Is iMac drive fusion or ssd

It came from Apple with a Fusion Drive as the 2019 27" iMacs did not come with a 2 TB HD option. What has happened to it in the past 4 years is anyone's guess. Why do you ask?

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2019) - Technical Specifications

rkaufmann87 wrote:

It came from Apple with a Fusion Drive as the 2019 27" iMacs did not come with a 2 TB HD option. What has happened to it in the past 4 years is anyone's guess. Why do you ask?

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2019) - Technical Specifications

The OP asked "How do I know if it’s an SSD or Fusion?"

According to the Technical Specifications, a 2 TB Fusion Drive was standard on the 3.7 GHz model, and a built-to-order option on the 3.0 and 3.1 GHz models. A 2 TB SSD was a build-to-order option on the 3.7 GHz model.

If the OP brings up a System Report it should become obvious whether the Mac has.a Fusion Drive or a SSD. The Storage, SATA, and NVMExpress sections, together, should be pretty enlightening. In Ventura, you can get to the System Report

• From System Settings > General > About > System Report…
• By holding down Option while clicking on the Apple () menu, and selecting System Information…

Hi stlgasman1,

It looks like the iMac currently doesn't have a Fusion Drive, but it might have shipped with one earlier as mentioned by rkaufman87.

Whether that single drive is an SSD or a spinning hard drive, I'm not sure.

dialabrain wrote:

FWIW, "/dev/disk1 (synthesized):" indicates you have a Fusion Drive.

FYI, this does not indicate a Fusion Drive. The synthesized part is in reference to the APFS Container on the physical drive "disk0" which is actually mentioned for "disk1" (line 0) which says "APFS Container Scheme - Physical Store disk0s2".

A Fusion Drive also has a somewhat similar line...I forget exactly how it is listed, but usually there will be a virtualized remnant unless the hard drive has failed and the SSD has been erased.

Edit: If the 2TB drive is an SSD, then this iMac never had a Fusion Drive (assuming all drives are from the factory). If the 2TB drive is a hard drive, then there is a slim possibility this could have been a Fusion Drive, but it is much less likely for an SSD to disappear completely, although it is possible.

HWTech wrote:

dialabrain wrote:

FWIW, "/dev/disk1 (synthesized):" indicates you have a Fusion Drive.

FYI, this does not indicate a Fusion Drive. The synthesized part is in reference to the APFS Container on the physical drive "disk0" which is actually mentioned for "disk1" (line 0) which says "APFS Container Scheme - Physical Store disk0s2".

Glad you think so. Of course none of my APFS formatted SSDs on any of my Macs have a "synthesized volume" listed. Only my Macs with a Fusion Drive.

3 of mine have it...

1st is the internal Fusion Drive...

/dev/disk4 (synthesized):

  #:            TYPE NAME          SIZE    IDENTIFIER

  0:   APFS Container Scheme -           +1.0 TB   disk4

                 Physical Stores disk3s2, disk0s2

  1:        APFS Volume Macintosh HD      11.2 GB  disk4s1

  2:        APFS Volume Macintosh HD - Data   673.0 GB  disk4s2

  3:        APFS Volume Preboot         84.4 MB  disk4s3

  4:        APFS Volume Recovery        529.0 MB  disk4s4

  5:        APFS Volume VM           2.1 GB   disk4s5

2nd is an external TB3 SSD...

/dev/disk5 (synthesized):

  #:            TYPE NAME          SIZE    IDENTIFIER

  0:   APFS Container Scheme -           +1.9 TB   disk5

                 Physical Store disk2s2

  1:        APFS Volume Ventura - Data     1.3 TB   disk5s1

  2:        APFS Volume Preboot         1.9 GB   disk5s2

  3:        APFS Volume Recovery        1.1 GB   disk5s3

  4:        APFS Volume             9.2 GB   disk5s4

  5:        APFS Volume Update         1.3 MB   disk5s5

  6:        APFS Volume VM           1.1 GB   disk5s6

3rd is an external USB3 SSD...

/dev/disk9 (synthesized):

  #:            TYPE NAME          SIZE    IDENTIFIER

  0:   APFS Container Scheme -           +2.0 TB   disk9

                 Physical Store disk8s2

  1:        APFS Volume SSD5slow - Data     1.2 TB   disk9s1

  2:        APFS Volume             15.4 GB  disk9s2

  3:        APFS Volume Preboot         358.0 MB  disk9s3

  4:        APFS Volume Recovery        1.1 GB   disk9s4

  5:        APFS Volume VM           1.1 MB   disk9s5

  6:        APFS Volume Update         917.5 KB  disk9s6

FWIW, "/dev/disk1 (synthesized):" indicates you have a Fusion Drive.

Just to add if you are running Monterey or earlier, About This Mac > Storage will show if you have a Fusion Drive…

Here is a screenshot from my MacBook Pro 14" M2 laptop running Ventura:

Run the following command to get the information about the physical drive:

diskutil  info  disk0

Note: The last character is a zero.

In Ventura, check System Settings > General > Storage. It should indicate a Fusion Drive or not.

I'm jealous. 😎