Fusion Drive work under Windows OS

[karnashuk]

Hi all,

I've already tried to get an answer for this question for some time now. No one have responded (I've tried through youtube comments section or PM-ing users)

Anyways.. my question is:

How does Fusion Drive work under Windows OS (Win7, 8). Does it use ssd for OS daily work or a HDD ? This is crucial. Will games run using SSD?

I have a plan to buy the new iMac 27'' model, I need to know this before I decide to go with Fusion Drive.

Beside that, what is your opinion on the new Fusion Drive? Does it work good for you?

BR,
Karnashuk

[leman]

Originally Posted by karnashuk

Hi all,

How does Fusion Drive work under Windows OS (Win7, 8). Does it use ssd for OS daily work or a HDD ? This is crucial. Will games run using SSD?

Fusion Drive is managed by a low-level driver of OS X and Windows won't be able to access it at all. The Windows partition on a Mac with a Fusion drive will use a separate HDD partition, Windows won't touch the SSD.

[AndiS.]

Originally Posted by karnashuk

Hi all,

I've already tried to get an answer for this question for some time now. No one have responded (I've tried through youtube comments section or PM-ing users)

Anyways.. my question is:

How does Fusion Drive work under Windows OS (Win7, 8). Does it use ssd for OS daily work or a HDD ? This is crucial. Will games run using SSD?

I have a plan to buy the new iMac 27'' model, I need to know this before I decide to go with Fusion Drive.

Beside that, what is your opinion on the new Fusion Drive? Does it work good for you?

BR,
Karnashuk

I love the Fusion Drive, but I don't miss the ssd part in Windows much, since I only use the partition for gaming. Games run great and I've read a couple of times that an SSD won't make a difference in-game.

[James Craner]

As others have said, the Windows Bootcamp Partition created on the 1TB Fusion Drive can only currently be located on the Hard Disk not the SSD.

Also note that the 3TB Fusion drive does not currently support Bootcamp at all.

Link to Apple support article.

If you use a VM (Virtual Machine) like Parallels , then the SSD will be utilised, however most 3D game performance is pretty bad running under a VM, compared with Bootcamp.

[karnashuk]

Originally Posted by AndiS.

Games run great and I've read a couple of times that an SSD won't make a difference in-game.

It's not about performance.. I've used HDDs for years now, when I finally got my first SSD I don't see a point of turning back, it's not only the speed but silent work

Thank you guys, I was pretty sure it's messed up in Windows. Beside that, I'm so mad at Apple that the only option of having SSD as the only drive in an iMac is a super-expensive 768 GB version. Geez!

Cheers guys

[THOPMedia]

Ok, so we know that:
1. Windows won't use fusion, only a partition on the spinny disk and
2. The 3TB drive won't support boot camp at all.

But what about this: if you replace the spinny disk part of your fusion drive with an ssd will
1. Boot camp work at all?
2. The windows partition operate at SSD speeds for gaming and such?

[James Craner]

Originally Posted by THOPMedia

Ok, so we know that:
1. Windows won't use fusion, only a partition on the spinny disk and
2. The 3TB drive won't support boot camp at all.

But what about this: if you replace the spinny disk part of your fusion drive with an ssd will
1. Boot camp work at all?
2. The windows partition operate at SSD speeds for gaming and such?

it's a bit academic really as the new iMac's are very difficult to get into. You will need a heat gun, suction cups and guitar picks to get into it as the display is glued to the frame. You will then need to replace the foam adhesive to put it back together. Not sure you would want to do it and risk your warranty.

Also Apple have a habit of putting temperature sensors on the iMac hard disk, and if you try to replace them with non apple hard disks then the cooling fans switch to max speed. Not sure if the new 2012 models have these types of hard disk though.

[qamaro]

Originally Posted by THOPMedia

Ok, so we know that:
1. Windows won't use fusion, only a partition on the spinny disk and
2. The 3TB drive won't support boot camp at all.

But what about this: if you replace the spinny disk part of your fusion drive with an ssd will
1. Boot camp work at all?
2. The windows partition operate at SSD speeds for gaming and such?

Well yes it won't run bootcamp directly but, it will run windows on a partition of the 3TB fusion drive. If you are fine with running windows without bootcamp (using the Option key boot options). You can just do a search and you'll see multiple folks who have already done this on their new iMac's.