Apple's Fusion Drive now available on new entry-level 21.5" iMac orders

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  • Reply 21 of 125


    Originally Posted by TBell View Post

    Likewise, Apple is doing the same thing, but is using a bigger SSD drive. Like the other hybrid drives, Apple is fusing the two drives together to be treated as one.


     


    Not quite. Hybrid drives are one drive. One 3.5" drive casing, everything is in there.


     


    Fusion Drive is a RAID between two full-size drives of different physical and storage sizes and different types.





    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post

    It's a hybrid drive with much much smarter software.


     


    It's a RAID.

  • Reply 22 of 125


    I have a question about a Fusion Drive, almost a year ago I spilled lemon aid on my 2011 macbook pro 13" it still works with some problems but it only runs 3/4 the regular speed I used speed test to find this out, would my computer run faster if I installed a Fusion Drive in it?


    Any help would be appreciated

  • Reply 23 of 125
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member


    This tech has been around for awhile, I personally prefer an all SSD solution but each to his own.


     


    http://www.seagate.com/internal-hard-drives/laptop-hard-drives/momentus-xt-hybrid/

  • Reply 24 of 125


    Originally Posted by Relic View Post

    This tech has been around for awhile…


     


    Not in the slightest. Not with that drive, at any rate.

  • Reply 25 of 125
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by bruhaha View Post





    Actually, there are hybrid drives from HDD manufactures out there today. Been available for a couple years now.


    Yep, it is fun to think Apple was first though. Not sure who would want these drives but I guess it's nice to have options.

  • Reply 26 of 125
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    Not in the slightest. Not with that drive, at any rate.



    Actually the Seagate is identical to the Fusion drive. The tech is from Intel -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Response_Technology

  • Reply 27 of 125


    Originally Posted by Relic View Post

    Yep, it is fun to think Apple was first though. Not sure who would want these drives but I guess it's nice to have options.


     


    Once again, you're wrong. Read the thread: It's a RAID created by two separate drives of different types. Not one drive. Nothing to do with that Seagate thing. And Fusion Drive has intelligent placement software.






    Originally Posted by Relic View Post

    Actually the Seagate is identical to the Fusion drive.



     


    Wow. No.

  • Reply 28 of 125
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    Once again, you're wrong. Read the thread: It's a RAID created by two separate drives of different types. Not one drive. Nothing to do with that Seagate thing. And Fusion Drive has intelligent placement software.


     


     


    Wow. No.



    Actually it really is, instead of caching in hardware Apple does it in software using what they call CoreStorge. It's still a Hybrid, two drives. This isn't anything new nor is it something that should be sought after in my opinion. Buy a smaller SSD for the system and larger HDD for data.

  • Reply 29 of 125
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member


    The Fusion Drive doesn't use caching and isn't a RAID drive


    We've seen hard disks with SSD caching for years now, and of course RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) storage has been around since PCs were made of wood.


    However, the Fusion Drive is neither a caching drive or a RAID one: it's a hybrid drive, so instead of mirroring - creating a cached copy of frequently used data on the SSD - it moves frequently used data from the HDD to the SSD.

  • Reply 30 of 125


    Originally Posted by Relic View Post


    However, the Fusion Drive is neither a caching drive or a RAID one…



     


    Fine. Mea culpa.


     


    It's two drives. Not one drive. Not the Seagate. Seagate uses the SSD to cache the spinning disk. Apple actually uses the space on the SSD for storage. NOT the Seagate!

  • Reply 31 of 125
    winterwinter Posts: 1,238member
    Here you go! What did I say before? Just one or more BTO options on the base models and you'd be just fine. The quad-core non-server Mac mini should offer at least one 3 TB Fusion I feel but ah well.
  • Reply 32 of 125
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    Fine. Mea culpa.


     


    It's two drives. Not one drive. Not the Seagate. Seagate uses the SSD to cache the spinning disk. Apple actually uses the space on the SSD for storage. NOT the Seagate!



    Fine, however it's still just another approach to the same goal. It's a gimmick, the price for SSD's have gone down significantly. Purchasing the iMac with it's original capacity and then purchasing an additional 64GB 550MB+ RW drive is not only cheaper but a much better solution.

  • Reply 33 of 125
    evilutionevilution Posts: 1,399member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    Introduced in October 2011 alongside the redesigned iMac,


    Is there some odd back to the future thing going on here or did I sleep for a year?


    I thought fusion drive and redesign iMac was 2012.

  • Reply 34 of 125


    Originally Posted by Winter View Post

    The quad-core non-server Mac mini should offer at least one 3 TB Fusion I feel but ah well.


     


    That'd require a physical retooling though. The Mac Mini uses 2.5" drives and you'd have to have a 3.5" for that.





    Originally Posted by Relic View Post

    It's a gimmick…


     


    lol. It's a stepping stone.






    …the price for SSD's have gone down significantly.



     


    Yeah, those 3TB SSDs are passed around like toilet paper.






    Purchasing the iMac with it's original capacity and then purchasing an additional 64GB 550MB+ RW drive is not only cheaper but a much better solution.



     


    So, what, an external drive that isn't as fast, you mean? How's that better? It doesn't automatically assign more often used things to the SSD. It's external. I thought that was inherently bad…

  • Reply 35 of 125
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member


    It's only the system that needs to be fast, data not so much.

  • Reply 36 of 125


    Originally Posted by Relic View Post

    It's only the system that needs to be fast, data not so much.


     


    So what's your proposal, removing the internal 1TB drive and replacing it with a 64GB SSD, using the 1TB as an external? 


     


    Aside from the physical difficulty of doing that in any iMac, how in the heck is this a "better" solution than having both internal and both working as a fusion drive does?

  • Reply 37 of 125
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    So what's your proposal, removing the internal 1TB drive and replacing it with a 64GB SSD, using the 1TB as an external? 


     


    Aside from the physical difficulty of doing that in any iMac, how in the heck is this a "better" solution than having both internal and both working as a fusion drive does?



    No, I would just use the dual HD mounting kit from ifixit and just add the second drive.

  • Reply 38 of 125


    Originally Posted by Relic View Post

    No, I would just use the dual HD mounting kit from ifixit and just add the second drive.


     


    But you can't do that. So… 

  • Reply 39 of 125
    bigpicsbigpics Posts: 1,397member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by bruhaha View Post





    Actually, there are hybrid drives from HDD manufactures out there today. Been available for a couple years now.


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post





    yes I believe Fusion Drive is a trademarked name owned by Apple.

    But the tech isn't totally Apple. It's a hybrid drive with much much smarter software. Anyone could have that kind of system if they wanted. Might take some rewriting and perhaps licensing a patent or two but it is possible.




    People already have - I remember reading within days of release that someone demonstrated cobbling together a 3rd party HW solution that the Mac treated as a fusion drive.  Unless memory fails, that is...  ...not that that ever happens to this humble poster.... :)

  • Reply 40 of 125
    focherfocher Posts: 688member
    I actually did it in my late 2009 iMac 27 inch. I used the iFixit hard drive tray and replaced my optical drive with a 1 TB drive and replaced the hard drive with 160 gig Intel SSD. Then I used the CoreStorage commands to create a logical volume which allows you to create the Fusion drive. All in, about $150 (I already had a spare SSD).

    [URL]http://www.macworld.com/article/2014011/how-to-make-your-own-fusion-drive.html[/URL]

    And to clarify, it doesn't work at the file level. It works at the block level.
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