Formatting New Samsung SSD

[Tobor]

Hi,

Just got a new Samsung T5. It ships exFat, read it was better to convert to Mac OS, and even better to install High Sierra to convert it to APFS. I've erased it to be MacOS journaled, but when I try to install High Sierra it says that it is not GUID partitioned. One tutorial on formatting drives in Disk Utility shows not only the option window for MacOS Journaled, but also a 'Schemes' window with the GUID option.

However, when I select the T5 in Disk Utility in HS (Erase option, Partition not available), there is no 'Schemes' window, only the 'MacOS Journaled' selection window. Puzzler of the day.

Also, should I install the Samsung Portable SSD software? No interest in a password as it will strictly be a VI drive, although it might be useful for firmware updates.

Just want to be sure of the best setup before loading all that data.

[mikehalloran]

The Samsung utilities are for Windows.

How are you connecting this to your Mac?

[Tobor]

The Samsung utilities are for Windows.

How are you connecting this to your Mac?

It's connected USB via a Thunderbolt 2 Dock from OWC. There is a software installer for Mac as well as PC. Don't know if it's USB 3 or 2, come to think of it, not at my home unit now. At least it shows on the desktop and would be usable, I'd just like to install HS on it. And would I have to enable Trim again as well?

I'm getting a replacement 1T OWC Envoy Pro in a couple days so will hope to repeat these procedures with it as well.

Also a note that my iMac is mid-2011. Although it's still performing well (and with my original 2T HD and 1T internal SSD capable of accessing a lot of new and legacy data), like you I'll probably be eyeing a new iMac sometime in the next year. Hoping for more robust (storage wise) and cheaper incarnations in the next couple cycles.

Thanks!

[mikehalloran]

USB. Ok

Download the High Sierra installer from the App Store if you've not yet done so. It's important to this so before Monday. When it tries to install on your boot drive, quit the installer. It will now be sitting in your Applications folder.

Run it and go to Disk Utility. Find your USB drive and see if it will let you erase and reformat the drive. If successful, you should now be able to install 10.13.6 onto that drive. Don't worry about APFS at this time.

If you can't do this from the High Sierra installer, erase and reformat as GUID from Disk Utility on your boot drive. Then do it again from the version of DU in the HS installer if it gives you grief.

During the process, it should ask to migrate your old system to the new drive. If it's formatted APFS (I'll get to that), it will find your current system. If not, it will do this from Time Machine. Let it happen—this will take awhile.

My USB test drive did not format APFS during the install but that may have been because I did it in Beta before that was the default. That's ok as it's very easy to do when booted from the drive. Check About This Mac while booted from the drive and it will tell you how you are formatted. If not APFS, fire up Disk Utility. From the top menu, you will see how to do it from one of the drop-down menus. It will not be in the regular window. Google is your friend if you have questions or need to see screen shots.

Re APFS: While booted from a non-APFS drive, you will not be able to see an APFS drive. This is one of the many reasons why it's a really bad idea to partition a drive both APFS and non or to have more than one OS on your remote drive. To switch from one drive to the other, you must shut down and boot with the Option key held down then select your boot drive. After you boot, go to System Preferences and reselect your boot drive—you will be surprised during a reboot if you don't.

[Tobor]

Hi Mike,

Thanks so much....very informative. And thanks for reminding me about non HS systems being able to see an APFS drive. I still have Sierra on my HD drive in my iMac. Don't boot from it very often these days, but might be wise to keep that option by just having the SSD be a regular Mac OS Journaled drive.

Also I won't need to migrate anything, as this is just going to be a VI sample drive. Thought it might be handy to have an extra HS boot (which would convert it to APFS), but again not really necessary.

It's just curious that when I run Disc Utility on my HS SSD main drive that I can't specify GUID scheme formatting for the new T5, only the Mac OS Journaled option window shows. That seems to be why I can't select the new T5 for High Sierra installation. I have downloaded the HS installer and zipped an extra copy as well. I ran the installer from my Desktop, would that make a difference?

Thanks again!!