Deciding between 1TB and 3TB Fusion (Boot Camp Support)

[pete78]

Hi all,

So I am ready to order my iMac (btw, this will be my first iMac after owning PCs for years). The only thing holding me back is deciding between the 1TB or 3TB Fusion drive.

I love the idea of having more internal storage, which the 3TB offers, but I don't like the idea of not being able to use Boot Camp (if I need to). Right now, all I can see needing Windows for is running Office for work, and perhaps doing some work remotely via Citrix and the like (again, or work). From what I understand, a virtualization software like Parallels would work well for my purposes, but what if I needed to do more in Windows in the future? I just can't predict right now (especially since I intend on keeping the iMac for at least 3 years), but I wouldn't want to be stuck. In any event, for sure, I will not be gaming on the iMac.

No one really knows for sure if Apple is ever going to support Boot Camp for the 3TB drive. I asked Apple support and they couldn't provide an answer.

I could go the 1TB route, and have the flexibility of Boot Camp (if needed), but then I would need to rely on external drives sooner than I would with the 3TB.

What would you do if you were me? Can I assume Apple will support Boot Camp for the 3TB?

Thanks!

[Macman45]

I can't answer the Bootcamp question as it's not something I've ever wanted to do, but I went for the 3TB Fusion on my upgrade as there should in theory be more space for frequently used apps to populate the SSD side of the drive.

I use a lot of intensive applications, often in multitask mode. I'd say you could probably save a few $$ if you don't plan on doing a lot of intensive stuff. You might find that the 3TB supports Bootcamp out of the box, but Apple are unlikely to shout about it.

[vladfein]

Originally Posted by Macman45

I went for the 3TB Fusion on my upgrade as there should in theory be more space for frequently used apps to populate the SSD side of the drive.

Are you saying that SSD is larger than 128GB on the 3TB fusion?

[torana355]

The 3TB fusion has another big plus side that not many people are aware of, the 1TB fusion comes with a slow WD blue HDD where the 3TB fusion comes with the Seagate 7200.14, this is by far the fastest HDD on the market with over 200MB/s transfer speeds. This really helps to make the fusion drive seem like an all SSD mac. Im glad i got the 3TB version now that ive used it for 2 days, if Apple do bring out a patch to support bootcamp with it then i will be really cheering.

[pete78]

Originally Posted by torana355

The 3TB fusion has another big plus side that not many people are aware of, the 1TB fusion comes with a slow WD blue HDD where the 3TB fusion comes with the Seagate 7200.14, this is by far the fastest HDD on the market with over 200MB/s transfer speeds. This really helps to make the fusion drive seem like an all SSD mac. Im glad i got the 3TB version now that ive used it for 2 days, if Apple do bring out a patch to support bootcamp with it then i will be really cheering.

I didn't know that, that's interesting. I thought the 1TB and 3TB Fusion drives had the same kind of HDD (except for the size of course). Is this documented somewhere? Thanks.

[torana355]

Originally Posted by pete78

I didn't know that, that's interesting. I thought the 1TB and 3TB Fusion drives had the same kind of HDD (except for the size of course). Is this documented somewhere? Thanks.

Its not documented but so far it seems all the people with the 1TB fusion have has the WD blue drive in them and all the 3TB have has the seagate, Apple may use other drives aswell but so far ive only seen these two used.

Edit: Scrap that idea there are 1TB fusion iMacs with the 1TB version of the seagate aswell.

[drewaz]

Office for Mac integrates well with the PC version, and I use Citrix on a Mac to log into my work system without any problems.

[TweakOnline]

Originally Posted by torana355

Its not documented but so far it seems all the people with the 1TB fusion have has the WD blue drive in them and all the 3TB have has the seagate, Apple may use other drives aswell but so far ive only seen these two used.

Wow, I didn't know that.

But could you post picture's of the 200Mb's write speed?

[harlex]

I have ordered the 27" with the 3tb fusion. I can't see why it won't accept bootcamp as bootcamp is a programme within the operating system and the fusion is only an hdd with a stack of ram to make it faster. You can also use Parallels. I need windows also as it is the only platform my editing system will work on.
Buy with confidence.

[torana355]

Originally Posted by TweakOnline

Wow, I didn't know that.

But could you post picture's of the 200Mb's write speed?

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...leashed-6.html

----------

Originally Posted by harlex

I have ordered the 27" with the 3tb fusion. I can't see why it won't accept bootcamp as bootcamp is a programme within the operating system and the fusion is only an hdd with a stack of ram to make it faster. You can also use Parallels. I need windows also as it is the only platform my editing system will work on.
Buy with confidence.

Bootcamp does not work due to the 2.2TB limit that Windows has under MBR. There are ways around it if you are confident using the terminal.

[jido]

See this:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost...1&postcount=26

And this:
http://www.twocanoes.com/support/win...0.7)-and-later

And this:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthre...8#post16462448

[TweakOnline]

Originally Posted by torana355

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...leashed-6.html

WOW, kidding me!?

[torana355]

Originally Posted by TweakOnline

WOW, kidding me!?

Yep check out the conclusion:

"We admittedly had some high expectations for this new hard drive and boy did Seagate deliver throughout our testing. One word comes to mind: domination. In many benchmarks it was light years ahead of the competition, routinely handing embarrassing defeats to Western Digital Blacks and previous generation Barracudas alike. This really is a genre defining product and could usher in a new dawn for spindle-based storage if Seagate sees fit to cascade 1TB platter technology down into lower price points. "

[FuriousGreg]

What kind of drive is the regular 1TB on the 27"?

[jido]

Originally Posted by FuriousGreg

What kind of drive is the regular 1TB on the 27"?

It probably varies. R.OG got a WD blue with 32MB cache.

[TweakOnline]

Originally Posted by torana355

Yep check out the conclusion:

"We admittedly had some high expectations for this new hard drive and boy did Seagate deliver throughout our testing. One word comes to mind: domination. In many benchmarks it was light years ahead of the competition, routinely handing embarrassing defeats to Western Digital Blacks and previous generation Barracudas alike. This really is a genre defining product and could usher in a new dawn for spindle-based storage if Seagate sees fit to cascade 1TB platter technology down into lower price points. "

Jesus christ, this hdd is crazy fast!
Can't wait to get my hands on my 27'' iMac!

[FuriousGreg]

Originally Posted by jido

It probably varies. R.OG got a WD blue with 32MB cache.

How does the WD Blue rate?

[Hexley]

I hope my 1tb fusion drive is a seagate. Makes me wish I got a 3tb fusion drive if it is a seagate.

Originally Posted by torana355

Its not documented but so far it seems all the people with the 1TB fusion have has the WD blue drive in them and all the 3TB have has the seagate, Apple may use other drives aswell but so far ive only seen these two used.

Edit: Scrap that idea there are 1TB fusion iMacs with the 1TB version of the seagate aswell.

[Westacular]

Originally Posted by pete78

I love the idea of having more internal storage, which the 3TB offers, but I don't like the idea of not being able to use Boot Camp (if I need to). Right now, all I can see needing Windows for is running Office for work, and perhaps doing some work remotely via Citrix and the like (again, or work). From what I understand, a virtualization software like Parallels would work well for my purposes, but what if I needed to do more in Windows in the future? I just can't predict right now (especially since I intend on keeping the iMac for at least 3 years), but I wouldn't want to be stuck. In any event, for sure, I will not be gaming on the iMac.

Dual-booting is a pain, in my experience. If you're not using Windows for gaming or heavy-weight pro apps, the performance of Parallels or VMWare should be fine -- and not needing to shut down and restart into Windows just to do one task there is a huge advantage for virtualization. In your situation, I'd go for the 3TB. (I did, even though I might be tempted to play games in Windows at some point.) Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and Apple will make the updates to Boot Camp needed to support booting Windows on 3TB hard drives, and have the best of both worlds.