has anyone un linked their fusion drive imac 2012?

[2bcool2]

im interested if anyone has un linked the fusion drive so they have a SSD and a seperate 1gb HDD ?

id like to know if it works fine and if they think its better than having the fusion drive,

thanks :-)

[mindust]

Originally Posted by 2bcool2

im interested if anyone has un linked the fusion drive so they have a SSD and a seperate 1gb HDD ?

id like to know if it works fine and if they think its better than having the fusion drive,

thanks :-)

Lloyd Chambers of macperformanceguide.com did just that and OSX imploded with data corruption across ALL drives. Proceed with caution.

[themcfly]

I unlinked it (obviously before installing ML) and it works perfect. I prefer keep everything under control, i hate the idea that OSX moves my things automatically. Works like a charm.

Here's how i did it:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost...6&postcount=50

[2bcool2]

Originally Posted by themcfly

I unlinked it (obviously before installing ML) and it works perfect. I prefer keep everything under control, i hate the idea that OSX moves my things automatically. Works like a charm.

Here's how i did it:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost...6&postcount=50

thanks im tempted ..... i too like to be able to decide where my data goes,
ie having it as a true ssd machine and turn on hdd when i need it ..

but doing it, can it really make osx implode ?

[JustMartin]

Nice to know that there are so many people out there who can manage block level storage allocation manually more efficiently than MacOS. They must be saving themselves a ton of time

[jmpage2]

Originally Posted by JustMartin

Nice to know that there are so many people out there who can manage block level storage allocation manually more efficiently than MacOS. They must be saving themselves a ton of time

I know, it's kind of funny, isn't it? I mean, core_storage is designed and tested like crazy to make it painless to use the SSD and HD together.... most users will find it a PITA to manually schlepp stuff around between two different storage volumes. Not to mention that there are lots of OS and application files that might NEVER get used (and would be migrated to the HDD by core_storage). You're going to figure out what those are and move them onto the HDD to free up more space for the stuff you actually used?

[Mike in Kansas]

Originally Posted by jmpage2

I know, it's kind of funny, isn't it? I mean, core_storage is designed and tested like crazy to make it painless to use the SSD and HD together.... most users will find it a PITA to manually schlepp stuff around between two different storage volumes. Not to mention that there are lots of OS and application files that might NEVER get used (and would be migrated to the HDD by core_storage). You're going to figure out what those are and move them onto the HDD to free up more space for the stuff you actually used?

I was one of those who was schlepping data back and forth between my internal SSD and external FW800 disk. Decided to "fuse" my internal SSD and external HDD together to make a 2.24TB FusionDrive. Talk about a great user experience! No longer have to worry about where to put stuff or where to find stuff. I find it somewhat ironic that there are those who want to break apart the FD into its base components.

[Aqueous]

Originally Posted by Mike in Kansas

I was one of those who was schlepping data back and forth between my internal SSD and external FW800 disk. Decided to "fuse" my internal SSD and external HDD together to make a 2.24TB FusionDrive. Talk about a great user experience! No longer have to worry about where to put stuff or where to find stuff. I find it somewhat ironic that there are those who want to break apart the FD into its base components.

Dude, that is NUTS to use an external firewire drive for a Fusion volume. I don't know what drives or enclosures you are using, but I have had more than my share of drive crashes - for all sorts of different reasons. I just think you are leaving yourself vulnerable, dare I say, ASKING for trouble with a setup like that. I really hope you have a Bootable BACKUP of the 2.25TB volume! Its just a matter of "when" you will run into trouble with that setup.

Please don't think I'm trying to be offensive or insult, that really isn't my intention. Just making sure you are aware that that setup makes you quite vulnerable...

[brand]

Originally Posted by Aqueous

Its just a matter of "when" you will run into trouble with that setup.

Technically that can be applied to all types of hard drives setups and not just Mike's setup.

[Mike in Kansas]

Originally Posted by Aqueous

Dude, that is NUTS to use an external firewire drive for a Fusion volume. I don't know what drives or enclosures you are using, but I have had more than my share of drive crashes - for all sorts of different reasons. I just think you are leaving yourself vulnerable, dare I say, ASKING for trouble with a setup like that. I really hope you have a Bootable BACKUP of the 2.25TB volume! Its just a matter of "when" you will run into trouble with that setup.

Please don't think I'm trying to be offensive or insult, that really isn't my intention. Just making sure you are aware that that setup makes you quite vulnerable...

No offense taken, and appreciate the concern. Besides, you can say the same thing for internal drives as well; there's nothing special about them that makes them any less susceptible to failure.

I have two bootable clones of the FD setup (alternate weekly) and a TM backup. If my FD setup dies, all I do is slap a clone drive into my Voyager external dock, boot off of it and there I go. It's saved me a couple of times already.

Historically I've had better luck with longevity in my FW volumes than my internal HDDs over the almost 5 years that I've owned my iMac. Ditto for the various Dell desktops I've had - internal drives have died on both while the externals have run fine. May be a cooling issue, I don't know.

To be honest, I don't see the difference between having all of my data files on an external drive like in a conventional set up, or having my external drive as part of a Fusion setup. As a matter of fact, losing my data files would be more devestating than losing my OS drive - I can always re-download the OS and most of my programs/apps, but the data is irrecoverable if lost (assuming no backup). My data is much more precious than my OS or apps, yet folks routinely hang their data off of a FW or USB drive.

To each his own, eh?

[Aqueous]

Originally Posted by Mike in Kansas

No offense taken, and appreciate the concern. Besides, you can say the same thing for internal drives as well; there's nothing special about them that makes them any less susceptible to failure.

I have two bootable clones of the FD setup (alternate weekly) and a TM backup. If my FD setup dies, all I do is slap a clone drive into my Voyager external dock, boot off of it and there I go. It's saved me a couple of times already.

Historically I've had better luck with longevity in my FW volumes than my internal HDDs over the almost 5 years that I've owned my iMac. Ditto for the various Dell desktops I've had - internal drives have died on both while the externals have run fine. May be a cooling issue, I don't know.

To be honest, I don't see the difference between having all of my data files on an external drive like in a conventional set up, or having my external drive as part of a Fusion setup. As a matter of fact, losing my data files would be more devestating than losing my OS drive - I can always re-download the OS and most of my programs/apps, but the data is irrecoverable if lost (assuming no backup). My data is much more precious than my OS or apps, yet folks routinely hang their data off of a FW or USB drive.

To each his own, eh?

Wow, that has just not been my experience with external drives of any connectivity. My internals have always been ROCK SOLID. Its always been the externals (lacie firwires especially) that have had issues. I often could resolve the issues with tech tools, disk utility, disk warrior, but if it were my boot volume, no bueno... In fact, I just bought a 2012 MacMini i7 fusion & TB display and the Fusion Drive "Broke". Somehow it fragmented, and when I would try to boot it up, I would get the circle with slash on grey screen. I returned it since it was only 3 weeks old and bought the 27 iMac. I almost didn't get the fusion drive again because of what had happened. Apparently, I'm the only one who's ever had a Fusion Drive failure (yet). That's why your setup freaks me out! lol

I hope it works flawlessly for you for ever. I'll be sticking to my internal Fusion and a synchronizeprox bootable backup on lacie TB external.

btw, I keep all of my important files on external discs too. Its just the OS and itunes on my Fusion drive. But it takes me like a week and ahalf to get everything installed, preferences, plugins, etc... what a pita! I have 40+ drives that all of my working files are stored on that I use in my two 5 Bay Burly Enclosures. Two copies of each drive!

[Stetrain]

Originally Posted by 2bcool2

thanks im tempted ..... i too like to be able to decide where my data goes,
ie having it as a true ssd machine and turn on hdd when i need it ..

but doing it, can it really make osx implode or is that bollocks ?

It should be fine if you unlink the drives and then do a fresh install of OSX.

Unlinking the drives will probably corrupt whatever is on them (including any existing install of OSX) so be prepared to do a clean install afterwards, and have all of your data backed up.