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Has anyone tried BootCamp and Windows on the Fusion drive yet?

Spoiled

Spoiled

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 7, 2012
41
0
Has anyone tried BootCamp and Windows on the Fusion drive yet? Would be interesting to know if and how well it works.
 
hfg

hfg

macrumors 68040
Dec 1, 2006
3,621
312
Cedar Rapids, IA. USA
Spoiled said:
Has anyone tried BootCamp and Windows on the Fusion drive yet? Would be interesting to know if and how well it works.
Click to expand...

I don't think anyone has received a 2012 iMac with the Fusion option, perhaps later this week.


However, as to your question:
I have on a DIY Fusion. Twice ... but in different ways.

On a late 2011 MacBook Pro I created a standard "Fusion" drive with a 256GB SSD and a 750GB hard disk (oem). I then created a BootCamp partition and installed Windows. As Apple documents state, you can create a single BootCamp partition on a Fusion drive, and it will be created on the hard disk. Windows then boots and runs just like it did when the MBPro had only a hard disk ... at hard disk speeds (and the original disk is a 7200rpm drive. Fusion is only active when running under OS X, so it will offer no speed benefit to a BootCamp Windows experience. Fusion will enhance a virtual machine (Parallels, VMware, etc.) windows since it is running under OS X.

On a 2011 Mac Mini I had already upgraded with a 240GB SSD and 500GB hard disk. I had installed Windows using BootCamp on a partition of the SSD for speed. When I created the "Fusion" drive, I converted and joined only the OS X partition of the SSD with the entire hard disk, and reloaded the OS X system from backup. Both operating systems work fine, and fast, and I can switch between them in the normal fashions.

Unfortunately, at this time the iMac Fusion options only allow for a 128GB SSD which is too small to subdivide into a Windows Partition. Hopefully 3rd party upgrades will become available soon, or Apple might offer more optional configurations for storage in the future.


-howard
 
Last edited:
K

kreizboi

macrumors newbie
Nov 16, 2012
3
0
hfg said:
I don't think anyone has received a 2012 iMac with the Fusion option, perhaps later this week.


However, as to your question:
I have on a DIY Fusion. Twice ... but in different ways.

On a late 2011 MacBook Pro I created a standard "Fusion" drive with a 256GB SSD and a 750GB hard disk (oem). I then created a BootCamp partition and installed Windows. As Apple documents state, you can create a single BootCamp partition on a Fusion drive, and it will be created on the hard disk. Windows then boots and runs just like it did when the MBPro had only a hard disk ... at hard disk speeds (and the original disk is a 7200rpm drive. Fusion is only active when running under OS X, so it will offer no speed benefit to a BootCamp Windows experience. Fusion will enhance a virtual machine (Parallels, VMware, etc.) windows since it is running under OS X.

On a 2011 Mac Mini I had already upgraded with a 240GB SSD and 500GB hard disk. I had installed Windows using BootCamp on a partition of the SSD for speed. When I created the "Fusion" drive, I converted and joined only the OS X partition of the SSD with the entire hard disk, and reloaded the OS X system from backup. Both operating systems work fine, and fast, and I can switch between them in the normal fashions.

Unfortunately, at this time the iMac Fusion options only allow for a 128GB SSD which is too small to subdivide into a Windows Partition. Hopefully 3rd party upgrades will become available soon, or Apple might offer more optional configurations for storage in the future.


-howard
Click to expand...

Is you Windows copy a legit copy? Mine isn't and I am not able to install Windows 7 to Bootcamp with your first scenario setup. I am using a DVD to install Windows, but it hung when at "Hit any key to boot in DVD...". This was on the third time it rebooted before it decided to stall. Meaning it did its reboot for installation process and that it got thru the "Hit any key....." and continued the installation. But on the third time it rebooted, it just stayed there. I am wondering if it knows my copy of Windows is not legit or something.
 
hfg

hfg

macrumors 68040
Dec 1, 2006
3,621
312
Cedar Rapids, IA. USA
kreizboi said:
Is you Windows copy a legit copy? Mine isn't and I am not able to install Windows 7 to Bootcamp with your first scenario setup. I am using a DVD to install Windows, but it hung when at "Hit any key to boot in DVD...". This was on the third time it rebooted before it decided to stall. Meaning it did its reboot for installation process and that it got thru the "Hit any key....." and continued the installation. But on the third time it rebooted, it just stayed there. I am wondering if it knows my copy of Windows is not legit or something.
Click to expand...

Yes, my Windows 7 and Windows 8 are purchased retail versions, Windows 8 via a download from Microsoft web store. Depending on where you obtained your Windows image, it may be damaged or have malware on it. If you have a valid image, Windows will install and run for awhile (3 days?) for testing before you have to actually activate it with the disk key, at which time the authenticity will be determined.
 
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