Apple's New 'Fusion Drive' Not a Typical Hybrid Drive

[ixodes]

It will be interesting to see what it looks like torn down.

 

[cppguy]

i meant 256GB SSD, obviously Apple could have offered the Fusion Drive as default

+1 for that. I'm running a large VM and I want it to live on the SSD partition.

 

[SockRolid]

From the configure your Mac Mini page:

Image

Prices right there.

What? No whining?

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Yeah, let's wait for the announcement, because we have noooooooo way of predicting that Apple's BTO pricing will follow the usual pattern. Maybe THIS time there will be a sudden shift in strategy? Maybe if you look out the window, THIS time there will be blue fairies performing a choreographed dance in the sky?

Do I detect more than a hint of aggression in your tone?
Is Apple crushing your hopes of an Android-filled or Windows Phone / 8-filled future?
Well, don't worry. Everything will be fine. It's only technology after all.

Lulz.

 

[cirus]

AMD might have a problem with the naming of these drives given that their apu's are "fusion" branded.

 

[SockRolid]

It will be interesting to see what it looks like torn down.

Should be a hard drive and a separate SSD. They're discrete components.
Just viewed as single logical volume by the OS X file system.
(Plus or minus a little extra disk controller logic.)

And yeah, I think it's hilarious that there are so many heated debates in this thread.
Who cares? It's just another mass storage system, albeit an Apple-proprietary, industry-leading technology.
But we're used to that from Apple by now.

Aren't we all? I mean, really.

 

[Irishman]

how much for the upgrade?

$250.

 

[Mal]

Should be a hard drive and a separate SSD. They're discrete components.
Just viewed as single logical volume by the OS X file system.
(Plus or minus a little extra disk controller logic.)

They're not even located in the same physical part of the machine. The SSD is in the lower left on the logic board, while the hard drive is sort of top center. People simply aren't paying attention if they think otherwise.

jW

 

[cawesjmu]

I'm assuming no body knows yet if we can buy a SSD aftermarket, install it ourselves, and then ask OS X Lion to merry it with the spinning drive to create the "Fusion" drive. It's likely someone else asked this already, but at 200+ responses on the thread already, it gets tougher to read them all. I googled around the web as well, but with it being so new, and no tear downs yet, there's not much out there yet. Thanks!

 

[somethingelsefl]

Personally, an SSD boot drive and separate large HD seems more practical. No need to "fuse" them into one volume. Just seems like asking for trouble.

I want to upvote this twice.

 

[cgk.emu]

Im glad that I have an Apple Time Capsule router so I wont ever have to worry about losing my data in the event of a hard drive failure.

Until the hard drive in your time capsule fails....

 

[Irishman]

wow, wow, I meant to say 256GB SSD, so many comments about low storage.

Actually, I am very happy if APPLE offered the fusion drive (as a default even with 128GB SSD/256GB SSD Plus 1TB) for $1299, they did not right? they are after our money.

they increased $100 to make it thinner and pushed the cost to us make the reflection less.

here three year iMac user, I will NOT buy the new iMac any more; you cannot upgrade anything. I rather go with MBP plus monitor setup. then i can upgrade the HDD to SSD ... and RAM to 16GB

resale value of iMac are going down the hill every new upgrade.

You know, anger for anger's sake isn't attractive.

LOL

 

[Cougarcat]

When I first save a file, how does os know I will use it oftenly or not? even for me, it is a hard question at the beginning.

It doesn't at first, obviously. New apps probably go to the Flash because they need it most, whereas new documents, which don't need it, go to the HD (unless the flash isn't filled.)

 

[Mal]

It doesn't at first, obviously. New apps probably go to the Flash because they need it most, whereas new documents, which don't need it, go to the HD (unless the flash isn't filled.)

Actually, from the presentation it seemed to me that the OS and preinstalled applications go on the SSD by default, and everything else on the hard drive. It then moves them around based on usage.

jW

 

[cube]

"You're implementing it wrong"

Hybrid drives should have the complete volume in hard disk as backing store.

I'm never going to rely on such a brittle scheme as what is claimed about the Fusion Drive.

I guess Apple went for this because you can't open the iMac anyway.

 

[SockRolid]

They're not even located in the same physical part of the machine. The SSD is in the lower left on the logic board, while the hard drive is sort of top center. People simply aren't paying attention if they think otherwise.

jW

Exactly. They are physically discrete. OS X's file system handles all the logic.

Here's a quote from a great article explaining it all:

There are other hybrid models of blending SSD and mechanical disks to save money, but none of them are able to integrate with the OS and do it as intelligently as Apple is able to with Fusion Drive.​

Full article at MacObserver.com: http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/digging-into-fusion-drive-details

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"You're implementing it wrong"

Hybrid drives should have the complete volume in hard disk as backing store.

I'm never going to rely on such a brittle scheme as what is claimed about the Fusion Drive.

I guess Apple went for this because you can't open the iMac anyway.

Expect Microsoft to kludge some ham-fisted version of Fusion into Windows 8 service pack 1 some time in 2014.

 

[sransari]

fusion software for mac pros?

I would love it if there was a way to have fusion-type functionality on my mac pro. I currently have an SSD for my system software and my apps, and a traditional HD for storage of my files. I would think that since the fusion drive is two physically separate drives with software tying them together, couldn't they offer the fusion software to do the same for my mac pro?

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I'm assuming no body knows yet if we can buy a SSD aftermarket, install it ourselves, and then ask OS X Lion to merry it with the spinning drive to create the "Fusion" drive. It's likely someone else asked this already, but at 200+ responses on the thread already, it gets tougher to read them all. I googled around the web as well, but with it being so new, and no tear downs yet, there's not much out there yet. Thanks!

I'm wanting to know the same thing and posted my question about the same thing since I was too lazy to search/read.

 

[babyj]

uhhh because theyre doing it built into Mac OS X and not a mainframe? maybe? ideas are cheap and plentiful. innovation is what happens when you actually implement ideas into products.

This idea was first implemented in products over 20 years ago. Some people think Apple have just come up with a new way to speed up storage when they haven't. They've taken a feature used in enterprise computing and applied it to desktops. Though as I said it's a nice feature for which Apple should be applauded.

Having thought about it some more I'm a bit surprised Apple have bothered with it. It's only ever going to be a short term feature on desktops as we will get to the point where SSD's are economic enough to fully replace hard drives.

The feature is a lot more suited to multi-drive systems, especially NAS's and to a lesser degree the Mac Mini and Mac Pro.

 

[cube]

Expect Microsoft to kludge some ham-fisted version of Fusion into Windows 8 service pack 1 some time in 2014.

The first generation hybrid drives from years ago relied on Windows support and failed in the market.

 

[Eidorian]

The first generation hybrid drives from years ago relied on Windows support and failed in the market.

Hybrid hard drives have been tossed around since the Vista era and did not see the light of day until the Momentus XT.

You can find some of my posts here back before Windows 7 where I wanted someone to come out with a seamless solution just like the current one deployed by Apple where you can combine the SSD and hard drive vs. caching. Still, flash caching just requires you to be handy with a screwdriver for nearly every other computer.

 

[luckysob]

So after reading through 11 pages (I have the MacObserver up in another tab to go and read), is there going to be an updated version of Mountain Lion to make fusion work, or is there something special in the firmware of the new machines coming out?

Edit: And reading the MacObserver article, it claims that the management is performed within the OS....so when is that build coming out?

And continuing to read that article, it is assuming that OSX will do a model check before allowing fusion to be enabled. So tough luck everybody.

 

[seattlejimbob]

Apple Support: Fusion Drive

FYI:
Mac mini (Late 2012) and iMac (Late 2012): About Fusion Drive

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5446

 

[cube]

Hybrid hard drives have been tossed around since the Vista era and did not see the light of day until the Momentus XT.

According to Seagate, the first generation Momentus XT is the second generation of hybrid drives.

 

[Eidorian]

According to Seagate, the first generation Momentus XT is the second generation of hybrid drives.

Now that is interesting. Where did you find that tidbit? Are their any more details?

 

[Dan--]

FYI:
Mac mini (Late 2012) and iMac (Late 2012): About Fusion Drive

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5446

Thanks for the link. That should be mandatory reading.

 

[cube]

Now that is interesting. Where did you find that tidbit? Are their any more details?

I think it was an interview where some representative said that while their competitors still have to release their first hybrid drives, they are already on the third generation.