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Replacing Fusion HDD with SSD, de fuse?
- Thread starter mc99
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Is the SSD portion of the fusion drives in a 2014 iMac still 128gb?
(can't remember)
The advantage of having TWO "de-fused" drives (HDD, SSD, doesn't matter) is that you can always have a "second bootable drive" "standing by" if for some reason your "main boot drive" won't boot.
If you're hell-bent on opening the iMac (which I don't recommend, but some folks are gonna do it anyway), I'd set the drives up that way. That is, NOT "fused together".
An issue you may not have thought of:
Once the fusion drive is "de-fused", how fast will the SSD portion benchmark?
The Apple OEM SSD's are quite fast.
I'm going to -guess- that the Apple drive -- even though it's not large -- will still run considerably faster than ANY SATA SSD you can install.
So, something to test out:
- What does the Apple OEM SSD benchmark at?
- What does the SATA SSD benchmark at?
The results may surprise you.
(can't remember)
The advantage of having TWO "de-fused" drives (HDD, SSD, doesn't matter) is that you can always have a "second bootable drive" "standing by" if for some reason your "main boot drive" won't boot.
If you're hell-bent on opening the iMac (which I don't recommend, but some folks are gonna do it anyway), I'd set the drives up that way. That is, NOT "fused together".
An issue you may not have thought of:
Once the fusion drive is "de-fused", how fast will the SSD portion benchmark?
The Apple OEM SSD's are quite fast.
I'm going to -guess- that the Apple drive -- even though it's not large -- will still run considerably faster than ANY SATA SSD you can install.
So, something to test out:
- What does the Apple OEM SSD benchmark at?
- What does the SATA SSD benchmark at?
The results may surprise you.
When you remove the 3TB HDD, you will break the Fusion drive, so there will be nothing for your to defuse.
For ease of use afterwards, I would setup a Fusion drive with the two SSDs so you don't have to mess with what drive you want to keep things on. As long as you backup, there really isn't a downside to this.