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Fusion Drive--love it or regret it--please share!

Love the 1TB Fusion Drive. I don't think the performance difference between Fusion and SSD would be noticeable by me and my usage.

However. If you play games a lot in Bootcamp, then I would suggest going SSD as Fusion doesn't work there. You can only make an HDD partition. The speed difference is huge. Going to Bootcamp now feels like a chore compared to OS X.

Edit: nvm that. Just had a look at prices of SSD options on Apple Store UK. I would still get 1TB Fusion.
 
When people post performance metrics, they always posts the sequential read and write speeds. Those numbers has very little value for most operations for normal users.

You should look at random read and random write scores which is what your iMac will do most of the time. Also read scores are 10x more important than write scores.

A Fusion Drive will probably have the performance of a SSD 97% of the time for 95% of the users out there.
 
I don't regret getting my 1TB Fusion Drive because at the time of ordering my iMac there weren't all the other SSD options. If I was ordering again I'd be getting either the 256GB to 512GB SSD. That said, the Fusion Drive has worked great but me but I'm wishing I had one big SSD as currently Boot Camp can only be set up on the spinning drive and it's constantly thrashing when in Windows. I think I'll be replacing it with a 512GB 840 Pro soon.

(soon = as soon as I pluck up the courage to open my iMac up :D)
 
eattherich said:
I don't regret getting my 1TB Fusion Drive because at the time of ordering my iMac there weren't all the other SSD options. If I was ordering again I'd be getting either the 256GB to 512GB SSD. That said, the Fusion Drive has worked great but me but I'm wishing I had one big SSD as currently Boot Camp can only be set up on the spinning drive and it's constantly thrashing when in Windows. I think I'll be replacing it with a 512GB 840 Pro soon.

(soon = as soon as I pluck up the courage to open my iMac up :D)
Click to expand...

If your iMac has Thunderbolt, you could add an external SSD devoted to booting/running Windows at SSD speeds.
 
tl;dr -> Go for the Fusion Drive.

I went for a 1 TB FusionDrive in my 2012 iMac, simply because I couldn't justify the price of the 768 GB SSD.

I have a HDD in my htpc and in the MBPc my employer has provided me with, but other than that I've used SSD:s since 2008 - hence, I would like to call my self a rather merited SSD user. And it's my conclusion that the Fusion Drive does its job very well.

One thing though, I've only used about 350-400 GB which means that about one third of my data is located on the SSD.

Using BlackMagic it's a big difference between the iMac and my rMBP (about 350 vs 730 MB/s), but in real usage the difference isn't noticable.

My plan is, when the iMac starts to feel slow, to put some SSD:s in raid and run it through the Thunderbolt port. Too bad the 2012 iMac (nor the 2013) doesn't have TB2.
 
I have 2013 imac all maxed and 1 TB fusion and it works great.
My wife also got 2013 imac all maxed but with a 512 MB ssd because she will only run windows on her machine.
We are both pleased with our computers.
 
I have a 27" iMac, 3tb Fusion, 32g Ram

It FLIES! Boot time is <30 seconds and commonly used programmes boot so fast you could think they're already open. I have two backups though, to be on the safe side... CC Cloner and Time Machine
 
21" 2011 iMac (before fusion came out)

I did a DIY with 250GB EVO and 3TB WD Black. It's really really fast and really really big. That's what she said.
 
so..if I wanted to buy a new Imac 21,5 high end is still good to have The Fusion Drive?
 
If you are on a budget, and only plan to use OSX - get fusion drive.
If you have the money, and plan to game in bootcamp - get SSD.

SSD: less heat, less noise (HDs vary in noise. You might be unlucky and get a HD that makes a lot of noises, or you might get a silent running HD), no slow spin-ups, more stable (I've never encountered a single SSD error in 5 years), much better performance in bootcamp.

Fusion drive: gives in most cases great performance that's comparable to SSD, but will in certain cases be noticeably slower (by a large margin).
 
Mac32 said:
If you are on a budget, and only plan to use OSX - get fusion drive.
If you have the money, and plan to game in bootcamp - get SSD.

SSD: less heat, less noise (HDs vary in noise. You might be unlucky and get a HD that makes a lot of noises, or you might get a silent running HD), no slow spin-ups, more stable (I've never encountered a single SSD error in 5 years), much better performance in bootcamp.

Fusion drive: gives in most cases great performance that's comparable to SSD, but will in certain cases be noticeably slower (by a large margin).
Click to expand...

Thanks for your help!
 
Mac32 said:
If you are on a budget, and only plan to use OSX - get fusion drive.
If you have the money, and plan to game in bootcamp - get SSD.

SSD: less heat, less noise (HDs vary in noise. You might be unlucky and get a HD that makes a lot of noises, or you might get a silent running HD), no slow spin-ups, more stable (I've never encountered a single SSD error in 5 years), much better performance in bootcamp.

Fusion drive: gives in most cases great performance that's comparable to SSD, but will in certain cases be noticeably slower (by a large margin).
Click to expand...

So what would slow down? I work in Adobe design suite, photoshop, Indesign and illustrator. Would I notice any difference between fusion and SSD
 
Bought a 27" i5 w/ 1 TB fusion. Currently I'm using about 35% or 400 GB.

No slowdowns, no hiccups, as fast as an SSD all the time, never have even come close to stressing the drive, so quiet as to be almost silent all the time, runs so cool that the case is never warmer than lukewarm.... love it.
 
Susansmac said:
Are there things you should do to keep the Fusion drive running at optimal performance?
Click to expand...

Nothing. And I mean nothing. Fusion drive tries to give you quick access to the data that you use most. Anything you could try to do will just interfere with this and make it slower.
 
While the Fusion drive is good and learns where to place your most used files, it's still not superior to an SSD. Remember the Fusion Drive is a moving drive and eventually will fail. More important for speed and quietness is an SSD which is excellent at both. Only prohibitive factor in an SSD is price.
 
Bootcamp

I have a 2012 iMac i7/680mx/1 TB FD and I did a bootcamp partition for gaming. It wasn't that big a deal for me because I just use it for light gaming, but it runs completely on the HDD. I don't know if this has been brought up yet in the thread, but if you plan on booting more than one OS, get the SSD. All your other OS's will run completely on the HDD. You could potentially partition a part of the SSD for OS itself, but it would definitely be more complicated, and may mess with the Fusion Drive while on OS X. Just something to keep in mind!

Best,
Matt
 
Susansmac said:
So what would slow down? I work in Adobe design suite, photoshop, Indesign and illustrator. Would I notice any difference between fusion and SSD
Click to expand...

Not that much.

I mean, the Fusion Drive will move your most used apps (if not all apps) on the SSD, so all of those will pop up open in a fraction of a second.

Also your most accessed files will be on the SSD and any newly created project should at first be written on the SSD (Fusion Drive keep about 4gb of the SSD free for new files).

Sometimes you will open files on the HDD, but a modern 7200rpm drive like in the 27' iMac is still decent for these sorts of things.

Obviously the main factor in Fusion Drive vs SSD is money. If you have the money for a huge SSD obviously it's always better, but you get a lot more storage for your bucks with the Fusion Drive.

Considering the money difference between 1 TB Fusion Drive (actually it's 1.128 TB) and the 1 TB SSD (it's around 800$), I think you should take the Fusion Drive and simply use the extra money to add a good amount of RAM afterward and invest in a good external Backup drive for Time Machine.
 
Susansmac said:
So how much do these SDD bench marks really play out in day-to-day use. Are we talking about a 2 second difference between the SDD and Fusion?

When I read reviews about SDD, it feels like I would be a fool to get a fusion because, fusion performance won't last, the speed slows down over time, or it's a temporary solution while Apple waits for the price of SDD to come down, so fusion won't stick around, or that SDD blows fusion out of the water performance wise. Yet for those that have the fusion, they seem pretty happy with it. It's hard for me to determine what is the best move. Being that I will be getting an Apple discount (15%), should I not pass up the 1 TB SDD? Or would that money be better spent elsewhere?

Arrrrggggg… I can't decide!
Click to expand...

Fusion Drive doesn't "slow down over time".

Every files that you use regularly will remain on the SSD, like the OS and your Apps, and they won't ever be "slower".

It's just that there is a big chunk of your "data" that get stored on a "slower" HDD, but in a real life usage for most of users, those data rarely get accessed anyway.

For example you work on a big project in photoshop. When you create it it should be on the SSD since new files get created there, then eventually when you finish it and stop accessing it, it will eventually be moved to the SSD, and in a year and a half when you need to open it again, it will take a little bit more time (in seconds) than your actual project, but nothing that will really affect your workflow.

Like I mentionned earlier. You will be better served by using the extra money on ram and aditionnal external storage for backup.
 
mad3inch1na said:
I have a 2012 iMac i7/680mx/1 TB FD and I did a bootcamp partition for gaming. It wasn't that big a deal for me because I just use it for light gaming, but it runs completely on the HDD. I don't know if this has been brought up yet in the thread, but if you plan on booting more than one OS, get the SSD. All your other OS's will run completely on the HDD. You could potentially partition a part of the SSD for OS itself, but it would definitely be more complicated, and may mess with the Fusion Drive while on OS X. Just something to keep in mind!

Best,
Matt
Click to expand...

I have my Windows 8 installation on an external Thunderbolt SSD (LaCie "Rugged" 256GB) and it boots and runs great. You can use "WinClone" to copy your existing Windows on your Fusion drive to the external SSD, then simply restore your internal Fusion drive to full OS X using the BootCamp assistant.
 
Sorry to resurrect an old thread. Reading more recent posts about fusion drives, is it still recommended to pay extra for the ssd? This thread makes me believe the fusion drive would be okay for my in laws who just do general browsing, web based games and watch videos.
 
With such limited use, and no movies or iTunes, a 256GB SSD would be better, and not much dearer than a 2TB Fusion. Why 2TB? The 1TB has a 24GB Flash Drive, not large enough for the modern operating system, and the 2/3TB Fusion has a 128GB Flash storage.
 
madflava -

If all your inlaws are going to do is browsing, web games and videos, the 256gb SSD ($100 more) should be large enough for a while.

The advantages of the SSD are:
- faster and never slows down as the machine ages
- no moving parts to break (perhaps a longer life)
- because it's -not- "fused", one less "layer of software" to cause problems
 
Fishrrman said:
madflava -

If all your inlaws are going to do is browsing, web games and videos, the 256gb SSD ($100 more) should be large enough for a while.

The advantages of the SSD are:
- faster and never slows down as the machine ages
- no moving parts to break (perhaps a longer life)
- because it's -not- "fused", one less "layer of software" to cause problems
Click to expand...

So base model with upgrades SSD? Seems like buying outside of Apple allows you to get better specs but most appear to be fusion drive only
 
The only thing I'm gonna say is: go to any Apple forum and you will find tons of threads about falling FDs. Now go and look for falling SSDs and let me know how many threads you find.
 
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