With the ever-increasing demand for data storage, high-capacity drives have become more common place with every major hard drive manufacturer having released their own version of the large data capacity drive and at the same time, promising that theirs is the definitive choice and most worthy of your hard-earned cash.
Having been a long-time user of Western Digital and Seagate hard drives I decided to give Samsung a shot as I’m a huge fan of their products. After seeing what was made available to me I ended up buying a pair 1TB Samsung ‘G3 Station’ external drives and I’m pleased to report that they don’t disappoint. Inside the box you will find – G3 Station External Drive (of course), an AC adapter (not USB powered I’m afraid but it’s something I had anticipated given the size of the drive), a USB cable and preloaded software (for Windows platform). Samsung also offers a standard 3 year-limited warranty on the product.
The G3 Station also employs ‘EcoTriangle’ – a green friendly technology resulting in low power consumption, low acoustic noise (it’s the quietest drive I’ve ever heard) and it uses eco-friendly components. The drive wont start-up without the USB cable plugged in and because it has no power switch the drive will power up and shut off automatically whenever Windows 7 starts up or shuts down. The G3 Station comes in a 1TB, 1.5TB and 2TB variant and you’re given two colours to choose from – Cobalt Black and Silver White. The most unique aspect of this drive is the stylish multi-faceted exterior that literally sparkles in the sun (though never enough to annoy), it has a sort of snake-like skin look to it though officially Samsung says; “the case sparkles in the sun, much like sunlight filtering through leaves of a baobab tree swaying in the wind.” I still reckon it looks like snake-skin…
Sadly, no product is perfect and the G3 Station is no exception. As stated before, the drive has no power switch and while this doesn’t really bother me, there are plenty of people who will be annoyed by it. In fact, earlier today I wanted to shut down the drive so usually I’ll do a safe removal in Windows and then pull out the USB cable though this time I couldn’t because – “there may still be programs in use on the drive”, even though there wasn’t and because there was no on/off switch I had to restart Windows in order to ‘free up’ the drive. Another thing to note is that when the drive is idle, it takes 10 – 15 seconds to spin up when you try to access a file, not a train smash but a little annoying. Finally, the most annoying thing about the G3 Station (though not really a hardware fault as opposed to a manufacturer one) is Samsung’s choice of formatting the drive with FAT32 instead of NTFS. It took 16 hours to reformat each drive to NTFS (full format is best because it simultaneously checks for errors and bad sectors) and it’s necessary if you intend on storing files larger than 4 gigs in size. As there is no software disk bundled with this product, you’d probably want to copy the preloaded software to an external source before formatting the drive.
To conclude, The Samsung G3 Station, is an excellent product perfect for backing up large amounts of data. Though the USB 2.0 interface does throttle the transfer speed somewhat, this and the few aforementioned annoyances can be overlooked as the pros far outweigh the cons. A stylish drive that’s cool, quiet and easy to transport, highly recommended purchase.
Price – R999 @ Hard Wired Computers (Cape Town)
Email – hardwiredcomputers.cc@gmail.com
I'll be the judge of that 
How about the power cable plug that plugs into the adapter? Is it supposed to only go half way?
Yes, it only goes in half way. 🙂
I just got the Samsung G3 and the software doesn’t load.
I tried to transfer a file direct from my documents and it became corrupt and I can’t even delete it know.
It also doesn’t let me transfer the software or reformatt the drive.
Any suggestions?
How About No power Cable and get USB Power?
I love the drive and included software. Even works as raid redundecy disk.
Hi, by mistake I formatted my Samsung Hard drive, now when I want to put everything back, I can only put back up to 50 gig. Where can I get the software that I now by mistake formatted on my drive. PLEASE HELP!
What do you think of the Western Digital Elements Desktop 2TB 3.5″ USB2.0, do you think the Samsung is the preferred drive over the this Western Digital Hard Drive?
Hi, I haven’t had the chance to test the WD Elements drive yet, however – In my experience, WD drives are generally more prone to surge damage or data corruption when the power is abruptly cut. In general I go with Seagate (as they tend to be more resilient) however Samsung manufacture quality drives, hence my decision to go with them. If you’ve never had a problem with WD, then I’m sure either the Samsung G3 or WD Elements will be suitable for your needs.
If one doesn’t open the casing! how shall we know the brand inside?
Another question, which brand would you prefer Seagate or Western Digital?
Seagate 🙂
Hi there, would you know what hard drive they use in the G3 station? Is it the Samsung 1TB running at 5400rpm? Also another thing, i cant seem to transfer .iso images over to the drive, it brings up a window saying there is no space on the hard drive and that i must delete data etc. but it has 840gigs free space. Im using Windows XP Pro service pack2. Please help. Thanks
Ah, by default, the drive is formatted to FAT32, you need to format the drive to NTFS in order to copy over files larger than 4GB. I must warn you though, it took 16 hours to format the G3. Unfortunately I don’t know what drives Samsung are using.
Can this enclosure be opened easily?
Afraid not, the drive seems to be completely sealed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjmvc9wLCHk found this to present how it comes on pack carton.
Does the AC Adapter have to stay plugged in to use the hard drive, or is there a way i can use it without having it plugged into the wall. And at Game you can get the 1TB for R800.
I seemed to have no trouble just running the drive off USB 🙂 Also, obviously go where the best deal is my friend, R800 is a great price.
ok, so now my G3 won’t appear at all in finder (im using a MacBook Pro). i’ve tried unplugging, changing the USB port, every thing i can think of. HELP PLEASE!!!!
Sorry man, I’m a PC user, your best bet is probably Google.
mine also doesn’t appear, did you solve it somehow???
ME TOO!! HELP!
hi, i saw your comment on just running the G3 with just the USB, i want to know is it stable and does it really work?
because i’m going to buy a G3 soon, and if it really does, it’s a plus point.=D
Seems to work for me, no problem 🙂
Tested it a bit more, doesn’t seem too stable, best to have the power adapter in.
i started format without copying the preloaded files to another place… is this a problem 😦 how do i go about this ??
Well I did the exact same thing, except that I have two of them and managed to copy the software to another hard drive before formatting the 2nd G3 drive, however, I don’t actually use the software at all. Perhaps you’ll be able to find it on Samsung’s website.
Can we use G3 on linux mint
I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t be able to.
just wanted 2 know…..what software do you get on the samsung G3 HDD when you purchase it?
Just Samsung’s backup software.
I cant copy big files to my g3 station…I dont want to format it!Any suggestions?
Either format the drive, or split your large files.
I have the same problem. Mine is even worse because I have my backup files on it. It worked for sometime and stopped. It started flashing once you connect the usb when supposed to wait until activity happens. It has now since just wait but still cannot be recognized by OS win xp. It does not show under Explorer nor under computer management. Could someone please urgently assist since we are an NGO and without accessing those files, the organisation is dead
Have you tried using it with another OS, like Win 7?
well i got the 2 TB version yesterday and iut has been nothing but trouble!
I actually regret bying the damn thing because it keeps getting disconnected from usb 2.0 ports under windows 7, AND when i plug it into the computer it VERY often doesnt get recognized as a mass storage de vice but as an unnown device!! VERY ANNOYING when i do install a driver manually then the disc wont start up. So in my opinion there is something VERY wrong with this disc.
I’ts easy on the eyes you know the cobalt black but what good does it do ya when the thing wont work???!!!
hi i have the g3 hard drive when i safely remove the hard drive it stays on the light doesnt switch of and i can feel the drive is busy with windows 7 ,with xp it switches off when i do the safely remove please help i want to use win 7.
I’m running Windows 7 as well, after I select ‘safe remove’ the light flashes momentarily until the ‘safe to remove hardware’ bubble pops up, but the light still stays on, I remove the USB cable anyway, haven’t experienced any problems. The G3 stays on until you either log off Windows or power down your PC regardless of selecting ‘safe remove’, at least in Win 7.
Perhaps that particular unit is defective, if the problem persists, have it exchanged for another and see if the same thing happens.
Bought the 2 terabyte for a r999. quick formatted it in 5 min to fat 32, can also plug it into my Samsung blu ray player
That’s fine, except that because you formatted it with FAT32, you won’t be able to use files larger than 4 gigs, hence NTFS. I am rather curious as to why you had to format it (to FAT32 no less) to begin with as it is preformatted with FAT32.
Seriously, mine showed ntfs, bought about 6 recently for various clients, 1 of those also showed ntfs.tested all with hdd scan it was fine boxes seemed sealed also transferred, load of file onto it and it seemed to work
Didn’t update blu ray player so it still only detects fat 32, I just split the vids easily. tested all with hdd scan it was fine boxes seemed sealed.
On a side note last year i had a problem with a smaller Samsung external hard drive, Samsung South Africa said they do not provide support for external hard drives, the shop i bought it from sent it for ‘repairs’ worked for a week, gave in again , client got upset, I tossed it in the bin, if anyone has time they can contact Samsung and see if anything has changed.
But for best reliability go for internals especially i you don’t need to transfer to other computers at other sites
I bought the SAMSUNG 1TB G3 external Harddrive and it worked fine. It was NTFS by default and Im happy. Im glad I found more infos about itfrom you. Thanks for the article.
I’ll buy another one of these in the future
Glad I could help 🙂
i got the samsung g3 station 1 tb for my birthday and it has been awsome but i cant seem to play movies off it onto the dvd player so i can watch movies on my tv can this product do this and if so could you please tell me how thanks
I assume you’ve connected the drive to your DVD player? It might just be that your player doesn’t support the video file format or that the player is unable to read from the drive (probably due to the size).
hi bought me the 2tb hard drive. I need to format this to fat32. How do i do this as the drive only has ntfs and exfat file system on it?
Why would you want to format it to FAT32?
usefull test, congratulation and thanks
Thanks, no prob.
Hi..i’ve bought a g3 few days ago..and it seems to be nt working properly..i knw it has a power saving mode but..after i leave it for awhile..it juz shut down like dat..i hv to wait for another day until it goes back on..nid HELP here..y it juz on and off like dat..even after i plugged off the cable and turn it back on..it still sleeping..i checked at device manager..it detects the device and it said to be working properly..but the device still sleeping..help here >_<
Hi all, update on how to open the hard drive casing… 🙂 On the bottom of the drive there is 4 rubber feet, on the one side back and front peel off the 2 rubber feet under them there is 2 philips screws undo them and the side panel pops off, just be careful not to break the clips but it does pop off easily with a small flat screw driver in there you will find a Samsung hard drive either 500gigs, 1TB or a 2TB running at 5400rpm. Enjoy and hope this answers a few questions. If you need more info pop me a mail.
Hi,
Thanks for the information. Mine took only a few weeks working fine and suddenly, upon plugging it in the other day; no auto-detect of the drive and the green stood lighting and not flashing to show it reads the drive. The data I’m sure is still intact but I believe the problem lies with mechanical/electronic workings. Have tried many AC power adapters but remains the same since I have lost the original. Could the original adapter be the problem or something else. What if we remove the hard drive from the casing and insert it into another casing, even if its not the Samsung one; maybe another casing.
Please I am desperate to recover my data.
Mine did the same after 3months even while it was still under the 3 year warrenty that comes with the G3 i couldn’t wait for samsung to sort it out for me and besides i might get it back with all my data lost so i took it out the casing and put it in another casing (or you could plug it in your pc as it is a standard SATA drive) recovered my data and then formated the drive (NTFS format) after that put it back in its original casing, connected the power supply and usb transfered all my data back and since then ive never had a problem again (touch wood 😉 ). I have the 1TB and its a few gigs short from full, going to get myself the 2TB soon. Hope this helps you. Thanks Judge for setting this post up, im sure its helped allot of people with these simple issues.
i have the same problem as mentioned here ,my new Samsung G3 staion 2Terabyte will not show up after computer sleeps.my comp is an Imac core I5 intel.sometimes if I disconnect the USB connection and reconnect it appears again on the desktop.the light flashes and you can hear the drive spinning but the mac won’t detect it after sleep or sometimes after starting up.By what I’ve been reading this seems to be fairly common.does any one have a solution or is this drive just badly designed??I’ve tried different formats and powers save settings but to no avail…
why isnt my dvd reading the hard drive???showing empty disk
I lost my software for the G3 1TB. can anybody help me .. or where i can download new ones…. i need it cause i changed my pc from Xp to windows 7
The official Samsung site.
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/productmodel.do?group=72&type=93&subtype=97&subSubType=111&model_cd=&dType=G&mType=SW&tab=down&ppmi=1219
Also having problems with a G3 station 2Tb from day 1. After a while, when it sleeps, my PC loses connection with the external drive (it dissapears from My Computer) and have to remove and plug again the USB cable to recognize it once more. It’s NTFS format from the begining and I have Windows 7 ultimate x32. Anybody solved this problem or I need to get it replaced?
Thanks.
Fat 32 is so all PC’s and Macs can access it
Just got myself a g3 station 2tb hard drive but it does not get recognized on my sony blu ray player.
What do i have to do so i can watch movies off my hard drive???
HELP!
It may be that because your drive has a 2 gig capacity, and formatted to NTFS, your player may not recognize it. NTFS is licensed by Microsoft as far as I know and I doubt Sony will have obtained the rights to use it.
Hi all me again, wondering what happened to Judge Powers? Havnt seen him comment on anybody’s questions and answers. Last I heard he was going to update the forum. Anyway i have a few answers for everyone. Im not a qualified IT Tech, wish i could be but i know whats going on with IT world. First thing I have the Samsung G3 1TB station and as you all noticed ive only had one problem with my hard drive and never again touch wood, its not badly designed it just seems to have a few small issues which can very easily be solved with some help and thanks to Judge Powers for setting up this forum for us. With the disconnecting issue as some one already said FAT32 is the standard format for all windows, mac and linux to read and write to but only windows is able to read and write to NTFS format properly. So for mac and linux users you might want to format your drive to FAT32 but as Judge Powers helped me out on this one thanks again Judge Powers, you can not transfer more than 4GB of data at a time with FAT32 only with NTFS format. Some of you were looking for the samsung software, you do not need the software the drive works better without the software, but what you need to do is open the case up and take the hard drive out (I have already explained how in one of my previous posts so scroll up and look for it) connect it up inside your pc as a “slave” drive or in another casing and format the drive either to FAT32 or NTFS format but make sure you save your data somewhere else either on another drive or DVD+/-R, once you have done that put it back into the original casing and then you shouldnt have any more problems with the drive, this also should sort the disconnecting problem too. The DVD player or Blue-ray problem, they cant read drives larger than 64GB as far as i know but you could try this, i have not tried it yet but i will soon enough, the USB flash drives are formated to FAT32 which means the DVD and Blue-ray players can only read FAT32 not NTFS format so try formating your drive to FAT32 then store your movies on there and plug it into your player. Theoriticaly it should work but practicaly not so sure yet. So if you try this method and it works or doesnt let us know, if it does BARGIN…!!! 😀 hope this helps everyone and answers alot of questions. Regards Prankster 8-
Hi there, sadly due to various recent work commitments I am unable to update my blog as often as I use to, and while I do read each and every comment, I don’t always have the time to respond, so thanks to Prankster for the helpfully in depth response, I hope it helps! Apart from that, I do intend on revamping the blog and making a couple posts per week, so fear not, good things will come 🙂
I’ve just bought my G3 2T last week, the only thing that annoys me is that when my laptop goes onto sleep my G3 does also and when i switch my laptop on, my G3 led lights on also, but does not show up as connected device…The only way for my G3 to work is unplug and plug the usb..
@Prankster
My question is; Is there anyway to solve this issue without disassembling the case and formatting it with a desktop pc or different case? Because its kind of a risky option. have you not tried contacting Samsung for that matter and ask any update (like windows/Mac update or some sort driver update) on this problem? An update would be fine…
I bought G3 1TB, but it is not even starting on conecting to power and to Laptop by USB Port (As shown in instruciton manual). Am I missing anything or is the product I bought is difffective?
Thanks
Sameer
Well if the USB is plugged in as well as the power cable and nothing is happening then the drive is probably defective.
I bought this drive a few weeks ago, but I’ve been putting off reformatting it to NTFS because I don’t quite understand how to go about doing it. Do I actually have to take the casing off of it? I’ve read the previous posts regarding the format, but I don’t fully understand how to change it. Also, say somebody simply wanted to back up their entire hard drive which has some applications installed that are larger than 4 GB. Just using the software on the Samsung drive formatted to FAT32, would those files be able to copy correctly? Thank you for any reply, it will be appreciated.
Hi there, firstly, if the drive is formatted to FAT32 any files exceeding 4GB will not be able to copy over, so if you do have large files (like DVD ISOs or something) you will have to format the drive to NTFS.
Secondly, doing a format is very simple, and there is no need to remove the casing, just plug the drive in, when Windows detects it (I assume you are using Windows 7?) go to;
Computer >> right-click on the Samsung G3 drive icon >> Click on ‘Format…’ >> when the small window pops up ensure that ‘File system’ is selected on NTFS >> then deselect ‘Quick Format’ (if you want to format the drive properly) >> then click ‘Start’
And then you just wait, if you do a proper format, it will probably take quite a while but at least once you’ve formatted the drive you will be able to copy over all your information.
i am unable to view movies on my hard drive if i connect it to my dvd player, what should I DO?
Your DVD player probably can’t detect the G3 because the size of the drive, either that or the DVD player can’t recognize the HDD’s NTFS format.
my hard drive has a mind of its own it works then it doesnt.. then it is not recognised bye windows on startup or even when powered up when windows is running .i have now put a hammer through it after many hours trying to understand the needs of the drive to function.. i have had about 8 external hard drives that worked fine as you would expect them too.. and this beats me to how it suppose to opperate.. still i have solved the problem now i feel much better and able to move onto another hard drive.. in a better mood to choose from other make out there with no power saving modes to deal with
Hi i have bought two of these 2tb drives can someone from samsung tell me how these drives suppose to operate. at the moment not fit for purpose comes to mind.
windows 7 does not recognise it…sometimes they work then they dont i understand power saving ect but what make the drive operate.how should it work. one was bought as a present i didnt give it to them because of it not opperating as i thought it should . i have had about 8 external hard drives over the years with no problem.. not really impressed with the drives.. i have put the hammer through one of them through frustration . know doubt the other will go the same way . perhaps these drives were built for anger management puposes.. lol lol
All that is required is that the user plugs in the power cable and connects the USB cable to their PC, the drive should then turn on automatically the moment Windows boots. If the aforementioned isn’t working then the drive is probably faulty or damaged.
I connected the G3 2TB to a Macbook pro, but ik keeps disappearing from the desktop, and very hard to get back. I wouldn’t recommend this disk for Mac users!
Ihave a samsung g3station 1.5TB 3.5″. My computer picked it up fine the first time and used it and since then it hardly ever works, i keep trying different usb ports and sometimes this works but often it still will not read. . I have an Aspire 5742G laptop which is only a month old and am running windows 7 home premium, it is fully updated too.Any help on this matter would be appriciated. Thanks
I have no problem running the drive on any of the Windows 7 versions, sounds like your drive is faulty.
Hi all going to post something soon so watch this space! Also i had to change my e-mail address as i had hackers logging into my e-mail account and sending bad e-mails out to my entire address book. Anyway will see you soon! Prankster
Hi..i had a samsung g3 1tb, it always turn on and off by its own..i installed alot of games inside..when i was playing the game..it suddenly freezes…then i see the hard disk light turn off.. i had alrd returned the hard disk and got a brand new one..but the problem still occur..
Hmm, sounds like both of those drives are faulty, however I’d also recommend that you use the G3 exclusively as a Storage drive as opposed to playing games off of it as I imagine that the game’s performance would suffer given that the G3 uses a USB interface which would throttle the access times (of the HDD) required to play an installed game effectively.
I bought one of these drives two days ago, for the express purpose of ripping my daughter’s DVDs to it so she can watch them on our TV without fiddling with disks. Mine was NOT formatted to FAT32 and my television could not recognise that anything was even ON the drive. I formatted to FAT on my MAC and now the TV recognises that something is there, but won’t play it. It plays some smaller movie files. Is this because of the FAT 4Gig limit I read about above? If so, does this mean I just need to compress the movies? Or do I convert them to AVI? Please help!
Hi, well since your drive is formatted to FAT32 any file exceeding 4gigs will not be recognized, so I’d imagine that compressing or converting the DVDs would be the answer.
I’m gonna ask the most ridiculous question ever – I just bought the”1.5T- G3 Station series” I like it a lot . The look, the touch , the weight. Just cool. But why can’t they manufacture it to work also with dvd players. I bought one just for all my movies nd series and one for just all my soft ware bibles / and bible studies. Is there no other device to link up with the G3 station and then to the dvd…that would be more cool and awesome it will take away – flash drives.
Hi all. I use win 7 64bit and Mac machines. Using MacFuse, available from Apple site, you can read and write to and from NTFS from both PC and Mac.
Hope this helps some of you out there who are Apple followers.
Brian M
Thanks for the info Brian 🙂
My Samsung G3 Station died over the weekend. Bought it from Dion Wired about 3 months ago. The light at the front does not come on when I connect the power cable. I have restarted with and without the usb plugged in – still nothing. Is there a home fix or do I have to go back to Dion Wired? Thanks
Given that you’ve only had it for 3 months I’d say rather return it and get them to sort it out.
This drive gives problems. It doesn’t connect to my laptop or WD media player. I have to switch off the power with it plugged in to the player and then it picks up. On my laptop I haven’t figured out how to get it working – it’s sort of a hit and miss operation. How can I fix it ?
I bought the 2TB Samsung G3 Station yesterday…sad to say it only contains .exe files and it won’t let me replace or place anything on the disk itself. I’m working with a Macbook with MAC OSX 10.4.11 I bought the external hard disk because my macbook is full and won’t even let me use illustrator because it is full! Can anyone help? I have no idea how to get this thing started. Mayor stupidity fault of samsung to have a appleinstall program set up in an .exe file.
I don’t have a question, but wanted to leave my experience here. I had purchased the 1TB G3 a number of months ago to use on my HP pavillion laptop. From day one it would power down once my HP went into sleep mode and then the system wouldn’t see it. Also, somehow it messed up my cd/dvd drive so now my HP won’t recognize the drive at all unless it has gone into sleep mode. No idea how it did that, but it started as soon as I hooked up the G3. Now that I have a new PC, Sony Vaio all in one, I was playing with the idea of getting it again, but after reading all of these stories that match mine, I don’t think so! It’s a shame because it sure is pretty.
Aesthetically, the G series does indeed look pretty, but the general consensus is that the units suffer from major performance issues, doesn’t really matter though as the G series is being discontinued…
I also run osx 10.4.11, and used the format utility from osx to change the format to journaled, Still have to dismount drive before putting mac into sleep mode – then when mac wakes, I have to remove the USB, wait for drive to stop running and then plug USB in again.
I know it’s a pain, but still not received satisfactory reply from manufacturers or their ‘support’
According to the Samsung manufacturers, the G3 (and possibly the G2) series will be EOL (end of line) soon. Perhaps there were just too many complaints regarding functionality/quality etc.
Yip, I thought I bought value for my bucks…but now not so sure.
I just reloaded my OS (windows 7 ultimate) and now I cannot access the drive at all….I get an access denied error…I think it might be related to my initial install on the drive manager…I got about 1.5 TB of important data ….anyone got ANY suggestions to sort this out…..PLEASE HELP …
Hi Peter C, I found that trying to make this drive functional as an external unit is all but impossible. Seeing that these units were sold at a very low price, and the swop-out route also leaves one with the same problems – remove the drive from the casing and install as an internal drive. This will allow you to open the files, maybe back them up onto another drive and format the 3g. I was fortunate to obtain 2 of the 1.5T units at R499 each, so doing this was OKI for me. Hope you come right with the prob
I’m also getting to EOL. Have removed the drive from my 1.5tb and installed internally in PC. At least this way the HDD has some use. Guess there are a LOT of us who thought that this was the answer for external storage. Another way past this problem is to fit a removable SATA frame into the computer and then use the drives as a backup route.
We all live and learn, sometimes by others’ mistakes, and sometimes by our own mistakes. Hope we have saved some from this pitfall.
Just acquired myself one… gotta ask… Is it possible to start up and run the hard drive off USB alone? and if so, is there a chance of it disconnecting abruptly or something of the sort? Thanks in advance..
I can’t get my G3 1tb external hard drive to work on my Playstasion 3 , i’ve tried justanswer.com but i’m getting nowhere. every previous Samsung external hard drive worked perfectly. please help
Hi Michael Jose check if your drive is FAT32 or NTFS format also how big/small were your other drives? If its NTFS format it won’t work but FAT32 format might work.
I have the 2 TB variant on a Win vista OS. For me, the drive simply never detects until I plug the drive back in again a second time. I’m using USB 2.0. The drive is already formatted to NTFS, so I don’t think I need to format it again?
I really cannot backup all the data that’s on there now already, as I bought this drive when my last external HD was getting full. Plus, I really don’t feel like opening the case and tinkering with stuff I don’t entirely understand.
I heard someone talk about setting it up as a slave drive? Is there a jumper inside the case to set?
It really does kind of bug me that I constantly have to pull out the plug and put it back in again. Is there a halfway easy fix to this problem?
Hola, compré un G3 Station 1TB y al conectarlo me hizo la copia de seguridad.
Ahora ya no lo reconoce mi ordenador, a pesar de estar conectado, no se encuentra en ningún sitio.
Qué debo hacer? estoy desseperada!!!!
Gracias
Hola, qué sistema operativo utiliza?
My G3 has somehow gone wierd , front 4 white lights flashing , it doesnt pickup on my laptop at all so i cant get into see the prolem , its as if its not there please advise and help urgent
Did you try unplugging it and plugging it back in?
I still have the problem that it doesn’t detect my G3 station unless I plug it back in… pretty annoying. I’m hoping USB 3.0 will help with the problem…
Hi ther – i jhave the samsung g3 1t Hdd and it does not go on – where in cpt can i get another power cable to check it and also – if it has crashed – can it be fixed?
This is the G3 drive worth shit in a hat. Not to be praised!
Unpredictable to use. Danger of data loss.
However, the manufacturers do not respond? Disseminate to the Samsung product is unreliable. The Web is good enough chance! Welcome zi.
Salut
J’ai un dd ext samsung 3 G station depuis un moment mais depuis 1 semaine qd je le branche il s’allume mais pas de connexion???
j’ai essayé d’autres port USB mais rien ou alors il se connecte mais tres rarement…bizarre…
pouvez vous m’aider?
Usb connection in the samsung harddrive broke recently and i got a new case for it. However the problem is that in this new case, the harddrive comes up in my computer with no volume or drive number, it also does not come up in disk manager.
Also when i click or write click on the harddrive it causes my pc to freeze as well as many other pc’s that i have tested it on.
How would i fix the harddrive so it is readable and usable as there seems no way to format it.
i have also connect it as a normal sata harddrive and this causes the same problem
it also does show thats in connected in device manager
what a mess ! I need to connect the USB more then 10 times before my drive is recognized again and what is now the structural solution to fix this ??
If recognized the `samsung G3 is good to use ,it is formatted under Windows NFTS and also to use on my IMAC but freezes again after 10 minutes.HELP what can I do to make his Samsung work properly and automatic startup again…….
I bought myself the Samsung G3 1.5TB Station. I was using the drive the night before. The morning after that when i switched on my computer, windows didn’t recognize the drive. It wants me to format the drive before I can use it again. Unfortunately I can’t format the drive due to valuable data.
Please help
Need some advise please!!! I have the G3 Station 1TB than worked like a dream on my laptop and dvd player, but when I tried to use it again my dvd player and laptop doesn’t pick it up anymore! What can be the problem???
I need help – I bought a Samsung G3 station External Hard Drive 1TB from Incredeble Connection – The hard drive does not work anymore. When I took it back to Incredeble Connection (Colonade centre), they test it and said they think the problem is with the USB plug or cable.
They said they can only give me one with half the memory and all the information on it will be lost.
Well, most of the information is photo’s, and my daughter, which is at university’s stuff – it is information that we really need – is there no way to retrieve it and where can I go for a second opinion – I am in Pretoria can you suggust a place or tell me where is your head office – can I take it there for somebody to teswt it. I bought it last year August (2011) – still under warranty. Elize Britz
Hello Everyone
To all those having problems with their G3 station, you’re definitely not alone. And to those planning to make a purchase, DO NOT buy it.
I will break down its main problems.
It has been designed such that every time you plug the USB section into the port on the hard drive, it puts some strain on that port, due to it being poorly mounted, and after a short while (less than 6 months) that part will eventually loosen, disconnect and break off. To make matters worse, it CANNOT be soldered or glued back on by design, rendering the original power supply circuit board useless.
This will then force you to get either an enclosure or a USB-to-SATA adapter, which the Hard Drive doesn’t seem to recognize. (believe me, i’ve tried. Yet to try slaving it on an desktop computer though)
And the clincher; Samsung offers NO online support for this device, apparently this device was made before Samsung HDD section merged with Seagate, on whose website there is NO help for this device.
So, all in all, I WOULD NOT recommend this device to anyone, and in case anyone comes up with a fix for it please don’t hesitate to contact me on: jonassekitoleko@yahoo.com
Your information will be of much help. Thanks.
Hello,
Nearly all external hard drives have the same usb-port problem.
It’s some corporate conspiracy.
One year after purchase, Windows didn’t recognize my Samsung g3 2tb anymore.
It didn’t click. It just ran but wouldn’t show in explorer.
I screwed it open exactly like so:
Then I bought a docking station to run my ‘naked’/internal hard drive.
From now on, I’ll only buy internal hard drives. They’re cheaper and they break less easily.
Greetings and commiserations,
Janus K
Hi guy’s must admit all questions asked are very relevant and answers given very helpful. I have made peace with buying the 1.5 TB G3 station, but gone and lost the power adapter. So my question is where can I buy one in Cape Town? Or can I buy one of those universal power adaptors. Just don’t want to run the risk of damaging the unit.
Please help.
Clint.
the g1 to g3 series is an absolute waste of time. They arf all junk and rubbish. From a person employed by samsung to promote hard drives. Don’t waste ur money and time. Samsung floped up the g series
Well I’m pretty sure they realize that too, since it is no longer in production.
The Samsung G3 Station is EOD, meaning it is ‘end of line’, this is why you can’t find any information for this product as they no longer support it. It is my opinion and seemingly the general consensus that the G3 line was flawed, which is why it was only on the market for a short period of time. Given that the drive seems to be giving you such trouble, I’d recommend going for a Seagate external as they are durable and reliable.
Hi,
Just want to know if this device is compatible with Samsung Smart LED TV series 5?
Thanks!
My G3 1,5Tb dose not want to connect it was working 100% but now nothing I connect the USB an them the power supply an nothing happens PLEASE HELP GUYS????????
Hi you can read all my posts I (Prankster) put on this site to help you, if you need more answers just pop a post and I’ll be glad to answer them for you. Mine did the same after 3months even while it was still under the 3 year warrenty that comes with the G3 i couldn’t wait for samsung to sort it out for me and besides i might get it back with all my data lost so i took it out the casing and put it in another casing (or you could plug it in your pc as it is a standard SATA drive) recovered my data and then formated the drive (NTFS format) after that put it back in its original casing, connected the power supply and usb transfered all my data back and since then ive never had a problem again (touch wood 😉 ). I have the 1TB and its a few gigs short from full, going to get myself the 2TB soon. Hope this helps you. Regards Prankster
Hi, i have a Samsung G3 Station and i’ve been using it for more than 2 years now and it was not even halfway full. But yesterday when i try to access my files the computer can’t pick it and instead it prompts me to format…and when i think of loosing all the infor that i have been saving for many years i become sick… what could be the problem?
Hi you can read all my posts I (Prankster) put on this site to help you, if you need more answers just pop a post and I’ll be glad to answer them for you. Mine did the same after 3months even while it was still under the 3 year warrenty that comes with the G3 i couldn’t wait for samsung to sort it out for me and besides i might get it back with all my data lost so i took it out the casing and put it in another casing (or you could plug it in your pc as it is a standard SATA drive) recovered my data and then formated the drive (NTFS format) after that put it back in its original casing, connected the power supply and usb transfered all my data back and since then ive never had a problem again (touch wood 😉 ). I have the 1TB and its a few gigs short from full, going to get myself the 2TB soon. Hope this helps you. Regards Prankster