolfie,

No I didn't, didn't want to screw up and lose all the data, should I do the NTFS?

To make things worse, read somewhere If I uninstall the USB port from the Device Manager and restart Windows will fix it ...only it didn't happen, life doesn't get easier

 

[bassfisher6522]

I had Win 10 pro installed half a year ago and Samsung M3 was doing fine,

This is where I'm confused.....you have you OS installed on the Samsung M3 or the C drive of PC?

From what I'm reading the Samsung M3 is a portable drive. And such is meant to be used like a Flash Drive for storage as it has the same partition setup as a flash drive....ie FAT, FAT 32 or NTFS.

 

[nuber]

This is where I'm confused.....you have you OS installed on the Samsung M3 or the C drive of PC?

From what I'm reading the Samsung M3 is a portable drive. And such is meant to be used like a Flash Drive for storage as it has the same partition setup as a flash drive....ie FAT, FAT 32 or NTFS.

Yes I have the OS (win 10) on the C: drive and the Samsung M3 connected via USB port but for some reason I don't see it in the File Explorer so I can't access it

 

[bassfisher6522]

That attachment is not file explorer. Does it show up in disk management? Have you tried a different USB port. It could be a power issue from the USB. Try a USB port on the back of PC.

 

[Wolfie]

Open Computer Management > Disk Manager and see if it is there and marked as "Unallocated" space, if it is, right click it and then "Format as" and choose NTFS.

 

[nuber]

when I right click on it I don't get any 'Format as"

How about if I create New Simple Volume for say 10MB and then the Format as option (hope) will pop up to NTFS

 

[Wolfie]

create New Simple Volume

Create it for the whole drive, there is no point in just making a partition with only 10MB.

 

[nuber]

Should I click Finsh? Sorry for being so slow I just don't want to mess up I hope I don't lose the data

 

[Wolfie]

Hi nuber,

yes you should click finish but I was under the impression that there was/is nothing on it apart from what you might have had in the 32GB partition?. If you have files on there, back them up before continuing or you will lose whatever is on there!. You do know what formatting a drive involves don't you?.

 

[nuber]

Hi nuber,

yes you should click finish but I was under the impression that there was/is nothing on it apart from what you might have had in the 32GB partition?. If you have files on there, back them up before continuing or you will lose whatever is on there!. You do know what formatting a drive involves don't you?.

Hello Wolfie,

I can't get in the drive, that's what i've been trying to explain all this time so I can't backup, thing is the drive shows in other places as valid but not in the File Explorer, I'm glad didn't hit the finish button lol

 

[bassfisher6522]

n't get in the drive

That is exactly why I don't use the portable drives or a HDD/SSD caddy...as you hear the horror stories of drive going missing, gotten corrupt or what else. Cheap hardware and firmware....and this is what you get. They are portable and are not meant to be left connected 24/7.

I will always opt for internal connections of the PC. In my case/situation, I use a HDD/SSD docking station with known quality hardware/firmware.

If you can't access the drive from with in windows you'll need to format the whole drive to make it usable again. Before you do that, I would download a Linux Distro and create a bootable USB drive. Then boot from it and see if you can access the the drive that way. If so backup al your data to a USB flash drive. Then format your Samsung M3.

 

[Wolfie]

Hi nuber,

I would follow @bassfisher6522 advice and use a Linux version to save whatever you have on the drive, you can run it in "Live Mode" and no changes will be made to your computer, I would use something like "Linux Mint" and create a bootable Linux USB stick using "Rufus", it is very easy to use!.

Rufus - The Official Website (Download, New Releases)

Rufus is a small application that creates bootable USB drives, which can then be used to install or run Microsoft Windows, Linux or DOS. In just a few minutes, and with very few clicks, Rufus can help you run a new Operating System on your computer...

rufus.ie

Grab an ISO file for Linux Mint from the following link. I would choose the Cinnamon version.

Download Linux Mint 21.3 - Linux Mint

Linux Mint is an elegant, easy to use, up to date and comfortable desktop operating system.

www.linuxmint.com

See also.

Home - Linux Mint

Linux Mint is an elegant, easy to use, up to date and comfortable desktop operating system.

www.linuxmint.com

Included in the apps is GParted which is a partition manager and once/if you manage to save your data, you can use that to format the drive in question!.

WARNING; MAKE SURE YOU SELECT THE CORRECT DRIVE FOR FORMATTING OTHERWISE YOU CAN ERASE THE WRONG PARTITION AND YOU WON'T HAVE A USEABLE COMPUTER AND SUFFER DATA LOSE: BACK UP ALL YOUR DATA TO A DRIVE YOU KNOW THAT WORKS AND IS SAFE BEFORE YOU START!.

 

[nuber]

Linux? omg ..tried Mint when I was using Win 7 and got lost in the complicated commands eventually gave up and went to Win 10
In the meantime managed to make the drive visible again in the File Explorer but as RAW, any chance I could convert from RAW to NTFS without data loss? (see new thread)

 

[Wolfie]

Just read your other thread (link below), is this one solved now?.

HOW to FIX External_Hard_Drive RAW partition to NTFS WITHOUT DATA LOSS?

By reinstalling Win 10, not sure how, 1) Samsung M3 EHD wouldn't appear in File Explorer 2) With Simple New Volume Wizard and without Formatting finally showed up as Local Disk J: RAW so my Q: How to convert RAW to NTFS without data loss, any tips?

www.windows10forums.com

 

[nuber]

Hi Wolfie

Since my thread was Samsung M3 external HD_Invisible in Win 10_What to do? and now visible guess is solved
now the problem is how to convert from RAW to NTFS so I started a new thread where my Q is more clear

 

[Wolfie]

I posted an answer there but you may not like it!.