iMac 27" SSD + FusionDrive?

[pscl]

Hey Guys!

im about to order my new imac.

i struggle with the descision to take an FusionDrive instead of an 1TB SSD (wich in my opinion is just ridiculously overpriced).

my question now is... am i able to upgrade to a normal pci-e ssd drive and keep them both? FusionDrive and the SSD?

or do i have to replace the FusionDrive for an SSD? is this possible at all?


thank you

 

[pitabox987]

Hey Guys!

im about to order my new imac.

i struggle with the descision to take an FusionDrive instead of an 1TB SSD (wich in my opinion is just ridiculously overpriced).

my question now is... am i able to upgrade to a normal pci-e ssd drive and keep them both? FusionDrive and the SSD?

or do i have to replace the FusionDrive for an SSD? is this possible at all?


thank you

Not to my knowledge.

there is enough internal space or connectors for two drives.

Why replace the Fusion drive with SSD? TheFusion drives part regular HD and part SSD for quick access files.

If you really need extra storage use a Thunderbolt drive, it will operate just as well as an internal drive.

 

[pscl]

i got many reasons. one of them is that i can only use the hdd part of an fusiondrive for an bootcamp partition.

i dont want to replace the fd... i want the ssd as a second internal drive

1TB FusionDrive
+
1TB SSD

the other questions are:

is this possible in the 27" imac 2013?
or do i habe to get ridd of the FusionDrive (cause of space problems)?

 

[xraydoc]

i got many reasons. one of them is that i can only use the hdd part of an fusiondrive for an bootcamp partition.

i dont want to replace the fd... i want the ssd as a second internal drive

1TB FusionDrive
+
1TB SSD

the other questions are:

is this possible in the 27" imac 2013?
or do i habe to get ridd of the FusionDrive (cause of space problems)?

The Fusion drive IS actually two drives - one 128GB SSD and one mechanical HD, but the two are bound together via software.

Apple does not give you an option for a larger SSD and a separate (i.e., non-Fusion) mechanical HD. They used to - I presently have a mid-2010 iMac which I BTO'd to have a 256GB SSD and a 2TB HD - but this was before the Fusion drive was offered, so the two drives are formatted as two independent volumes. If I wipe everything off, I could create a custom Fusion drive with them, but for now I don't need to.

So bottom line is that you cannot have a "Fusion drive" plus a separate SSD. That would require three internal drive connectors, and there is only two (one SATA for the HD and one PCIe blade connector for the SSD).

Theoretically, what you could do is you could order the machine with a 1TB SSD, then when it arrives you open it up, add say a 4TB HD, and either leave it as two independent volumes, or reformat the machine and bind the SSD and HD into a custom 5TB Fusion drive (terminal command are easy to find with Google). This of course would require surgery on your new iMac.

Possibly, you could do the same thing with an external Thunderbolt drive, though I don't know for sure if that works.

 

[Bear]

Hey Guys!

im about to order my new imac.

i struggle with the descision to take an FusionDrive instead of an 1TB SSD (wich in my opinion is just ridiculously overpriced).

my question now is... am i able to upgrade to a normal pci-e ssd drive and keep them both? FusionDrive and the SSD?

or do i have to replace the FusionDrive for an SSD? is this possible at all?


thank you

The choice is Fusions Drive or SSD. You can't have both internally as there aren't enough internal connectors for that. The Fusion drive uses both the PCIe(SSD) connector and the SATA(HD) Connector.

 

[pscl]

The Fusion drive IS actually two drives - one 128GB SSD and one mechanical HD, but the two are bound together via software.

Apple does not give you an option for a larger SSD and a separate (i.e., non-Fusion) mechanical HD. They used to - I presently have a mid-2010 iMac which I BTO'd to have a 256GB SSD and a 2TB HD - but this was before the Fusion drive was offered, so the two drives are formatted as two independent volumes. If I wipe everything off, I could create a custom Fusion drive with them, but for now I don't need to.

So bottom line is that you cannot have a "Fusion drive" plus a separate SSD. That would require three internal drive connectors, and there is only two (one SATA for the HD and one PCIe blade connector for the SSD).

Theoretically, what you could do is you could order the machine with a 1TB SSD, then when it arrives you open it up, add say a 4TB HD, and either leave it as two independent volumes, or reformat the machine and bind the SSD and HD into a custom 5TB Fusion drive (terminal command are easy to find with Google). This of course would require surgery on your new iMac.

Possibly, you could do the same thing with an external Thunderbolt drive, though I don't know for sure if that works.

ah ok... i thought that FusionDrive is ONE physical drive, splitted in ssd part and hdd part...