Looks like most people prefer 1TB fusion to 3TB. Why?

[pukingpixels]

Price and the fact that I already got three 2 TB external hdds. I don't need the storage, I just want the speed of the SSD.

Might get rid of the fusion drive in favor for a 256 GB SSD later if it's easy to do it.

 

[jclardy]

You get even better bang for your buck by leaving the standard 1TB drive and adding an SSD via Thunderbolt externally.

But that doesn't grant you the general speed increase. If you do video editing or something like that with large files you will be better off with the external, but for everyday tasks the fusion drive will be faster as your system files, most used apps and other cached items will be sped up automatically.

If I order I will probably get the 1TB. Mainly because I have learned how to live with limited storage on my 128GB SSD on my Air

Plus I have a RAID'd NAS for redundant longer term storage, so pretty much the only stuff on the computer will be stuff I have used in the past 3-6 months. Other stuff gets archived elsewhere.

 

[tivoboy]

redudancy

Honestly, I would not want to have "everything" on my main computer. I think for the money, it is better to get several externals, which are cheaper overall than the larger 3TB internal, and then have a nice thought out plan for backup management and access management.

 

[akatsuki]

I did 3TB fusion - practically the only upgrade that was worth it to me. I am at about 600GB right now, and that may go up as it has in the past or maybe down now that I am moving to subscription services like Spotify.

Couldn't see any value in the i7 or graphics card since I don't game and mostly do basic Excel/PP and a bit of photography.

Will order RAM from a 3rd party.

 

[palmerc2]

My plan was to get the 3TB non-fusion option, however I've read a lot of mention about getting multiple externals and opting for the 1TB Fusion for extra speed. Will the Fusion (theoretically) add that much speed in day to day use? Also, what external hard drives does everyone here recommend? Should I go with a thunderbolt or USB 3.0 drive? In all honesty I'm not too worried about fast transfer speeds from internal to external, just high capacity (I currently have an external 2TB on USB 2.0 and I'm satisfied) - But of course anything to make my day-to-day operations faster I'm fair game! Please provide links to external hard drives if you can! If anything the make and model number I'm interested in between 2TB and 3TB capacities.

My uses: I'm a light user, interested in: light gaming, photoshop here and there, maybe will delve into pro audio (Logic / ProTools) in the future, I also will be doing work with bootcamp most likely. I do work with large video files which is why I'm running out of space so quickly, however I'm not in a fast paced environment like most here where every minute counts - just an amateur, at-home user so I don't need an SSD for speed - just a lot of capacity.

So right now I see my options as:
1. Internal 3TB non-fusion
2. Internal 1TB fusion + external HD

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

[Arman]

My reason, I needed Bootcamp right away for work related issues.

That said, if I upgrade it will be to 512 SSD and large volume thunderbolt external

 

[Gizmotoy]

Other than the additional cost, I just didn't need it.

I have a 1TB drive in my 2009 iMac, and it's only half full even with 2 or so Archive-and-Install OS iterations sitting there.

Beyond that, I have a NAS Server with 16-some TB with data back and redundancy for the iMac, and offsite backups to CrashPlan.

I mainly wanted the 128GB SSD. If there was a smaller SSD-only option than the $1k 768GB version I probably would have ordered that.

 

[bgsnmky]

Ordered 3TB. Rather have more than not enough.

Plus less stuff cluttering the outside.

Ditto!

 

[xgman]

I'm using TB drives as the muscle with a larger faster SSD there to boot from

 

[burninggarlic]

4 usb3s, 2 thunderbolts, 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking, IEEE 802.11a/b/g compatible
I do not get why people need to put so many things into one single hard drive.
Besides, the risk of one-hard-drive-going-down is much higher than multiple-hard-drive-going-down-simultaneously.

 

[WilliamG]

But that doesn't grant you the general speed increase. If you do video editing or something like that with large files you will be better off with the external, but for everyday tasks the fusion drive will be faster as your system files, most used apps and other cached items will be sped up automatically.

If I order I will probably get the 1TB. Mainly because I have learned how to live with limited storage on my 128GB SSD on my Air

Plus I have a RAID'd NAS for redundant longer term storage, so pretty much the only stuff on the computer will be stuff I have used in the past 3-6 months. Other stuff gets archived elsewhere.

Eh? Wha? I'm going to be running my OS off my Thunderbolt SSD, thank you very much! (which will always be faster than fusion drives). Either that, or I'm putting the SSD directly into the iMac if it ends up being as easy as the teardowns would have me believe. Spinning disks inside my iMac? Ew!

 

[coreymlong]

You get even better bang for your buck by leaving the standard 1TB drive and adding an SSD via Thunderbolt externally.

What Thunderbolt SSD would you recommend? You'd store data on the SSD and run apps on the standard TB?

 

[WilliamG]

What Thunderbolt SSD would you recommend? You'd store data on the SSD and run apps on the standard TB?

I leave my system running 24/7, but I really don't like HDD noise. I intend to either replace the internal with my Samsung 830 256GB (the Samsung 830 is the reliable SSD of choice at this time, more so than the 840) or if I can't do that it will be my boot drive via Thunderbolt.

Then, when I get into OS X, I intend to click Finder, and click the little eject button next to the 1TB standard drive. No more noise = win! Or I might use it to store a bunch of photos, but I don't want it ever, ever being accessed unless it's a necessity.

Again, HDD noise makes me mental.

 

[AndersOlson]

Any recommendations on a good Thunderbolt SSD?

 

[Claust]

Bootcamp users;

Just break the fusion function in software, and you end up with 128GB SSD for OSX / Win, and 3GB for storage, programs etc. Thats what I will do.

 

[Jon1323]

1TB is enough space for me no need for 3.

 

[coreymlong]

I leave my system running 24/7, but I really don't like HDD noise. I intend to either replace the internal with my Samsung 830 256GB (the Samsung 830 is the reliable SSD of choice at this time, more so than the 840) or if I can't do that it will be my boot drive via Thunderbolt.

Then, when I get into OS X, I intend to click Finder, and click the little eject button next to the 1TB standard drive. No more noise = win! Or I might use it to store a bunch of photos, but I don't want it ever, ever being accessed unless it's a necessity.

Again, HDD noise makes me mental.

So you can get the standard 1TB and add in an SSD later?

 

[torana355]

I was asking myself the same question, i went with the 3TB fusion as i keep my media library local on my machine and backup all my data to a 3TB USB3 external. If i got the 1TB option i would need 2 externals hanging off it, one for data and one for backup. Im sure Apple will release a fix for Bootcamp on the 3TB FD.

 

[WilliamG]

So you can get the standard 1TB and add in an SSD later?

Sure. It looks that way. Replace, more than add - it appears.

 

[kgian]

3tb equals no bootcamp...

 

[bobright]

Umm because they are an arm and a leg, if I had money I could wipe my ass with sure but no thx like others 2TB external carries most of my stuff anyway

 

[cali shot doc]

You get even better bang for your buck by leaving the standard 1TB drive and adding an SSD via Thunderbolt externally.

*I'm not very computer savy...*

Does that mean you can boot up from an external ssd?

 

[WilliamG]

*I'm not very computer savy...*

Does that mean you can boot up from an external ssd?

Yep.

 

[Rockondevil]

Would have preferred a 3TB one but I also want to bootcamp so that made up my mind and I got the 1TB.

 

[Spoiled]

Very true. I'm only going by Apple's official documentation, that states BootCamp will work on 1tb, but not 3tb.

Source URL?

Also, how much space does Windows take up when Bootcamped?