DIY Fusion possible?

crotach said:

I mean it's just the old Intel SRT behind the scenes, but I don't know if Mac Mini has a BIOS where you can turn it on and configure it.

Click to expand...

No, its not, its an Apple-own tiered storage solution, nothing to do with Intel's caching. Most likely, you'll have to partition the drives in a particular way + edit some of the plists. It is also currently unknown how much of the implementation resides within the firmware (it has to be, at least partially), and how much within the OS itself.

my guess is yes you can but that you will need 2 mac mini's to do it. one with fusion and a second to attempt to copy it.


it is entirely possible that the 2 drives on a fusion machine have special firmware although the claim is the trick is in the utility program. if the deal is done with the drives having a marker it will be hard to do.

I'm sure there's a way to do it, just give it some time. I'm sure somebody will come up with a hack "Fusion enabler" script or something. But you can bet it will not be supported by Apple.

CausticPuppy said:

I'm sure there's a way to do it, just give it some time. I'm sure somebody will come up with a hack "Fusion enabler" script or something. But you can bet it will not be supported by Apple.

Click to expand...

this.

and btw if you could do this with a 512gbssd and a 1tb hdd it would be very nice

Plausible

See: http://www.petralli.net/2012/10/ana...macs-with-an-ssd-and-a-traditional-hard-disk/

Can someone confirm this is working??

It's not Intel's SRT.

The new hardware comes with a new version of Disk Utility (and ostensibly, Core Storage) that supports Fusion Drive.

Similar to the kernel hack that turned on TRIM support for non-Apple drives.

Gosephe said:

See: http://www.petralli.net/2012/10/ana...macs-with-an-ssd-and-a-traditional-hard-disk/

Can someone confirm this is working??

Click to expand...

I'm the author of the above link. There's this guy jollyjinx on tumbler that did some nice benchmarking and found that this does indeed seem to behave like a real Fusion Drive. Worth reading, lots of details on how Fusion Drive seems to work under the hood: http://jollyjinx.tumblr.com/post/34638496292/fusion-drive-on-older-macs-yes-since-apple-has

I can confirm it is working on my 2012 base mac mini.

andy1979 said:

There's this guy jollyjinx on tumbler that did some nice benchmarking and found that this does indeed seem to behave like a real Fusion Drive.

Click to expand...

FWIW this is also being discussed on the front page https://www.macrumors.com/2012/10/31/apples-new-fusion-drive-works-on-older-macs/

B

I am so ordering a 128GB SSD for my new mini

I believe its also working for me.



2.3mini with stock 1tb + Samsung 256gb 830

edit:



geekbench of 10379

I didnt score so hot on the memory, I'm running 8gb kingston + 2gb stock, I'm going to pull the 2gb and see what happens

KyleAwesome said:

I didnt score so hot on the memory, I'm running 8gb kingston + 2gb stock, I'm going to pull the 2gb and see what happens

Click to expand...

Did you test memory without 2gb stock RAM?

crotach said:

Hi folks,

I'm looking to get the new iMac mini and I was wondering if anyone knows whether it's possible to add an SSD yourself and enable the "Apple Fusion" ?

I mean it's just the old Intel SRT behind the scenes, but I don't know if Mac Mini has a BIOS where you can turn it on and configure it.

Also I'm not sure if Apple use an mSATA or SATA drive for the SSD in the Fusion.

If anyone's done it already I'd love to hear about it!

Click to expand...

Don't bother

Go SSD and second drive

http://macperformanceguide.com/macmini2012-dual-drives-vs-fusion.html

What I am wondering is - How do I "break" a Fusion drive into two separate drives (like the 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD)? For example if I want to replace the small SSD by a larger one at any point in the future, or if I simply want to use both drives as normal ones.

I always only read how to enable Fusion Drive in Terminal, not how to disable it.

stellan0r said:

What I am wondering is - How do I "break" a Fusion drive into two separate drives (like the 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD)? For example if I want to replace the small SSD by a larger one at any point in the future, or if I simply want to use both drives as normal ones.

I always only read how to enable Fusion Drive in Terminal, not how to disable it.

Click to expand...

One way i found and used (but deletes all of your data) is:
First in Terminal you type:diskutil cs list
and you can see the Logical Volume Group ID lets say
Logical Volume Group 88D531FA-3F12-4D79-8DEC-ED40E89473F9
then you type in terminal:diskutil cs delete Volume Group ID
where Volume Group ID=88D531FA-3F12-4D79-8DEC-ED40E89473F9 in my example so you type:
diskutil cs delete 88D531FA-3F12-4D79-8DEC-ED40E89473F9
There is another way with the command revert which is non-destructive..
See more here http://blog.fosketts.net/2011/08/05/undocumented-corestorage-commands/

thanks!

crotach said:

Hi folks,

I'm looking to get the new iMac mini and I was wondering if anyone knows whether it's possible to add an SSD yourself and enable the "Apple Fusion" ?

I mean it's just the old Intel SRT behind the scenes, but I don't know if Mac Mini has a BIOS where you can turn it on and configure it.

Also I'm not sure if Apple use an mSATA or SATA drive for the SSD in the Fusion.

If anyone's done it already I'd love to hear about it!

Click to expand...

iMac mini? Not tryin' to nitpick, but maybe Apple could do something with that.

Go back a few days on MacRumors and there's an article all about it, linking to someone else who did it and posted all sorts of guides and info on it. It's basically command line trickery that employs "Core Volume" a logical volume technology introduced in OS X 10.7 but remained dormant until OS X 10.8.2.

You'd need to reformat both drives in the process, and using no earlier than a 10.8.2 system/recovery drive/DVD/installer is a must. But it's totally doable and apparently not all that hard or complicated.

Here's a video that goes over the process:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_odnNpv-FQ

KyleAwesome said:

I believe its also working for me.

Image

2.3mini with stock 1tb + Samsung 256gb 830

edit:

Image

geekbench of 10379

I didnt score so hot on the memory, I'm running 8gb kingston + 2gb stock, I'm going to pull the 2gb and see what happens

Click to expand...

So you ordered the stock Mac Mini with 1TB spinning drive, opened it up and put in your own SSD. Did you need a special adapter cable to attach it? If so where'd you get it? Link me please? I'm super interested in doing this myself to save money, but want to know all the pitfalls before I jump in with both feet. I was looking at the Ars tech write up about the Fusion Drive and saw their tear down, and the dongle piece that attaches the SSD worries me. Thanks!