HDD removed, is the data within 2014 iMac fusion drive gone?

[primalp]

Hello all,

Short version: Apple removed the 1TB HDD drive from the iMac before they sealed it up. I'm thinking about selling the iMac as is for parts, will my data be stored anywhere else aside from that HDD that was removed? If so, how can I wipe it before selling it?

My iMac completely died a couple of years ago. It won't turn on. No chime, no light, nothing. It was a sad day because it was working perfectly fine. Apple had taken a look at it a while back and they confirmed it was not the power supply. I even tried replacing the power cord. The next step was to replace the logic board which would've costed more than I paid for the entire iMac. I asked them to remove the HDD and kept the iMac as a project. I figured I'd pick up a logic board on eBay and follow a YT video. That never happened. I need to shed this weight as I'm downsizing but I'm afraid my data is still in there since it's a "fusion drive." Is there another SSD component in there somewhere that may contain some of my data?

Thanks in advance!

 

[DeltaMac]

The fusion drive is 2 separate parts. You had Apple remove the HDD, which is a standard HDD. The other part is a card, with flash storage - an SSD. The 2 drives are combined by software to form the fusion drive, which is really a virtual drive, similar to a RAID setup.
To answer your question, the SSD was used to store the boot system, and much of the Mac OS system, allowing the Mac to (hopefully) operate significantly faster than solely on a spinning hard drive. The SSD component is on the back side of the logic board (which must be completely removed to get to that card.)
It's a big job to remove that card, and IMHO not worth removing just to be double-sure that non of your data is accessible. Any data is part of the fusion drive, and I think unlikely to be accessible when the HDD (which is part of the fusion drive installation) has been physically removed.
In addition, the SSD component on a 1TB fusion drive is really small - 28GB, IIRC, so hardly worthwhile retrieving for parts. (Well, I wouldn't do it...)

 

[Fishrrman]

For all practical purposes, the data is gone.

The SSD portion of the drive is still there, but remember that a "fusion" drive is TWO DRIVES that are "melded together" by software. BOTH portions need to be there and "fused" for the data on the "whole" drive to be readable.

A data recovery company MIGHT be able to "get at" what's on the SSD portion, but without the original HDD portion, even that is doubtful. Expect to pay many hundreds -- or THOUSANDS -- of dollars for a successful data recovery.

Is the data on that drive really worth THAT MUCH to you?

Best advice for the future:
Learn about the concept of BACKING UP your data.
It's cheap and easy to do.
I'd recommend a USB3 external drive along with either SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner.

Otherwise, go forth from this day and learn... a sadder, but wiser Mac user.

 

[primalp]

The fusion drive is 2 separate parts. You had Apple remove the HDD, which is a standard HDD. The other part is a card, with flash storage - an SSD. The 2 drives are combined by software to form the fusion drive, which is really a virtual drive, similar to a RAID setup.
To answer your question, the SSD was used to store the boot system, and much of the Mac OS system, allowing the Mac to (hopefully) operate significantly faster than solely on a spinning hard drive. The SSD component is on the back side of the logic board (which must be completely removed to get to that card.)
It's a big job to remove that card, and IMHO not worth removing just to be double-sure that non of your data is accessible. Any data is part of the fusion drive, and I think unlikely to be accessible when the HDD (which is part of the fusion drive installation) has been physically removed.
In addition, the SSD component on a 1TB fusion drive is really small - 28GB, IIRC, so hardly worthwhile retrieving for parts. (Well, I wouldn't do it...)

Thanks for the detailed response and for your time. Do you know if I buy one of those HDD mounts and plug in via USB to another Mac, I'll be able to see the files on the HDD? I'm wondering if the data was somehow segmented in both the HDD and SSD so it won't be accessible.

 

[primalp]

For all practical purposes, the data is gone.

The SSD portion of the drive is still there, but remember that a "fusion" drive is TWO DRIVES that are "melded together" by software. BOTH portions need to be there and "fused" for the data on the "whole" drive to be readable.

A data recovery company MIGHT be able to "get at" what's on the SSD portion, but without the original HDD portion, even that is doubtful. Expect to pay many hundreds -- or THOUSANDS -- of dollars for a successful data recovery.

Is the data on that drive really worth THAT MUCH to you?

Best advice for the future:
Learn about the concept of BACKING UP your data.
It's cheap and easy to do.
I'd recommend a USB3 external drive along with either SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner.

Otherwise, go forth from this day and learn... a sadder, but wiser Mac user.

Thanks! I don't really need the data but was concerned that someone could access it. There may be some sensitive data such as IDs and W2s so I figured I wouldn't want anyone else to be able to access them.

 

[ignatius345]

Thanks! I don't really need the data but was concerned that someone could access it. There may be some sensitive data such as IDs and W2s so I figured I wouldn't want anyone else to be able to access them.

As long as you're not dealing with state secrets or something, it's seems incredibly unlikely someone would open up that old dead iMac, physically remove the SSD and do the forensic data recovery needed to see (at best) some portion of a PDF containing your old W2.

 

[primalp]

As long as you're not dealing with state secrets or something, it's seems incredibly unlikely someone would open up that old dead iMac, physically remove the SSD and do the forensic data recovery needed to see (at best) some portion of a PDF containing your old W2.

Haha! well that's good to know that it isn't readily and easily accessible.

 

[Juicy Box]

It is possible to pull data from the SSD. Actually, you could probably see the index of all the files you had on your Fusion Drive if the SSD still works.

But, any files that was on your HDD will not be able to be opened. It is just the index to the files that will remain.

 

[Juicy Box]

In addition, the SSD component on a 1TB fusion drive is really small - 28GB, IIRC, so hardly worthwhile retrieving for parts. (Well, I wouldn't do it...)

The Fusion Drives in the Late 2012 to Late 2014 iMacs have a 128GB SSD.

In 2015, Apple dropped the SSD in the 1TB Fusion Drive to a tiny 24GB to pinch pennies, then increased it slightly to 32GB in 2017.

It could be worth getting into with 128GB of data depending on how careful one wants to be.