2014 Mini Fusion drive question

[sfphoto]

AFAIK Apple first used SSD then PCIE drives along w/ the HDD for Fusion storage, the change apparently in 2015
How does one tell which, would system info state PCIE or SSD?

Secondly I have read that Apple 'marries' the Fusion drives via software so if one does not want a Fusion drive:

1) remove the Fusion, install a Sata HDD or SSD for storage and then a separate PCIE thus having two different internal 'divorced' drives
for the above is the 'marriage' confined to the drive or does it exist in the ROMS, does one need to de-fuse before removal

2) purchase a 2014 Mini w/ only a HDD then add a separate PCIE, would seem the easiest solution

 

[ignatius345]

AFAIK Apple first used SSD then PCIE drives along w/ the HDD for Fusion storage, the change apparently in 2015
How does one tell which, would system info state PCIE or SSD?

It's been a while, fortunately, since I've had a Fusion Drive on hand, but I believe that if you go into System Information (or, System Profiler as I believe older versions were called), I think you should be able to find that info there?

Secondly I have read that Apple 'marries' the Fusion drives via software so if one does not want a Fusion drive:

1) remove the Fusion, install a Sata HDD or SSD for storage and then a separate PCIE thus having two different internal 'divorced' drives
for the above is the 'marriage' confined to the drive or does it exist in the ROMS, does one need to de-fuse before removal

2) purchase a 2014 Mini w/ only a HDD then add a separate PCIE, would seem the easiest solution

I'm a little unclear on what you want to accomplish here. Are you trying to have have two separate (non-Fusion) drives installed inside an Mac Mini? I'm not sure why you'd want an HDD in the mix at all at this point, though, given how inexpensive SSDs have become.

Ages ago, I crammed a 128 GB SATA SSD into an old 2012 (?) Mini alongside the existing HDD, using a kit from OWC or something. Once the hardware was installed, I ran some terminal commands I'd found documentation for to "fuse" the two drives into one logical volume to be used as a Fusion Drive. Worked brilliantly. I believe you should be able to do the reverse so the drives are mounted individually -- at which point you'd have to reformat each of them. Not sure if that helps.

 

[Boyd01]

I split the Fusion drive on a 2014 Mini into a separate 128gb SSD and 1tb HD, then copied the system to the 128gb SSD and booted from that. This machine was a media server with the library on an external disk, so 128gb was plenty of room on the startup drive. I used this Mini for almost 5 years when (apparently) the bearings on the internal hard drive started going bad and making a terrible noise. Didn't want to spend the time to open it up (I think it's a big job to remove the hard drive) so I just put it in the closet.

AFAIK, the 2014 Fusion Mini's have a 128gb NVME SSD in a slot while that slot would be empty on the models that only have hard drives. More info and video on OWC's site. Note what it says toward the bottom of that page, "Installing an Aura Pro X2 Gen4 NVMe SSD in a Mac mini (Late 2014) that came with a factory-installed SSD or Fusion drive does not require the additional hardware included in this kit."

 

[Cave Man]

Pretty sure the difference is whether it’s listed as SATA or PCI on system profiler.

 

[sfphoto]

I'm a little unclear on what you want to accomplish here. Are you trying to have have two separate (non-Fusion) drives installed inside an Mac Mini? I'm not sure why you'd want an HDD in the mix at all at this point, though, given how inexpensive SSDs have become.

Yes, desire is HDD for data and PCIe for OS and programs, not fused.

I have read (MacWorld) that defused setups are not the same as having a HDD only machine then adding a PCIe. For instance no option to start in recovery mode once defused. Hence my question regarding ROMS.

Also removing an existing 2014 Mini Fusion drive means complete dis-assembly, not simple like putting an SSD in a 2012 Mini.

Will check the sys info for SSD vs. PCIe

Thanks for the comments!

 

[sfphoto]

By default the Fusion drive is called Macintosh HD and this will kill it without having to fuss with those UUIDs.

diskutil cs delete "Macintosh HD"

Then use Disk Util to format both drives and install the OS in the flash drive and you are done.

I do necessarily want to install an OS from the internet.

Can one de-fuse a fusion drive in a Mac that is running from an external?

If so, what would the Terminal command syntax be, since Terminal needs to know the fusion drive location.

ref:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/split-the-fusion-drive-on-my-new-2014-mini.2184415/?post=27436639#post-27436639