New iMac 27" (late 2012) and system reinstall

[VortexMK]

I ordered my new iMac 27" (Late 2012) a week ago and I have a few questions about system reinstall because I'm new in Mac world and I have used PC and Windows for many years.

I ordered 1TB Fusion Drive instead of ordinary 1TB HDD. I suppose Mac OS X sees Fusion Drive as one drive...? What happens if system reinstall is needed???

If it is all one drive I suppose, during reinstall, the whole drive will be erased and new system will be installed... Am I right? That means I loose all my data on my Fusion drive?!

On PC (using Windows) I had one partition on my HDD on which the system was installed and on other partition was data. When I needed to reinstall the system I formatted Windows partition and installed new system, but all data on other (data) partition was untouched.

What happens in case of Fusion drive? Can I make partitions and if I can how can I make two partitions (SDD and HDD)? Is it possible?

[vodouman]

Originally Posted by VortexMK

I ordered my new iMac 27" (Late 2012) a week ago and I have a few questions about system reinstall because I'm new in Mac world and I have used PC and Windows for many years.

I ordered 1TB Fusion Drive instead of ordinary 1TB HDD. I suppose Mac OS X sees Fusion Drive as one drive...? What happens if system reinstall is needed???

If it is all one drive I suppose, during reinstall, the whole drive will be erased and new system will be installed... Am I right? That means I loose all my data on my Fusion drive?!

On PC (using Windows) I had one partition on my HDD on which the system was installed and on other partition was data. When I needed to reinstall the system I formatted Windows partition and installed new system, but all data on other (data) partition was untouched.

What happens in case of Fusion drive? Can I make partitions and if I can how can I make two partitions (SDD and HDD)? Is it possible?

If you need to format your Fusion Drive then you can do so through the Disk Utility application in OS X. In Disk Utility the Fusion Drive is always listed at 1 drive rather than the 1TB HDD and 128GB SSD separately - this is always the case even when formatting.

You can use Disk Utility to make partitions on your drive, even after the operating system has been installed without damage to your current partition (ALWAYS back up, just in case). When you create a new partition using Disk Utility it will be created on the HDD section of the Fusion Drive, it is not possible to create partitions on the SSD.

When OS X is installed a Recovery partition is created by default so you will have a partition to boot into if something goes wrong.

Any more questions. Please ask.

- Vodouman

[jmcgeejr]

Originally Posted by vodouman

If you need to format your Fusion Drive then you can do so through the Disk Utility application in OS X. In Disk Utility the Fusion Drive is always listed at 1 drive rather than the 1TB HDD and 128GB SSD separately - this is always the case even when formatting.

You can use Disk Utility to make partitions on your drive, even after the operating system has been installed without damage to your current partition (ALWAYS back up, just in case). When you create a new partition using Disk Utility it will be created on the HDD section of the Fusion Drive, it is not possible to create partitions on the SSD.

When OS X is installed a Recovery partition is created by default so you will have a partition to boot into if something goes wrong.

Any more questions. Please ask.

- Vodouman

Dont forget Time Machine, spend the $50 and get a cheap usb external hdd and always have it hooked up. When I switched from windows to mac 3 years ago the biggest thing that amazed me was Time Machine, it's what every backup should be. Seemless and effortless. Even using it to migrate to a new mac.

[VortexMK]

Thank You both for reply!

@vodouman What more things I need when I enter the recovery partition? I suppose I need to have somewhere the image of the system...

[Knuckleheadz]

you can only create one additional partition on a FusionDrive - either a Mac or Windows one..

After that is created the Disk Utility option to add more is greyed out.

This is a restriction of a FusionDrive

[VortexMK]

OK! Thank You!

[drkmnx]

Originally Posted by Knuckleheadz

you can only create one additional partition on a FusionDrive - either a Mac or Windows one..

After that is created the Disk Utility option to add more is greyed out.

This is a restriction of a FusionDrive

hey !

how about after format fusion drive ? still is greyed out or you can add one additional partition again ?

[Knuckleheadz]

even after formatting unfortunately.