With Apple now supplying Fusion Drives in their current generation Mac Minis & iMacs we thought it was about time we let classic Mac Pro users know how to get in on the action. A Fusion Drive is basically a software based SSHD (hybrid drive), it uses software to combine a regular, slower but higher capacity, HDD and a modern, faster but smaller capacity, SSD or flash storage module into one drive. OS X will then control which drive your files end up being stored on, all files will be stored on the SSD until it’s full, after this point your system will store only your most used files on the SSD.
In theory, this set up should manually optimise the way your files are stored, meaning the best possible storage performance without lifting a finger. Now, one may ask, surely a hardware based SSHD is superior to the software based Fusion Drive? Well, the general consensus is that Apple’s proprietary Fusion Drive software is in fact a superior file management system to those used in SSHDs.
With all this in mind, lets talk about how a Fusion Drive can help system performance. Any file stored on an SSD will see performance benefits over those stored on a HDD, quicker loading to RAM/CPU, faster application load speeds, faster OS X boot times, the list could go on. Basically, if something is important to your workflow, be that your OS, favourite applications, often used plugins or sample libraries, then they are best off stored on an SSD. Of course, this requires manual organisation, Fusion Drives attempt to alleviate this by analysing exactly what it is you use most often and then storing that on the SSD for you. The crux of the argument for a Fusion Drive? Pain free optimal storage performance.
So, what do you need to create a Fusion Drive?:

• Mac Mini Fusion Drive
• Create Fusion Drive Mac
• Fusion Hard Drive Mac
• Mac Os X Fusion Drive Diy Video

• 1 or more HDDs.
• 1 or more SSDs or flash storage modules.
• The instructions below.

How to create a Fusion Drive in OS X:

Ok, lets get into this proper. Here’s the step by step guide to create your Fusion Drive. Of course you will need a HDD & SSD installed in your system before starting the process.

OS X 10.8.3: Fusion Possibilities For NonFusion Equipped Mac Monday, March 25th, 2013 Author: OWC Michael. We’ve been waiting and waiting for Apple to release the next version of OS X Mountain Lion in hopes that the next full version would have all the necessary components to setup a Fusion drive on any Mac capable of installing a hard drive and SSD together. I was running OS-X 10.8.2 (This is a must as it contains the terminal level disk utility that is used to create the Fusion Drive and make it available to the regular OS after booting. Lay the Mac Pro over on its side and remove the side panel. This gives you access to the drive. Jan 29, 2014  I have tried many times to make my DIY Fusion drive work on my iMac (Lacie TB SSD + internal hard drive). It works after a fresh install with good write perf, but after few days, write perfs are getting bad (50Mb/s with blackmagic). I suspect something with TRIM (it's supposed to be active on my Mac.

1. Make sure that both your SSD & HDD are installed in your Mac Pro using the SATA or PCI-e bays.
2. This process will destroy any data currently stored on your SSD & HDD, so please ensure they are backed up properly if there is data on them that you do not wish to lose.
3. Boot into OS X (if you would like to use your new fusion drive as the boot drive then you will need to boot using an OS X USB Recovery Partition, if you need to create one follow this guide).
4. Once you are booted into either OS X or your OS X USB, open Terminal. You can find it at the following path: ApplicationsUtilitiesTerminal.app.
5. Inside terminal enter the following command: diskutil list
6. All of the drives in your system will now be listed, each will reveal in mount point in the following format: /dev/disk#
   • The ‘#’ will be a number which is assigned to each drive by OS X. Make a note of the mount points for both the HDD & SSD that you wish to create the Fusion Drive with, you’ll need them shortly.
7. We will now create the logical volume group using Core Storage, this will perform as a container for the drives that are being fused. You will need the mount points that you noted down in the previous step. Enter the following command into terminal: diskutil coreStorage create LOGICAL_VOL_GROUP_NAME DRIVE_1 DRIVE_2
   • In place of ‘LOGICAL_VOL_GROUP_NAME’ select a name for your new Fusion Drive.
   • In place of ‘DRIVE_1’ & ‘DRIVE_2’ use the mount points we jotted down before in the ‘/dev/disk#’ format.
   • So if you decide to call your Fusion Drive ‘Fusion Drive’ & your disk mount points are ‘/dev/disk1’ & ‘/dev/disk2’ then the command would look like this: diskutil coreStorage create ‘Fusion Drive’ /dev/disk1 /dev/disk2
     • Make sure you include the apostrophes around the name, otherwise the command wont work
8. We will now create the logical volume, this is where your data will be stored. To complete this step we will require your LVG UUID, this is an identifier assigned to storage groups by OS X. After completing the previous step, Terminal should now display your LVG UUID as ‘Core Storage LVG UUID’. Make a note of the ID and enter the following command: diskutil coreStorage createVolume lvgUUID type name size
   • ‘type’ refers to the format of the drive, for OS X Extended use ‘jhfs+’. Don’t use a different type unless you know exactly what you’re doing.
   • ‘name’ refers to the name of the Fusion Drive that you set in step 7.
   • ‘size’ refers to the size of the Fusion Drive, use ‘100%’ unless you know exactly what you’re doing
   • If your lvgUUID is ‘12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789123’, type is ‘jhfs+’, name is ‘Fusion Drive’ and size is ‘100%’, then you would enter: diskutil coreStorage createVolume 12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789123 jhfs+ ‘Fusion Drive’ 100%
     • Again, don’t forget the apostrophes around the Fusion Drive name

There you have it, you’re now the proud owner of a brand new DIY Fusion Drive for your classic Mac Pro! We have included our Terminal log below incase you would like to refer to it:

We’ve been waiting and waiting for Apple to release the next version of OS X Mountain Lion in hopes that the next full version would have all the necessary components to setup a Fusion drive on any Mac capable of installing a hard drive and SSD together. A little over a week ago, Apple released OS X version 10.8.3 and, with one small caveat, our hopes were fulfilled.

The Profusion Of Fusion Confusion

But before we get to showing you exactly how to setup your own DIY Fusion drive, I’d like to dispel some mis-information that has been floating around the web. Up until now, most of the reports you’ve read about creating your own DIY Fusion drive on a machine have been incomplete. There have been many tutorials on how to create a Core Storage volume that have been labeled as “how to create a Fusion drive”. They are two similar, yet different drive configurations. I’ve addressed a lot of this information in comments on the OWC Blog, but figure it would be a good idea to review and further explain what a Fusion drive actually is as opposed to a Core Storage volume.

When Apple introduced Lion, they added a logical volume manager (Core Storage) to the OS. The key factor to Core Storage is that it allows a single volume to span multiple physical disks. Which makes the Fusion drive possible, but it isn’t the only aspect.

What turns a Core Storage drive into a Fusion drive is the introduction of automated storage tiering to mix. This has actually been around since 2005 on larger scale networks where the software moves data across different disk types and RAID levels in order to balance space, cost and performance requirements of a server. Prior to the automation software, this type of data manipulation was done manually.

Most of the terminal command setups we’ve seen online are only initiating that Core Storage volume. It needs the software to run the automated storage tiering to make it a true Fusion Drive. Until now, we’ve only seen that software component in the 2012 Mac mini and 2012 iMac models that ship with their specific builds of 10.8.2

You don’t find out that it’s not truly ‘Fusion’ until the SSD portion has been completely filled up. And even then – what’s on the SSD continues to be read at full SSD speed, so it’s only the new data writes (where existing data on SSD is not being replaced) and subsequent reads of that HDD stored data that are slower due to being on the HDD. The way a Core Storage volume works, it really makes people think they’ve created a true Fusion drive. So, now that you know the difference, the question on everyone’s mind is…

How Do I Create A True DIY Fusion Drive?

Items Needed:

• A Mac that you can install both a Solid State Drive and a Hard Disk Drive into. So that’s the iMac (2009 or newer), MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer) with Data Doubler, or MacBook Pro (Late 2008 or newer) again with Data Doubler, Mac mini (Early / Late 2009, Mid 2010 Server, and Mid 2011 or newer) with Data Doubler Kit or Data Doubler where applicable, or Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer).
• A hard drive and an SSD installed/to install internally – Fusion is designed to work on internal drives only.
• An external drive to clone to or a Time Machine backup drive – creating a Fusion volume will erase both the SSD and the hard drive, so if you have information on the hard drive you want to keep, you’ll need to have a copy of that data elsewhere.
• An external hard drive or USB flash drive that is 8GB or larger to boot your OS X 10.8.3 installer.

Step 1 – Have a copy of your computer’s data.

This process will erase both the installed SSD and hard drive, so if you have data on one or both of these drives, you’ll want to have a copy that’s not on either of the two drives that are going to be part of the Fusion array. If you are installing both a new SSD and a new platter-based drive into, you can put your original drive in an external enclosure, and your data will be there, out of the way. If you’re using the same drive that you already have installed, you will need to copy that drive’s contents to an external one.

Step 2 – Download 10.8.3 from the App Store.

And here’s the caveat I mentioned earlier: At this time, you absolutely need to download OS X 10.8.3 from the Mac App Store. To further clarify, we’re talking about the FULL VERSION – not the update. This is the only way to assure you have the correct version of Disk Utility on your recovery partition. You can do this by going to App Store > Purchases > Click the Download button to the right of OS X Mountain Lion. ***you may need to actually purchase ML if it does not show in the Purchases screen.

Step 3 – Move the Installer to your Desktop.

The Mountain Lion install package will show up in the Applications folder once downloaded. Move it to your desktop.

Mac Mini Fusion Drive

Step 4 – Right click on the package icon and select Show Package Contents.

Step 5 – Navigate to Contents > Shared Support.

There you will see InstallESD.dmg. Drag this image file to your desktop.

Step 6 – Using Disk Utility, restore the InstallESD.dmg file to an External Hard Drive or USB Flash Drive at least 8GB in capacity.

This should be a separate drive other than your clone or Time Machine backup.

Step 7 – Install the new drive(s) in the computer you’re upgrading.

See our video page for our step-by-step instructions on installing one or both drives into your machine.

Step 8 – Boot to the newly created 10.8.3 Installer.

Boot the machine while holding down the Option key at startup and selecting the external hard drive or USB flash drive with the 10.8.3 installer (it’ll have the orange icon).

Step 9 – Open Terminal.

If you installed at least one brand new drive, you will likely get a message about a disk being unreadable. That’s okay; just click “Ignore.” We’ll be initializing it over the next couple of steps.

You can then open Terminal. You can find it in Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app

Step 10 – Find Your Disk IDs.

In Terminal, type:

This will have the command-line version of Disk Utility (diskutil) that lists all the disks attached to your computer. In the results, you will find the disk IDs of the HDD and SSD. Take note of these ID numbers. In most cases (2 drives internally and booted from the external), the IDs will be “disk0” and “disk1.” However, individual results may vary, depending on your setup, so you’ll want to make sure you have the right drives.

Step 11 – Create the Fusion drive array.

In Terminal, type:

This is the command that actually tells your Mac to tie the drives together in a Fusion array.

Broken down, the step does this:

• diskutil – the command-line version of Disk Utility.
• cs – this invokes Core Storage, which is necessary for Fusion.
• create – creates a Core Storage group.
• drivename – this is the name of the drive and how you want it to appear in Disk Utility (not the Finder – that comes later). You can call it whatever you want; in our example, we named our Fusion array “Fusion.”
• driveIDs – these are the drive IDs of the drives you want as part of your Fusion array, separated by a space. In our example, they are “disk0” and “disk1”, but it may be different in your setup.

Once you enter in this command, it’ll do its thing and set-up the drives into an array for Fusion.

Step 12 – Get ID information for Fusion array.

In Terminal, type:

This will give you a listing showing any Core Storage Logical Volume Groups (aka Fusion drive). You will need to do two things here. First, copy the long alphanumeric string for the Logical Volume Group, then note the Free Space for it. You will need both of these for the next step.

Step 13 – Format the Fusion drive so you can put files on it.

In Terminal, type:

This command creates a volume on the Fusion array where you can place your files. Again, since some important stuff is going on here, let’s break down the command.

• diskutil – again, this is the command-line version of Disk Utility.
• cs – invokes Core Storage functions, which are necessary for this arrangement.
• createVolume – this is the command to create the actual storage area for the drive that is represented on your desktop by an icon.
• groupstring – this is the long alphanumeric string you copied from the previous step. It identifies that the array you created as the one getting a volume placed on it.
• jhfs+ – the format of the drive. This is Apple Extended Format (journaled), which is recommended for drives with an OS installed on it.
• volumeName – the actual name of the volume, how it should appear underneath the icon. If there is a space in the name, you should either put the entire name in quotes (“Drive Name”) or put a backward slash before the space (Drive Name). In our example, we did the latter, naming our volume “OWC Fusion.”
• size – this is the size of the volume. In our example, we had a 1.1TB drive. We used “1100g” to denote it as 1100GB (1.1TB in base 10). Alternatively, we could have also used 1.1T, or even 100% as a size.

Once you have this information entered, hit Return and let it do its thing; the Fusion Drive will then be available in the Finder.

Step 14 – Close Terminal and Install OS X.

Now that we have created the CoreStorage volume named Fusion, we can now install the OS and bring over your data.

Close your Terminal window and select the option to Install OS X. Follow the prompts for installation, choosing your new Fusion drive as the destination. You will need an Internet connection to do this; an Ethernet connection is preferable, though you will also be able to use an AirPort connection, albeit at slower speeds.

Step 15 – Migrate over your information.

As part of the setup for your new installation, you will be asked if you wish to import data from another disk; you will want to. Attach and select your clone or Time Machine backup and Migration Assistant will bring over your data.

Step 16 – Enjoy your new installation.

Once migration has completed, shut down your computer and disconnect your clone. At this point, you will have OS X running on a Fusion drive on your computer. You can now use it like you would any other drive.

Things to consider before committing to a Fusion setup

As with any drive setup, there are pros and cons to a Fusion array. The pros, as mentioned at the beginning of the article are that it appears single volume and works automatically to keep the best speed. However, there are a couple of cons that you should also be aware of.

You will need a backup.

While a backup plan for your computer is something you should have anyway, this becomes even more important for Fusion drive equipped Macs. The way Fusion is set up, if either the hard drive or the SSD fails, the data on both drives is lost. Having a reliable, frequent backup plan will be essential in protecting against data loss.

Performance may not be enough for high-end professional use.

Apple claims near-SSD performance for Fusion-equipped drives. For casual use (email, Web browsing, basic iPhoto use, etc.), this is largely true. From testing both in-house and by Lloyd Chambers of Mac Performance Guide, a Fusion drive will first fill the faster SSD portion, then start filling the slower hard drive. Once writing is complete, data will be moved from the SSD to the hard drive until there is 4GB free on the SSD again.

Create Fusion Drive Mac

The trouble comes when you start working with larger files, such as with pro audio, video and large-scale photo work. Often, these files far surpass the 4GB size, so you will see fast SSD transfer speeds followed by a precipitous drop in speed when it transfers over to the hard drive. For a full rundown of testing, check out Lloyd’s writeup at Mac Performance Guide.

For those that a Fusion drive just isn’t going to be practical, you may be better served using a Hard Drive/SSD 2-drive setup with a relocated home folder. You reduce the risk of losing all your data at once, while still retaining a large portion of the speed/storage benefits of Fusion, but with more flexibility.

Fusion Hard Drive Mac

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Mac Os X Fusion Drive Diy Video