I have a 128GB SSD Crucial M4 and 500GB HDD in my MacBook Pro and i'm simply asking is it worth creating a Fusion Drive?
And does it carry any risks?
And does it carry any risks?
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DIY Fusion Drive
- Thread starter mediocrefuzz
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I'm sure it carries risks, as it's not officially supported. Have a bootable clone of your drive on hand in case it all goes south.
That said, a few weeks ago I did exactly what you describe (with a 2011 Mac Mini, a hard drive caddy kit from Other World Computing, a 500GB HDD and a 120GB SSD). The physical installation was a bit of work, but doable, and the command line stuff was quick and easy. It's so much of a speed improvement, it's like I bought a new computer. Seriously. And from what I can glean, the magic "fusion" data migration between the two physical drives is taking place. Everything has been running rock solid, and the only time I've had to reboot was when I accidentally unplugged my Mac with my foot under my desk (idiot).
I followed the instructions here: http://blog.macsales.com/15617-creating-your-own-fusion-drive
Have seen sporadic reports (on these forums) of certain machines having trouble with a DIY fusion drive. I'd google around as much as you can before taking the plunge. But as long as you have good backups, you can always fall back to manually separating stuff between the SSD and HDD.
That said, a few weeks ago I did exactly what you describe (with a 2011 Mac Mini, a hard drive caddy kit from Other World Computing, a 500GB HDD and a 120GB SSD). The physical installation was a bit of work, but doable, and the command line stuff was quick and easy. It's so much of a speed improvement, it's like I bought a new computer. Seriously. And from what I can glean, the magic "fusion" data migration between the two physical drives is taking place. Everything has been running rock solid, and the only time I've had to reboot was when I accidentally unplugged my Mac with my foot under my desk (idiot).
I followed the instructions here: http://blog.macsales.com/15617-creating-your-own-fusion-drive
Have seen sporadic reports (on these forums) of certain machines having trouble with a DIY fusion drive. I'd google around as much as you can before taking the plunge. But as long as you have good backups, you can always fall back to manually separating stuff between the SSD and HDD.
Hey curmudgeon32, I did the same thing as you, but with a 1TB drive. I'm curious as how you know the drives are copying data back and forth. After reading the macsales blog they seem to think that all we have done is create a core storage logical drive and not a true "Fusion" drive. I have seen screen captures of fusion drives from about the mac and they usually say something like SSD and Hard disk. All mine says is "Internal disk. Whats yours say?
Yeah, the OWC people take a very conservative view of this. If you read through the comments, you can see a few people taking issue with their blanket statement that only 2012 Mac Minis will work with a DIY fusion drive.
I had many of the same questions as you, and got some answers by posting here: http://apple.stackexchange.com/ques...at-a-diy-fusion-drive-is-working-as-it-should