New Samsung EVO 860 question
 

Hello! I bought two new SSD drives (Samsung EVO 860) to use for sessions and samples. I got a little external case made by sabrent to use with this. When I plugged it into my macbook pro via USB 3, it says "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer."

I'm on Mac 10.12.6. Do I have to format the drive? Also, what's the deal with TRIM? Anything specific I should do to get the best performance/lifespan? Sorry.. total noob with computer stuff.

Thanks!

Re: New Samsung EVO 860 question
 

Format. I don't bother with trim. But there is a lot of stuff about it.

Re: New Samsung EVO 860 question
 

Yes you need to format the drive.

Yes you should enable TRIM using "sudo trimforce enable". Google it that if you have questions.

With High Sierra or Mojave I woud be formatting the SSD as APFS, on Sierra meh it's more of a thought process, but probably yes (I'm not aware of any serious bugs but it was newer on Sierra). Or if you need older systems compatibility then just use HFS+.

Adding new drives is often good time to try an upgrade. You can throw MacOS Mojave onto one of these drives and try running it from there for a while and then switch over if it works well.

Re: New Samsung EVO 860 question
 

Cool! And what is the best option for format; Mac OS Extended (Journaled), or ExFat? And for scheme; GUID Partition Map, Master Boot Record, Apple Partition Map?

Do most people us ExFat to be able to use with PC as well? The option is nice, but I'm on mac right now. Pondering PC up the road... Thoughts?

Re: New Samsung EVO 860 question
 

No.. recording to ExFat is *not* supported by Pro Tools.

... APFS.

Re: New Samsung EVO 860 question
 

Thank you Darryl! Regarding Sudo Trimforce Enable, do I do that after I format my external SSD? Kind looks like I just type that command in terminal and am good to go?

Re: New Samsung EVO 860 question
 

You can turn TRIM on at any time. It's at a lower level than the filesystem.

See the man page for trimforce on your Mac.

Re: New Samsung EVO 860 question
 

Thanks! I was following some instructions online and I saw some tutorials that show you how to see if the drive has TRIM support, which is under system information on mac under "SATA/SATA Express", but unlike the tutorials, it doesn't show my new external drive after I formatted it, just my main internal hard drive. It shows up under storage though, but with no specification of TRIM support. Is this normal/does this matter?

Re: New Samsung EVO 860 question
 

Oh it’s external USB... trim may not be supported.

Re: New Samsung EVO 860 question
 

Ahhh, got ya. Yeah, it’s a Samsung EVO 860 in a Sabrent USB 3 external case. Do you think it’s good to go after formatting to mac os extended (journaled)? On Mac Sierra 10.12.6.