Does this look like something I can get retrofitted? My plan was to buy with a normal hard drive, then install an SSD in addition to it in a few months when I have more money. Will software be able to "fuse" these together, or am I out of luck and will need to shell out for a fusion drive now to get the effect?
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About Fusion Drive
- Thread starter the27thvoice
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not even sure what a fusion drive is. but If it is a hybrid seagate it is not a big deal. just stick with the stock hdd and buy a lacie little big disk when you get the cash.
I'm not sure but it seems they're just branding already existing "hybrid" drives like the Seagate Momentus series. If that is in face the case you could certainly upgrade your existing drive to one of those with the same end result.
Thats not what they are doing. If you look at the picture of the internal of the new iMac they showed there are 2 separate drives in there. A standard Hard Drive in the upper right and in the lower left there is a SSD.
Apple is using a much bigger SSD then what is in the seagate hybrid drives and its an actual SSD (Same style as in the retina MBP) so it really should be much better. If the software really works as they claim you shouldn't see any or much of a difference then if you actually had a standalone SSD and hard drive.
Well it is at least possible to order a mid-level Mac Mini with the Fusion Drive configuration: http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MD388LL/A?
yeah I have been google searching this appears to be a blend of 2 separate drives via the osx . some pc's have it with a msata ssd and a hdd. If done correctly it is nice. I have a diy pc that uses a crucial msata 256gb ssd in unison with a samsung 1tb hdd works well. it is on my as rock itx extreme mobo.
I see no need to rush to get it wait and see if the software works.
The fusion drive seems to be a single hybrid drive. A SSD built into a HDD. From Apple's Mac Mini order page:
"About Fusion Drive
Fusion Drive combined 128GB of superfast flash storage with a traditional hard drive. It automatically and dynamically moves frequently used files to flash for quicker access. With a Fusion Drive, your Mac mini boots up to 2x faster and imports photos up to 3.6x faster*. All while letting you store your entire digital life on a roomy traditional drive."
From Zdnet:
http://www.zdnet.com/apples-fusion-drive-hybrid-done-right-7000006248/
"About Fusion Drive
Fusion Drive combined 128GB of superfast flash storage with a traditional hard drive. It automatically and dynamically moves frequently used files to flash for quicker access. With a Fusion Drive, your Mac mini boots up to 2x faster and imports photos up to 3.6x faster*. All while letting you store your entire digital life on a roomy traditional drive."
From Zdnet:
http://www.zdnet.com/apples-fusion-drive-hybrid-done-right-7000006248/
I'm not sure why, but there are so many confused people thinking the fusion drive is a hybrid like the XT.
Its nothing like XT. <<--- i'm slightly an idiot.. from the photos during the presser I thought it was going to be two pieces of hardware...
The OS and core apple apps are installed on the SSD all the time. Never goes to magnetic for those.
Preferences and settings as well and other core OS related files will all be on the SSD.
For many of us who have a mac mini with a SSD+Magnetic drive we have already setup something similiar. The difference is now apple will be doing some dynamic magic to shuffle apps that are used frequently onto the SSD.
It will be interesting to see if this happens at the OS level or at the hardware level. If its some sort of software RAID it will be interesting to see if 2010/2011 mac mini users can trick OSX into allowing fusion.
Its nothing like XT. <<--- i'm slightly an idiot.. from the photos during the presser I thought it was going to be two pieces of hardware...
The OS and core apple apps are installed on the SSD all the time. Never goes to magnetic for those.
Preferences and settings as well and other core OS related files will all be on the SSD.
For many of us who have a mac mini with a SSD+Magnetic drive we have already setup something similiar. The difference is now apple will be doing some dynamic magic to shuffle apps that are used frequently onto the SSD.
It will be interesting to see if this happens at the OS level or at the hardware level. If its some sort of software RAID it will be interesting to see if 2010/2011 mac mini users can trick OSX into allowing fusion.
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If this is just a hybdrid with Apple's label "Fussion" on it then it sucks. I'd rather go for a 128GB SSD + regular HDD always.
I'll wait to see how tests do.
For example. Imagine you got a 10GB file in 100 RARs. If you Unrar it on a SSD and then on a regular HDD the difference is like WOW. What about these new Fusion drives? Will all recent files go to the SSD and then jump to the HDD as soon as you stop using them?
Cause I don't wanna have an SSD just for apps. I want it for everything. I wanna be able to chose what I have in the SSD and what not.
I'll probably have to try it out in a store. If I don't like how it works I'll go for a 256GB SSD intead of the 1TB Fusion Drive.
Dmn you Apple. Why taking away the few stuff that was there to choose from...
I'll wait to see how tests do.
For example. Imagine you got a 10GB file in 100 RARs. If you Unrar it on a SSD and then on a regular HDD the difference is like WOW. What about these new Fusion drives? Will all recent files go to the SSD and then jump to the HDD as soon as you stop using them?
Cause I don't wanna have an SSD just for apps. I want it for everything. I wanna be able to chose what I have in the SSD and what not.
I'll probably have to try it out in a store. If I don't like how it works I'll go for a 256GB SSD intead of the 1TB Fusion Drive.
Dmn you Apple. Why taking away the few stuff that was there to choose from...
If you want to store a lot of files on your Mini, get the fusion drive. If you want consistently fast read speeds, get the SSD.
Okay. Now the only problem is 300 bucks is too much for a Mini. They really should have kept the 100 128 GB SSD in the BTO window ...
Be intrigued to open it up and see if they're using a traditional 2.5" SSD, or the MacBook Air / Retina MacBook Pro 'blade' style flash.
I'm liking the option for a Fusion Drive. I think i'll configure one if I can. I'd love an iMac with the 3TB Fusion Drive. We'll see if it's in the cards for me.
I'm pretty sure that the Fusion Drive is a single drive. When you have a hybrid drive that is aggressively caching data you want the path between the HDD/SSD to be as short as possible. Hence building the SSD right in.
I'm pretty sure that the Fusion Drive is a single drive. When you have a hybrid drive that is aggressively caching data you want the path between the HDD/SSD to be as short as possible. Hence building the SSD right in.
What I've gathered so far it's mainly the software integration that makes it a better pair than a standard hybrid drive... but I can't seem to find anything showing it's more powerful than a normal hybrid like a momentus.
As far as we know, fusion drive is made of two seperate drives, so not like a Seagate momentus XT.
Do we actually know that? It seems very odd that Apple would call a pair of physical drives a "fusion drive", which implies a single piece of hardware.
On the other hand, if it's just software clustering with intelligent file management - I should be able to take my own SSD+spinning disk and turn it into my own "fusion drive".
That's just it..we don't know. So why not try to apply some critical thinking there?
Seagate puts the NAND storage on the drive and they probably link to a unified controller.
Intel's Smart Response technology puts the NAND on the motherboard (AFAIK). If Apple was doing dual drive system why the 128GB limitation on the Fusion Drive? Why not let the user just choose any SSD drive and augment it with the 1 or 3TB HDD?
Because.....
It's a single drive. #logic
Based on post #5's link that the Fusion drive is available in the new Mini, I would say that means it is all one piece/drive. I don't think two drives would fit inside the Mini.
Maybe it's a SSD soldered to the mainboard - would also make sense, doesn't it? I just thing the price is too damn high. For 150, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. And if there were a 100 120 GB SSD option, I'd have already bought a Mini.
Still don't know if I should go the Mini or iMac route - the thing is, I simply don't like the iMac front design and the all-in-one concept. But then again, it has more power and a better display than the TBD ...
Yup could be on the mainboard as well. I'm curious about Apple's implementation and wether Core Storage is the volume manager that makes this possible. If it is a single drive I could certainly foresee the future where it would work across "off the shelf" SSD and HDD.
We definitely need to wait to see how this is really carried out on the drives and not just a buzzword for SSD caching.
Waiting is the hard part
It's hard not to have a healthy curiosity about how these things work. Re-watching the iMac presentation. The design is incredible. What Apple's doing with Aluminum is incredible. I hope this bodes well for the Mac Pro refresh next year.
Must be that friction stir welding at play.
