Replace fusion drive...

dilgit · Jan 12, 2013, 03:16 PM

Is it possible to replace the 3TB Fusion drive in my new iMac 27" with a Crucial 512GB SSD drive, or any other SSD drive? Please don't ask why? Just try to answer the question. Thanks!!

ezramoore · Jan 12, 2013, 03:19 PM

Sometimes people need to know why you want to do something, in order to give the best answer to a question.

Since CoreStorage controls the fusion-ness of drives, I expect you can pair any SSD with almost any HDD.

FreemanW · Jan 12, 2013, 03:19 PM

There are plenty of threads here providing ample tear-down results, some, not so happy.

In short, the OS X will NOT place two SSD into a Fusion volume, they will be two separate SSD drives. Fusion is designed for combining a SSD and conventional platter hdd into a fast, single, volume.

If you're wondering about replacing the 128GB SSD with the Crucial 512GB SSD, I give you almost zero chance of success as the 128GB SSD is connected via a proprietary connection device (Blade connector?).

Lancer · Jan 12, 2013, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dilgit

Is it possible to replace the 3TB Fusion drive in my new iMac 27" with a Crucial 512GB SSD drive, or any other SSD drive? Please don't ask why? Just try to answer the question. Thanks!!

Technically yes.

But did you know the 'fusion' drive is actually 2 separate parts?

A normal HDD and a totally separate blade SSD which by all reports is on the main board. I'm just wondering if you'll have to remove the SSD but my guess is if you replace the HDD with a 512 SSD you'll see one 640Gb SSD and not 2 separate drives.

dilgit · Jan 12, 2013, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lancer

Technically yes.

But did you know the 'fusion' drive is actually 2 separate parts?

A normal HDD and a totally separate blade SSD which by all reports is on the main board. I'm just wondering if you'll have to remove the SSD but my guess is if you replace the HDD with a 512 SSD you'll see one 640Gb SSD and not 2 separate drives.

The fusion drive contains two drives in one unit. I want to completely remove the unit that contains the two drives and replace with a usual SSD drive. Will it work?

FreemanW · Jan 12, 2013, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dilgit

The fusion drive contains two drives in one unit. I want to completely remove the unit that contains the two drives and replace with a usual SSD drive. Will it work?

Yes

If you perform the upgrade yourself, you void your warranty.

Good luck!

Brian Y · Jan 12, 2013, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dilgit

The fusion drive contains two drives in one unit. I want to completely remove the unit that contains the two drives and replace with a usual SSD drive. Will it work?

No it doesn't. It has a standard 1TB Hard drive, and a completely separate SSD drive which plugs directly into the logic board.

Lancer · 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bma

No it doesn't. It has a standard 1TB Hard drive, and a completely separate SSD drive which plugs directly into the logic board.

Thank you!

ETA - I think the biggest issue will be cracking the case, the screen is glued on now. Maybe you'd be better off with a 2011 and replace the HDD in that? It will have 90% of the CPU performance and the only drawback is no USB3.

seanm9 · Jan 12, 2013, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dilgit

The fusion drive contains two drives in one unit. I want to completely remove the unit that contains the two drives and replace with a usual SSD drive. Will it work?

Dont confuse a fusion drive with a hybrid drive... they are similar but different

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_drive

look at any of the tear downs on the internet and you will see a regular SATA HDD and a "Blade Type" SSD... and as the others have said the fusion drive is just a software trick that OSX uses to turn the 2 drives into 1... good to here that others have tried to "Fusion" 2 SSD's but I dont see any advantage to that as opposed to combining 2 the in JBOD (ie a fusion drive with out the smarts to move the most used files to the fast disk)...

the setup you may want to explore is getting a bigger blade than the stock 128Gb blade that Apple provides and "fusing" that with the 3Tb spinner...

Bear · Jan 12, 2013, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dilgit

Is it possible to replace the 3TB Fusion drive in my new iMac 27" with a Crucial 512GB SSD drive, or any other SSD drive? Please don't ask why? Just try to answer the question. Thanks!!

Yes it can be done. It's not easy. Check out the directions on ifixit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dilgit

The fusion drive contains two drives in one unit. I want to completely remove the unit that contains the two drives and replace with a usual SSD drive. Will it work?

It's 2 separate pieces either piece can be replaced.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FreemanW

....
If you're wondering about replacing the 128GB SSD with the Crucial 512GB SSD, I give you almost zero chance of success as the 128GB SSD is connected via a proprietary connection device (Blade connector?).

Actually it appears to be a standard mSATA connector and is therefore a standard connector.

Shadow2k · Jan 12, 2013, 06:36 PM

It looks like mSATA but the connector is actually a bit smaller.

gnasher729 · Jan 12, 2013, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dilgit

The fusion drive contains two drives in one unit. I want to completely remove the unit that contains the two drives and replace with a usual SSD drive. Will it work?

Well, that would be daft. Why would you buy a Mac with Fusion drive and throw the Fusion drive out, when for $250 less you can buy the same Mac with a plain old hard drive and throw the hard drive out?

hfg · Jan 12, 2013, 06:57 PM

You can replace the 3TB hard disk part of Fusion with your Crucial M4 512GB SSD, and you would still have the blade 128GB SSD available. You could use them separately, or simply span (concatenate) them together to function as a single larger drive. You would not re-Fusion them together.

If you desire a larger SSD as part of the Fusion drive, you will have to purchase a larger blade-type SSD from OWC or another vender.

You can also use your Crucial M4 externally to the iMac by putting it in a Thunderbolt or USB-3.0 enclosure and avoid the risk of slicing open your iMac.

dilgit · Jan 12, 2013, 11:35 PM

Thank you all. I did not know that those are actually two separate units. If that is so, I might replace the 128GB SSD blade with a larger SSD. 256GB or 512GB. Is this possible? Where can I buy such a SSD blade?

Jan 12, 2013, 03:16 PM	#1
dilgit macrumors regular Join Date: Sep 2010	Replace fusion drive... Is it possible to replace the 3TB Fusion drive in my new iMac 27" with a Crucial 512GB SSD drive, or any other SSD drive? Please don't ask why? Just try to answer the question. Thanks!! __________________ MacBook Pro 15" Retina - i7 2.6GHz/512GB SSD/8GB RAM iMac 27" - i5 3.2GHz/32GB RAM/3TB Fusion/675MX 1GB iPhone 5 - 32GB/iPad 4G - 32GB/Ipod 5G - 32GB
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Jan 12, 2013, 03:19 PM	#3
FreemanW macrumors regular Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: The Real Northern California	There are plenty of threads here providing ample tear-down results, some, not so happy. In short, the OS X will NOT place two SSD into a Fusion volume, they will be two separate SSD drives. Fusion is designed for combining a SSD and conventional platter hdd into a fast, single, volume. If you're wondering about replacing the 128GB SSD with the Crucial 512GB SSD, I give you almost zero chance of success as the 128GB SSD is connected via a proprietary connection device (Blade connector?). __________________ iMac, iPad, iPhone, TimeCapsule x 2
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Jan 12, 2013, 06:36 PM	#11
Shadow2k macrumors member Join Date: Apr 2009	It looks like mSATA but the connector is actually a bit smaller. __________________ The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. Bertrand Russell
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Jan 12, 2013, 11:35 PM	#14
dilgit Thread Starter macrumors regular Join Date: Sep 2010	Thank you all. I did not know that those are actually two separate units. If that is so, I might replace the 128GB SSD blade with a larger SSD. 256GB or 512GB. Is this possible? Where can I buy such a SSD blade? __________________ MacBook Pro 15" Retina - i7 2.6GHz/512GB SSD/8GB RAM iMac 27" - i5 3.2GHz/32GB RAM/3TB Fusion/675MX 1GB iPhone 5 - 32GB/iPad 4G - 32GB/Ipod 5G - 32GB
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Jan 12, 2013, 03:19 PM	#2
ezramoore macrumors 6502a Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Washington State	Sometimes people need to know why you want to do something, in order to give the best answer to a question. Since CoreStorage controls the fusion-ness of drives, I expect you can pair any SSD with almost any HDD.
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Jan 12, 2013, 06:57 PM	#13
hfg macrumors 68000 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Cedar Rapids, IA.	You can replace the 3TB hard disk part of Fusion with your Crucial M4 512GB SSD, and you would still have the blade 128GB SSD available. You could use them separately, or simply span (concatenate) them together to function as a single larger drive. You would not re-Fusion them together. If you desire a larger SSD as part of the Fusion drive, you will have to purchase a larger blade-type SSD from OWC or another vender. You can also use your Crucial M4 externally to the iMac by putting it in a Thunderbolt or USB-3.0 enclosure and avoid the risk of slicing open your iMac.
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