Samsung portable drive recovery in Temecula
A Samsung external drive is one of two things. If it is a slim metal drive from the T series, it is a portable SSD. If it is an older black M3, D3 or S2, it is a hard drive. The two fail differently and are recovered differently.
Samsung portable SSDs
- T7, T7 Touch and T7 Shield
- USB-C NVMe drives with hardware encryption and an optional password or fingerprint lock.
- T9 and T5 EVO
- Current high-speed and high-capacity models.
- T5, T3 and T1
- Earlier SATA-based models.
- X5
- Thunderbolt 3 drive.
Portable SSDs give no warning. A T-series drive that worked yesterday may simply stop being detected, or show up with no capacity. The cause is usually the controller, its firmware or the power circuitry. Recovery works on the original electronics, because the drive encrypts its contents. If you set a password, we need it.
If you deleted files from a portable SSD, unplug it immediately. These drives support TRIM and clear deleted data in the background while connected.
Samsung portable hard drives
- M3 Portable and M3 Slimline
- 2.5-inch drives up to 4TB.
- D3 Station
- 3.5-inch desktop drives.
- S2 Portable, S3 and Story Station
- Earlier models.
These were built on SpinPoint mechanisms and later made by Seagate under the Samsung name. Some have the USB port on the drive's own board. Typical faults are head failure after a drop, bad sectors with age, and firmware faults that leave the drive detected with no capacity.
Samsung models we recover, 2013 to 2026
Examples of the model numbers we see most often, grouped by the years each range was sold. Portable SSDs show the model code starting MU- in small print on the back or edge of the case; Samsung hard drives show a code starting HX- or STSHX- on the underside label.
| Years | Range | Model numbers |
|---|---|---|
| 2011–2016 | M3 Portable hard drive, 500GB–4TBBuilt by Seagate from 2012; STSHX- is the later label prefix | HX-M500TCB, HX-M101TCB, HX-M201TCB, HX-M401TCB, STSHX-M101TCB |
| 2012–2016 | P3 Portable hard drive, 500GB–2TB | STSHX-MT050DF, STSHX-MTD10EF, STSHX-MTD20EF |
| 2013–2017 | D3 Station desktop hard drive, 2–4TB | STSHX-D201TDB, STSHX-D301TDB, STSHX-D401TDB |
| 2015–2016 | Portable SSD T1, 250GB–1TBAES-256 hardware encryption when a password is set | MU-PS250B, MU-PS500B, MU-PS1T0B |
| 2016–2018 | Portable SSD T3, 250GB–1TBAES-256 hardware encryption when a password is set | MU-PT250B, MU-PT500B, MU-PT1T0B |
| 2017–2022 | Portable SSD T5, 250GB–2TBAES-256 hardware encryption when a password is set | MU-PA250B, MU-PA500B, MU-PA1T0B, MU-PA2T0B |
| 2018–2022 | Portable SSD X5 (Thunderbolt 3), 500GB–2TBNVMe SSD, Thunderbolt 3 only | MU-PB500B, MU-PB1T0B, MU-PB2T0B |
| 2020–2023 | Portable SSD T7 Touch, 500GB–2TBFingerprint unlock with AES-256 hardware encryption | MU-PC500K, MU-PC1T0K, MU-PC2T0K, MU-PC1T0S |
| 2020–2026 | Portable SSD T7, 500GB–4TBAES-256 hardware encryption when a password is set | MU-PC500T, MU-PC1T0T, MU-PC2T0T, MU-PC4T0T, MU-PC1T0H |
| 2022–2026 | Portable SSD T7 Shield, 1–4TBRubber-armoured NVMe SSD | MU-PE1T0S, MU-PE2T0S, MU-PE4T0S |
| 2023–2026 | Portable SSD T9, 1–4TBUSB 3.2 Gen 2x2 NVMe SSD | MU-PG1T0B, MU-PG2T0B, MU-PG4T0B |
| 2023–2026 | Portable SSD T5 EVO, 2–8TB | MU-PH2T0S, MU-PH4T0S, MU-PH8T0S |
Not listed? These are examples, not limits. If your model is missing we almost certainly still recover it. Give us the number when you start a case.
How we recover them
For SSDs we repair the electronics or bring the controller up in diagnostic mode and rebuild its tables. For hard drives we replace failed heads in the clean room and image the drive. In both cases you see a list of the recovered files before paying.
Call RMLD on (951) 595-8065 or start a case online. See also Samsung SSD recovery and Samsung hard drive recovery.