I doubt it without some amount of hacking the OS. As far as I know, fusion drives are only available with internal SSDs and HDDs. And considering a fusion drive using an external volume would likely be completely inoperable (or best-case scenario, you would temporarily lose most of your data) if you disconnected the external drive, I don't think Apple will change that stance.
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How much internal SSD will the Mac Pro ship with?
- Thread starter the8thark
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I doubt it without some amount of hacking the OS. As far as I know, fusion drives are only available with internal SSDs and HDDs. And considering a fusion drive using an external volume would likely be completely inoperable (or best-case scenario, you would temporarily lose most of your data) if you disconnected the external drive, I don't think Apple will change that stance.
except the rumor says ....
" ... But from the looks of it, the 2TB drives used industry standard 3.5” form factor, full height (just like your regular 3.5” spinning drive) and a SATA connector ... "
It could have been a prototype to test the concept of a 1-2TB PCI-e SSD drive without cluing folks into the format change and dropping SATA.
Most likely entry level is around 256GB. Top end could be 1TB but the price will be high. They likely would need an extra long NGFF card to get anywhere near the 1-2 TB range. ( http://www.anandtech.com/show/6293/...end-to-proprietary-ultrabook-ssd-form-factors )
From the picture on Apple's website that looks like only 4 ( maybe 8 if double sided ) flash chips there is no way it is going to be super high (for SSD) capacity.
The rMBP 15" max capacity is 768GB... a year later 1TB could be in sight but Apple's 768GB is about $1,000 ( a $700 to move up from 256. Costs $300 to add 256GB to move to 512GB ).
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There is no hacking involved.... unless "hacking" has devolved into being able to use the command line. LOL. Hacker status is being able to type 'man diskutil' and follow the directions.
CoreStorage will let you tag any two disks for "Fusion". Apple won't sell it that way. Precisely because the whole volume could be screwed up by unplugging one of the two at the wrong time. But both sides external is probably better than split mode. If disconnected not writing to either one.
But if willing to "roll your own" even the initial examples were split inside/outside
http://jollyjinx.tumblr.com/post/34638496292/fusion-drive-on-older-macs-yes-since-apple-has
A internal SSD and USB attached HDD. ( Not a particularly recommended configuration. Two drives on the same SATA controller is probably better/safer. )
Well, IMO as Macs are supposed to 'just work', and have such a nice GUI, anything involving typing Unix commands feels like hacking
Yes, I've done some minor things using the Terminal.
I do wonder if doing a completely external fusion drive with a 2-bay TB enclosure, using HD+SSD in it would work, and be a safe alternative? Clearly you would probably have to put your system on the internal PCIe-SSD, but you could put your apps on the external Fusion, and hopefully you would still have a functioning computer if you removed the drives.
I have built DIY Fusion drives in a LaCie "Little Big Disk" Thunderbolt enclosure (normally a 2 disk RAID-0) by replacing one of the disks with a SSD and it worked great and boots OS X fine. A very nice little 2 drive Thunderbolt enclosure which can be purchased refurb from Mac Mall and the hard disks replaced with SSDs or a Fusion setup. I use a couple of them and like them with SSDs installed. You can do Fusion, separate disks, RAID-0, or RAID-1 with the LBD. This enclosure will not boot Windows from a single drive however.
I have also built a DIY Fusion drive in a Pegasus J4 Thunderbolt enclosure (4 ea. 2.5" drive capacity with all 4 drives available to OS X) which also worked great but the Pegasus J4 requires a driver and thus can't be used as a bootable drive in any configuration. But it sure makes a nice data drive on my iMac.
You should be able to do a Fusion drive with any enclosure which presents both drives separately to OS X and is normally bootable under OS X.
-howard
what! this is not an iMac or Macbook Air.....expect no less than 1024 GB!
1TB of SSD is pricey. I would expect base configs between 256GB/512GB at the base level.
I think it's been concluded that the PCIe SSD blades in the new Mac Pro are the same as those in the recently updated MacBook Air (thanks to iFixit). If this is indeed the case, we know the blades come in 128, 256, and 512GB capacities. The questions that remain are:
- What will the Mac Pro base model ship with? (my guess is 256GB)
- Will Apple offer a 1TB blade? (even if this is offered, don't expect it to make financial sense)
- Will Apple equip the new Mac Pro with two PCIe SSD slots or just one? (there is clearly evidence to support two slots, whether they will both be implemented in this year's model remains to be seen)
Thus, the new Mac Pro could ship in various configurations with anywhere from 128K to 2TB of SSD depending on the answers to the above.
I would be shocked if 256GB and 512GB options are not offered. Anything beyond that is speculation.
- What will the Mac Pro base model ship with? (my guess is 256GB)
- Will Apple offer a 1TB blade? (even if this is offered, don't expect it to make financial sense)
- Will Apple equip the new Mac Pro with two PCIe SSD slots or just one? (there is clearly evidence to support two slots, whether they will both be implemented in this year's model remains to be seen)
Thus, the new Mac Pro could ship in various configurations with anywhere from 128K to 2TB of SSD depending on the answers to the above.
I would be shocked if 256GB and 512GB options are not offered. Anything beyond that is speculation.
Good comments and questions all.
My take would be:
1. A wide variety of options will be available .. After all, the parts are already in Apple's "parts bin" at no additional logistical cost.
2. Minimum size .. 128GB is a distinct possibility...Apple uses this as a profit center far too many times in the past to not do it again - even the 2012 Mac Pro's 3.5" HDD was only a 1TB, at a time when 1.5 and 2 were only $25 (retail) more.
3. Max size ... Whatever's in the parts bin again, times either one slot or two (depending on what it ends up with). If a larger capacity blade does come out for the MP, it will soon become an option on the other applicabel Macs. This is straightforward manufacturing and supply chain management stuff to control costs.
-hh