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Samsung Magician
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Reinstall when it will not stay open

carg0, 2022, wrote that after 7.1 the app asked for a reinstall at every Windows 10 boot, and that reinstalling worked. Samsung's "cannot install" answer is the sequence below. Deleting any registry key other than the Magician key can damage Windows.

  1. 1Uninstall the previous Samsung Magician. Use its uninstall entry, or Control Panel, Programs and Features, Uninstall or change a program.
  2. 2Delete the old install folder. Samsung's default paths are C:\Program Files(x86)\Samsung\Samsung Magician(64bit) and C:\Program Files\Samsung\Samsung Magician(32bit).
  3. 3Open regedit and remove only the previous Magician key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Samsung Magician. On 64-bit Windows also check HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Samsung Magician.
  4. 4Install again from Samsung's tools page. The guide says the installer can take a few seconds to appear, and moving between installer screens can be slow.

The SSD is installed and Magician does not list it

Samsung's detection answer is mechanical. A new disk often needs a manual refresh or a reboot. The program also ignores disks with no drive letter, SCSI attachments, and BIOS RAID.

  1. 1Refresh Magician or reboot after you connect the drive.
  2. 2Confirm Windows itself sees the Samsung SSD.
  3. 3For SATA, the disk should appear as IDE or AHCI. If it does not, install Microsoft's standard AHCI driver.
  4. 4Some old AMD chipsets and AMD drivers are unsupported. Drive Details is where Samsung surfaces compatibility notes.
  5. 5If the SSD sits behind a RAID or SCSI controller, install the default Microsoft storage driver from the Windows setup.
  6. 6An enclosure can hide the real firmware version or stop the drive from identifying as Samsung. Try the drive on the motherboard port.
  7. 7IRST drivers can break authentication. Samsung names IRST 12.6.0.1033 and 12.8.10.1005 as problem builds and suggests rolling back.

Firmware update

Drive Details shows the firmware name. When Samsung has a newer one, the FAQ says you will see "Updated version is available" next to that name, or you can use the Update button. After the update, reboot so the drive actually runs the new firmware.

Samsung says the update process does not itself wipe user data, and still tells you to back up the whole SSD first. There is always a risk of data loss. Do not sleep, hibernate, or power off during the update. The PC shuts itself down after Magician counts down 20 seconds.

If the update fails

  • On an AMD storage controller, retry with Microsoft's AHCI driver.
  • Use the latest storage driver, or the Microsoft driver, instead of a custom one.
  • Do not update through a proxy if the download stalls. Samsung says proxy networks can block firmware updates.
  • End-of-life SSDs keep the newest firmware they already received. Samsung will not publish a further update for those models.

Authentication failures are a different path: check internet, restart, then an authorized Samsung service center. See the authentication answer.

Full diagnostic scan and Microsoft Defender

Samsung's install guide says Diagnostic Scan, Full scan, is very slow on Windows while Defender real-time protection is on. Their two options are to turn real-time protection off for the scan, or to exclude the Magician service process. Turning protection off leaves the PC exposed until you enable it again.

The exclusion they print, for the default 64-bit install path, is this PowerShell command:

Add-MpPreference -ExclusionProcess "%programfiles(x86)%\Samsung\Samsung Magician\SamsungMagicianSVC.exe"

Samsung also points at Windows Security, Virus and threat protection, Manage settings, Exclusions. This is a performance exclusion for Samsung's own service. It is not a claim that an unknown EXE is safe. Get Magician from Samsung's tools page first.

The benchmark is slower than the spec sheet

Samsung's FAQ lists these checks, in order. The spec sheet is a lab figure. Your board, heat, and power plan change the result.

Benchmark settings differ between devices because each interface needs a different amount of CPU to reach its ceiling. That answer is also in the FAQ.

  1. 1On a SATA SSD, confirm a SATA3 port. Interface on the Magician home screen shows the link.
  2. 2On NVMe, compare the slot's PCIe generation and lane count with System Details.
  3. 3On some boards an NVMe drive in a PCIe slot is faster than the same drive in an M.2 slot.
  4. 4High temperature can slow the drive through Dynamic Thermal Guard. That is temporary protection, not a failed disk by itself.
  5. 5Close other programs that load the system, then measure again.
  6. 6Set the Windows power plan to High performance and measure again.
  7. 7Samsung says results still vary with the test conditions above.

Before you migrate, erase, or update

  1. 1Back up the SSD. Firmware updates can fail even though Samsung says the happy path keeps your files.
  2. 2Leave the drive connected until the progress screen finishes. Pulling it during firmware, benchmark, secure erase, over provisioning, encryption, PSID revert, diagnostic scan, optimization, migration, or RAPID can corrupt data.
  3. 3Close other heavy jobs before a scan, an optimization, a migration, or a benchmark.
  4. 4Refresh the drive list after you add or remove a disk.
  5. 5Stay on AHCI with a Microsoft or Samsung driver. SCSI and BIOS RAID are outside support.
  6. 6PSID revert and Secure Erase are destructive. Read the model list on the features page before you type the PSID.
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