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xgman

macrumors 603
Aug 6, 2007
5,672
1,378
You can partition a Fusion Drive. The limitation is only one partition and it must be on the HDD.

I have read reports of people booting Windows using external drives and Winclone. Boot Camp will not install on an external, so getting the windows image on the external would be the trick.

I guess it depends on the image. I've found some win images need a quick repair from DVD to fix the Master Boot Record or such and that probably won't work on a TB drive. I'm going to try do do without bootcamp and just rely on Vmware for now.
 

Mac32

Suspended
Nov 20, 2010
1,263
454
The whole fusion drive thing is giving me a headache, but what about this:

Install Windows 7 on your 3tb fusion drive iMac without bootcamp (thus deleting your OSX). Windows 7 64 bit can use 3tb Hd, if the harddrive is formatted as GPT. The unknown factor here is will Windows 7 find the fusion drive, or does it need special driver support?

Then install all drivers, including for your mac hardware (this is possible?). Then clone the Windows 7 partition to an external thunderbolt SSD.
Then start your iMac from the external SSD, and install OSX again on your internal fusion drive?
 

xgman

macrumors 603
Aug 6, 2007
5,672
1,378
The whole fusion drive thing is giving me a headache, but what about this:

Install Windows 7 on your 3tb fusion drive iMac without bootcamp (thus deleting your OSX). Windows 7 64 bit can use 3tb Hd, if the harddrive is formatted as GPT. The unknown factor here is will Windows 7 find the fusion drive, or does it need special driver support?

Then install all drivers, including for your mac hardware (this is possible?). Then clone the Windows 7 partition to an external thunderbolt SSD.
Then start your iMac from the external SSD, and install OSX again on your internal fusion drive?

That might work, but can you imagine all these hoops we have to jump through. What year is this going to be, 1995? :rolleyes:
 

MatthewAMEL

macrumors 6502
Oct 23, 2007
380
13
Orlando, FL
The whole fusion drive thing is giving me a headache, but what about this:

Install Windows 7 on your 3tb fusion drive iMac without bootcamp (thus deleting your OSX). Windows 7 64 bit can use 3tb Hd, if the harddrive is formatted as GPT. The unknown factor here is will Windows 7 find the fusion drive, or does it need special driver support?

Then install all drivers, including for your mac hardware (this is possible?). Then clone the Windows 7 partition to an external thunderbolt SSD.
Then start your iMac from the external SSD, and install OSX again on your internal fusion drive?

Windows 7 will not see the Fusion Drive. FD is a function of CoreStorage. There is no CoreStorage support in Windows.

Windows WILL see the separate physical drives, but has no idea they are fused together.
 

Mac32

Suspended
Nov 20, 2010
1,263
454
Yeah, "might" is the operative word. I would prefer to go for the 3tb fusion drive, but there's a lot of unknowns here. One would assume that one would find a way to do this, but with Apple you never know..

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Windows 7 will not see the Fusion Drive. FD is a function of CoreStorage. There is no CoreStorage support in Windows.

Windows WILL see the separate physical drives, but has no idea they are fused together.

Apple has confirmed that bootcamp with the 1tb fusion drive will work. (However we're being forced to run Windows 7 and games from a slow 5400rpm HD in 2012/13, which is just plain retarded.)
 
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MatthewAMEL

macrumors 6502
Oct 23, 2007
380
13
Orlando, FL
Yes, Boot Camp works fine with Fusion Drives. I have a DIY Fusion Drive in my 13" MBP (240GB SSD + 500GB HDD) with Win7 installed.

You just have to use the version of Boot Camp Assistant that comes with the new Mini's (and soon, iMacs).
 

Mac32

Suspended
Nov 20, 2010
1,263
454
It took me about 10 seconds after having seen fusion drive launched to figure out that it's complete sh?t for any serious user who's got the brains to setup their system himself. This is just OS X Lion concepts like Autosave and Versions in a hardware version. :(
However, I took it for granted that the users could choose between a fusion and non-fusion system (with an SSD option that doesn't cost a fortune). Obviously not... This is sooo backwards.
 
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barrett14

macrumors regular
Jun 24, 2010
183
44
I just called and spoke with Apple Techs support and the guy assured me that you CAN use bootcamp with the 3TB fusion drive?
 

Mac32

Suspended
Nov 20, 2010
1,263
454
I think I got it..

Can you disable the fusion drive?
If so, you disable the fusion drive. Use bootcamp to install windows 7 into the SSD. Then you clone the Windows 7 partiton at a later time to an external SSD (thunderbolt preferably), and just delete the internal win7 partition and reactivate the fusion drive.
Could this work?
 

reflekshun

macrumors member
Sep 3, 2010
32
0
Not unless there is an unannounced update to Boot Camp Assistant.

>2.2TB WILL NOT work with Boot Camp.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5446


Wow I'm very very curious if there is an update planned for the new imac release.. I highly doubt it though, or they would not have advertised on the imac page that bootcamp can't run on the 3TB options..

My big question is - when roughly is the bootcamp update to allow 2.2GB+ drives planned?
 

MatthewAMEL

macrumors 6502
Oct 23, 2007
380
13
Orlando, FL
If you know that you want to use your iMac with Boot Camp AND you know you are going to want more space your solution is simple.

Order the 27" iMac with the 768GB SSD.

Order a 3TB USB3/TB external.

Install Boot Camp on the internal SSD (500/200 split).

Use external for Mac/Windows programs/files that exceed the SSD. USB3 externals are getting ~150MB/sec. You won't notice in CoD3 or Skyrim.

Why all the wailing and gnashing of teeth?
 

reflekshun

macrumors member
Sep 3, 2010
32
0
If you know that you want to use your iMac with Boot Camp AND you know you are going to want more space your solution is simple.

Order the 27" iMac with the 768GB SSD.

Order a 3TB USB3/TB external.

Install Boot Camp on the internal SSD (500/200 split).

Use external for Mac/Windows programs/files that exceed the SSD. USB3 externals are getting ~150MB/sec. You won't notice in CoD3 or Skyrim.

Why all the wailing and gnashing of teeth?

768GB is going to be a $1200 upgrade.. not in everyones budget!
 

TRAV9614

macrumors regular
Aug 27, 2012
184
0
Source? The same upgrade in the rMBP is $460.

NO. That is the price you have to pay to upgrade from the 512GB SSD to the 768GB SSD. If you factor in all the money it takes to upgrade the SSD from a 256GB to a 768GB on the rMBP it is $1000. The price of the 256GB SSD its self is $200-$300. So the total price of the rMBP ssd is about $1200-$1300. That is why the iMac 768GB SSD option is $1300.
 

Mac32

Suspended
Nov 20, 2010
1,263
454
I just called and spoke with Apple Techs support and the guy assured me that you CAN use bootcamp with the 3TB fusion drive?

That sounds wrong. I also called a Apple support, and they told me there is no way to deactivate the fusion drive. My gut feeling tells me that this should work, by using the right commands in the terminal or whatever, but if I do order the 3tb iMac, and there actually is no way to disable the fusion drive function, you're pretty much stuck without windows 7/boot camp. The problem with Apple support, that you can't be sure the person you're talking to actually have research this topic properly, and will only give you the "official" Apple line.

Argh, you have to hand it to Apple to create an artificial limitiation and a huge headache out of something that should never have been an issue in the first place.

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768GB is going to be a $1200 upgrade.. not in everyones budget!

Yes, absolutely ridiculous. Why not offer a 512gb SSD option only. Less heat (than HD+SDD setup), and a much quicker Windows partition. 512gb is more than enough, just put movies, music etc. on external HDs..
 
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reflekshun

macrumors member
Sep 3, 2010
32
0
That sounds wrong. I also called a Apple support, and they told me there is no way to deactivate the fusion drive. My gut feeling tells me that this should work, by using the right commands in the terminal or whatever, but if I do order the 3tb iMac, and there actually is no way to disable the fusion drive function, you're pretty much stuck without windows 7/boot camp. The problem with Apple support, that you can't be sure the person you're talking to actually have research this topic properly, and will only give you the "official" Apple line.

Argh, you have to hand it to Apple to create an artificial limitiation and a huge headache out of something that should never have been an issue in the first place.

Fusion drive is not the reason bootcamp will not work on a 3TB HDD. Bootcamp can currently not install Windows on a 3TB drive no matter how it is partitiioned. Its the drive size, not the partition or the fact that its part of a fusion drive.
 

kaelell

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 16, 2009
346
0
Fusion drive is not the reason bootcamp will not work on a 3TB HDD. Bootcamp can currently not install Windows on a 3TB drive no matter how it is partitiioned. Its the drive size, not the partition or the fact that its part of a fusion drive.

i believe his fusion drive comment was in relation to an earlier suggestion of disabling fusion/partitioning as a smaller then 2GB hard drive with Bootcamp & cloning.... etc
 

iMacDonaldPro

macrumors newbie
Dec 6, 2012
1
0
The perfect solution Apple should have come up with is giving us the option to go with a 2TB fusion drive! PROBLEM SOLVED and costs less money!
 
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