“Fusion Drive for Mac gives you the best of both worlds: super fast workflow and speed, thanks to the SSD (Solid State Drive) and high-capacity storage space on the traditional hard drive,” MacTuts+ reports.
“Apple sells the Fusion drive as a $799 option with the new Mac Mini and iMac,” MacTuts+ reports. “In this tutorial we will look at building and creating our own Fusion Drive for much cheaper rates that gives the same performance as Apple’s Fusion Drive.”
To create a Fusion Drive, you will need three sets of storage drives:
• A hard drive
• An external drive to backup to – creating a Fusion volume will erase both the SSD and the hard drive, so if you have information on the hard drive you want to keep, you’ll need to have a copy of that data elsewhere. This is optional and if you are just setting up your mac you wouldn’t be needing an extra drive to backup to.
• An SSD installed/to install. It is possible to build a Fusion Drive through an internal or externally connectedd SSD. Though the recommended method is using an internal drive because if you accidentally remove the SSD – the Fusion Drive would not function and will crash. In this tutorial we will be looking at building a Fusion Drive through an internally connected SSD. Nonetheless, the process and commands are the same for an externally connected SSD, so you can always follow these steps.
Full tutorial here.
Above submission should have been published with a GEEK Alert!
For someone such as myself who has no plot, tinkering with a working Mac or iMac just because someone has written ‘How To’ so therefor I can, is a dangerous activity to undertake. Hence a Geek alert with a rating of 5g’s in which the higher the ‘g’ number, the more geeks required to accomplish the said task. 0g would be suitable for me!
I’ve left a video instructions below with detailed command line code.
The hardware setup is quite simple. The software command is not that complicated. The instructions are laid out clearly in the video.
The Mac mini fusion option is only $250 when ordering from Apple, not $799 as the article leads you to believe. The Apple fusion drive is a 128GB SSD and Other World sales an equivalent 120GB SSD for $129.99 + the required data doubler kit to install the drive is $34.99 giving you a total savings of only $85 for all the trouble of doing this upgrade yourself vs buying it done for you from Apple.
I’ve done upgrades on many Mac mini computers – including a Fusion Drive on the current generation – and it was really pretty easy. I might also note that the addition of the SSD and a RAM increase to 8 gigs made my box a screamer. From start chime to desktop is now 12 seconds or less. Even FCPX is snappy on it. And everything I needed for the upgrade (64 gig SSD) totaled less than $125.
there are hard drives on the market with built in SSD for caching. not as fast as fusion, but at the price they go for its a much better value
If you are referring to the Seagate Hybrid drives, they are not very fast (slower than an Apple Fusion setup) and are notoriously unreliable.
Seagate *did* just announce a new generation of these drives, and initial benchmarks are still not that great, but perhaps the reliability will be better.
How to build your own Fusion Drive.
The Mac mini fusion option is only $250 when ordering from Apple, not $799 as the article leads you to believe. The Apple fusion drive is a 128GB SSD and Other World sales an equivalent 120GB SSD for $129.99 + the required data doubler kit to install the drive is $34.99 giving you a total savings of only $85 for all the trouble of doing this upgrade yourself vs buying it done for you from Apple.
Except I can’t buy a Fusion Drive from Apple for my Mac Pro or my previous generation iMac.
I have the real fusion drive, and I love it. The entire thing must be taken up by World of Warcraft, though.
an OWC solid state drive makes more sense to me.
Don’t get me wrong, I still think that Apple offers some of the best hardware. But it is rapidly going down a road of planned disposability since user upgrades are no longer easy.
The Mini & iMac do not offer friendly/cheap DIY multiple hard drive upgrades. Apple has inexplicably abandoned the 17″ MacBook Pro, so it doesn’t have a laptop that would allow multiple internal hard drives.
Apple thinks that people with substantial storage needs are going to just flock to external hard drives. But if you leap back and forth between a MacBook and a Mac Pro, you’re out of luck using Thunderbolt. Apple doesn’t think Mac Pro users need Thunderbolt (nor updated graphics, nor USB3 as a purchase option, etc, etc).
I look at it this way: Apple is pissing on its DIY-oriented users worse than ever. Even peripheral manufacturers like LaCie or OWC are hurt by Apple’s inconsistent attempts to alternatively cut them out of the market, but then expect them to offer hardware to bridge the needs that Apple refuses to sell.
There is no reason in the world that the Mini & iMacs couldn’t have been designed for easier user upgradeablity with dual internal hard drive options, or that the Mac Pro be fully modernized by now. Apple is simply SLOW to deliver what users want. I call that bad leadership.
Mike, Apple isn’t “going down a road of planned disposability” – it is creating devices with revolutionary weight and size ratios to power. And the market wants mobility, not the ability to tinker. And truth be known, DIY has been a tiny part of the Mac market since its introduction in 1984.
I also have to strongly disagree with you on the Mac mini and iMac (previous generations). I can’t tell you how many times I have taken a mini apart and installed all kinds of upgrades – including a Fusion Drive. IFixIt gives the current generation mini an 8 out of 10 for repairability, suggesting that your comments here are more about whining than reality.
I have also taken apart iMacs, altho not the current ultra-thin models. They require a tad more skill (typically a 7 out of 10 by IFixIt), but are still a straight forward kitchen table project. The newest ones, well, that is a different story…
It sounds like DIY to you means a huge box with enough room inside to play NBA basketball, and where upgrades are just a plug-in. If so, I suggest you either buy a Mac Pro or join the hackintosh community.
Ralph, your point is well taken. However, i own both MacBooks and Mac Pros. can’t use thunderbolt or USB3 drives with the Mac Pros. Can’t update graphics in any of the machines. Thankfully I can hack the rest, but back in the good old days it was easy for anyone to do. Can anyone explain why a desktop machine needs to be 1/4″ thick at the edge? Me neither. Nobody looks at a desktop machine from the side.