Unable to use new SSD expansion drive


GKMagog

New member
Local time
12:43 AM
Posts
3
OS
Windows 11
I recently bought a 4tb Samsung T7 Shield drive from ebay as an expansion drive for my laptop. When I plug it in I can hear that Windows has recognised the disk is there but can't see it in Explorer, and there is no drive letter for the new drive.

When I look in Disk Management (see screenshot) it is shown as disk 1 with 2 partitions of 200MB & 3725.83GB. I am unable to do anything in disk management as all drop down menu options are greyed out.

When I look in Diskpart it shows Disk 1 as being on line and that it is 3726GB in size, but when I use 'list volume' (see second screenshot) I'm not entirely sure what it is telling me.

Can anyone explain what I am looking at and tell me how to fix it so I can use the drive. Please be gentle in any replies as I am a computer numpty.

** UPDATE** I've managed to use the 'clean' command and the 200mb partition has disappeared leaving me with Disk 1 showing as '3726.01GB unallocated'. Again I don't know what this means or what to do next.
 

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Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 5
    CPU
    intel core i5
    Graphics Card(s)
    nvidia
    Hard Drives
    Internal 1TB SSD
    Antivirus
    Eset Internet Security
I have two 4TB Samsung T7 Shield portable SSD drives. Before using them I did a Quick Format on each giving them unique names so I could tell them apart.

I use them as storage for my nightly Macrium Reflect image backups. I have no problem using them or seeing them in Microsoft File Explorer.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 16 9640
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 9 185H
    Memory
    32GB LPDDR5x 7467 MT/s
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 8GB GDDR6
    Monitor(s) Displays
    16.3 inch 4K+ OLED Infinity Edge Touch
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2400
    Hard Drives
    1 Terabyte M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
    Cooling
    Vapor Chamber Cooling
    Mouse
    None
    Internet Speed
    960 Mbps Netgear Mesh + 2 Satellites
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge (Chromium) + Bing
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Windows Security (Defender)
    Other Info
    Microsoft 365 subscription
    Microsoft OneDrive 1TB Cloud
    Microsoft Visual Studio
    Microsoft Visual Studio Code
    Microsoft PowerToys
    Macrium Reflect X subscription
    Dell Support Assist
    Dell Command | Update
    1Password Password Manager
    Amazon Kindle for PC
    Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation
    Lightroom/Photoshop subscription
    BitLocker
    Copilot
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Microsoft Surface Pro 7
    CPU
    i5 1035G4
    Memory
    8 GB
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD
    Mouse
    None
    Internet Speed
    960 Mbps Netgear Mesh + 2 Satellites
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge (Chromium) + Bing
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Windows Security (Defender)
    Other Info
    Microsoft 365 subscription (Office)
    Microsoft OneDrive 1TB Cloud
    Amazon Kindle for PC
    Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation
    Lightroom/Photoshop subscription
    BitLocker
    Copilot
Thanks TraderGary I have other T7 Shield drives that worked straight out of the box with no problems. This one just refuses to behave!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 5
    CPU
    intel core i5
    Graphics Card(s)
    nvidia
    Hard Drives
    Internal 1TB SSD
    Antivirus
    Eset Internet Security
You might try doing a Quick Format on the drive to see if that fixes it.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 16 9640
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 9 185H
    Memory
    32GB LPDDR5x 7467 MT/s
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 8GB GDDR6
    Monitor(s) Displays
    16.3 inch 4K+ OLED Infinity Edge Touch
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2400
    Hard Drives
    1 Terabyte M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
    Cooling
    Vapor Chamber Cooling
    Mouse
    None
    Internet Speed
    960 Mbps Netgear Mesh + 2 Satellites
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge (Chromium) + Bing
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Windows Security (Defender)
    Other Info
    Microsoft 365 subscription
    Microsoft OneDrive 1TB Cloud
    Microsoft Visual Studio
    Microsoft Visual Studio Code
    Microsoft PowerToys
    Macrium Reflect X subscription
    Dell Support Assist
    Dell Command | Update
    1Password Password Manager
    Amazon Kindle for PC
    Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation
    Lightroom/Photoshop subscription
    BitLocker
    Copilot
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Microsoft Surface Pro 7
    CPU
    i5 1035G4
    Memory
    8 GB
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD
    Mouse
    None
    Internet Speed
    960 Mbps Netgear Mesh + 2 Satellites
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge (Chromium) + Bing
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Windows Security (Defender)
    Other Info
    Microsoft 365 subscription (Office)
    Microsoft OneDrive 1TB Cloud
    Amazon Kindle for PC
    Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation
    Lightroom/Photoshop subscription
    BitLocker
    Copilot
SOLVED: I managed to convert the 'unallocated' drive into a new 'simple drive'. This gave me the chance to allocate a file system & a drive letter, once that was done I was able to format it. I now have 4tb of pristine storage available to me!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 5
    CPU
    intel core i5
    Graphics Card(s)
    nvidia
    Hard Drives
    Internal 1TB SSD
    Antivirus
    Eset Internet Security
Having purchased the drive on eBay, there's no telling what the previous user had done with it. I'll wager a format would also have fixed it.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 16 9640
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 9 185H
    Memory
    32GB LPDDR5x 7467 MT/s
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 8GB GDDR6
    Monitor(s) Displays
    16.3 inch 4K+ OLED Infinity Edge Touch
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2400
    Hard Drives
    1 Terabyte M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
    Cooling
    Vapor Chamber Cooling
    Mouse
    None
    Internet Speed
    960 Mbps Netgear Mesh + 2 Satellites
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge (Chromium) + Bing
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Windows Security (Defender)
    Other Info
    Microsoft 365 subscription
    Microsoft OneDrive 1TB Cloud
    Microsoft Visual Studio
    Microsoft Visual Studio Code
    Microsoft PowerToys
    Macrium Reflect X subscription
    Dell Support Assist
    Dell Command | Update
    1Password Password Manager
    Amazon Kindle for PC
    Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation
    Lightroom/Photoshop subscription
    BitLocker
    Copilot
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Microsoft Surface Pro 7
    CPU
    i5 1035G4
    Memory
    8 GB
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD
    Mouse
    None
    Internet Speed
    960 Mbps Netgear Mesh + 2 Satellites
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge (Chromium) + Bing
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Windows Security (Defender)
    Other Info
    Microsoft 365 subscription (Office)
    Microsoft OneDrive 1TB Cloud
    Amazon Kindle for PC
    Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation
    Lightroom/Photoshop subscription
    BitLocker
    Copilot

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