Yes, I know it's not supported out ot the box.
I've been trying to set up a DIY Fusion Drive on my Early 2011 MBP 15" with no luck.
I've been googling a bit and found several others reporting the same problems on the MBP8,2. Seems this setup works on most Mac's, just not this model. Has anyone gotten this to work with any sort of hack? Please share your experience.
MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2011), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)
Why are you wasting your time with it? It has no advantages over the two separate drive system you have. Use the SSD as your boot drive. Keep Applications, System, Library, and Users folders on the SSD. Put your user account folder on the HDD. Erase your folder on the SSD. Create aliases to the several folders that are now on the HDD.
Kappy wrote:
Why are you wasting your time with it?
I like a challenge.
Kappy wrote:
It has no advantages over the two separate drive system you have.
It sure does. The OS handles where the files go so I can use the time to work instead of managing where the files go for best performance.
Kappy wrote:
Keep Applications, System, Library, and Users folders on the SSD. Put your user account folder on the HDD. Erase your folder on the SSD. Create aliases to the several folders that are now on the HDD.
Then I would have to re-organize when either drive gets full.
Anyhow, this was way off topic from my question. I know my alternatives, so you don't need to list them up for me.
In case you are not already aware of these resources here are some links
http://blog.macsales.com/15617-creating-your-own-fusion-drive
http://www.macworld.com/article/2014011/how-to-make-your-own-fusion-drive.html
There are others, but the most salient point from the first link is that it alleges the 2012 Mini is the only Mac that uses a version of Disk Utility capable of creating a Fusion volume. This sounds dubious to me though since I find it hard to believe CoreStorage is dependent upon a version of Disk Utility that exists only for the Mini. The only reason I mention this is that I consider OWC knowledgeable about the subject.
Without further details of how you intend to accomplish this I am curious how you justify the following comment:
The OS handles where the files go so I can use the time to work instead of managing where the files go for best performance.
We know Apple's Fusion Drive accomplishes these actions in firmware or software that exists in their new iMacs, but what resource led you to conclude this ability exists in your MacBook Pro, or anything other than the current production 2012 iMacs for that matter?
If you are certain it does, I may do it also. I like challenges too.
You can do this via terminal, using diskutility. It's actually pretty simple, just not on the MBP8,2 witch seems to have some issues. Dunno if it's because there is one 6gbit and one 3gbit SATA channel or any other stuff that makes it (seem) inpossible on this unit.
Seems like all you need is OSX 10.8.2 and an Intel Mac (other than the early 2011 MBP 15")
Links:
- and many more if you google "DIY fusion drive" or "roll your own fusion drive"
I understand that, but my concern is the quoted comment. Unless you know that what you intend to accomplish will result in OS X continuously and intelligently migrating frequently-accessed files to the SSD, merging the two volumes is of limited value.
This is the major advantage that makes Fusion Drive attractive.
From Apple's KB article on the subject:
Presented as a single volume on your Mac, Fusion Drive automatically and dynamically moves frequently used files to Flash storage for quicker access, while infrequently used items move to the hard disk.
That is what I am curious about. Unless you have reason to believe that what you are proposing will accomplish this, and can explain how, then you are no better off than doing what Kappy suggested.
danibjor wrote:
- and many more if you google "DIY fusion drive" or "roll your own fusion drive"
Yes. We have all seen those links. Some people have even managed to get something running. Why, everyone asks, is Apple denying this to owners of previous machines? Is it because Apple is greedy and wants to sell us new computers that we can't open and hack up on our own?
Or is it because Apple knows that a Fusion drive setup will only work on some machines and isn't appropriate for all situations even when the Fusion drive is configured from the factory?
You are asking for information that nobody has - perhaps not even Apple. Maybe start a DIY Fusion web site, list your model, SSD model, and HDD model and mark it as not working. With a few thousand similar posts, you might have a good idea of the information you are asking for. That is really the only way it is going to happen.
Ah.
I'm after the benefited performance. I'm aware of the possible increased risk of data loss when you spread the data over two drives. And also that moving data around may shorten the lifespan of the drives.
I'm lazy, so I don't want to use time to manage where to store files. I want stuff to just work, not having to worry about setting up symlinks, shares, figure out what goes where and so on. And I want one single disk, logical volume, to worry about.
etresoft wrote:
Is it because Apple is greedy and wants to sell us new computers that we can't open and hack up on our own?
Or is it because Apple knows that a Fusion drive setup will only work on some machines and isn't appropriate for all situations even when the Fusion drive is configured from the factory?
Of course they want to make money, as all companies does. You can surly see the issues that might come up when everyone goes out and buys their own disk and start hacking away on their Mac's. It would be hard to test and make sure every combination out there works as intended.
I'm not saying Apple should fix this on my computer - I'm simply just asking fellow users if someone with the same model as I have, have gotten this working.
First, you're not asking whether you should use Fusion Drive or what you should do instead of using it. You've already decided you want to use it. The opinion of others as to what you should do, especially those who have no experience with creating an FD, aren't relevant to your question.
I'm using it on unsupported hardware, though not the same as yours, and it works very well. I prefer it to using an SSD as a boot drive and a hard drive for secondary storage.
You say you tried to set it up, and it didn't work. What did you do, and what happened?
I understand that. It is just that if you have an SSD and HDD, you can get most of the Fusion drive benefits (and none of the problems) without any unsupported hacks, symlinks, or shares. Do the following:
0) Create a new, backup admin account - just in case.
1) install everything on the SSD.
2) copy your user home directory to the HDD.
3) In System Preferences > Users & Groups > (your account) > (right/command click) > Advanced > change the home directory to the HDD path from 2.
4) Log out
5) Log back in
Sure, it is not as slick and fancy as a real (or DIY) Fusion drive. But it is done in a few minutes. It is 100% supported and guaranteed to work perfectly even in those cases where Apple says the Fusion drive will not work well.
Linc Davis wrote:
[...]
First, thank you Sir, for actually being relevant to the topic!
diskutil cs create foo diskX diskY works great
diskutil cs createVolume UUID .. is the part where it fails when waiting for logical volume to appear.
I've tried all sorts of methods, by rebooting in between commands, erasing PRAM and such but no luck.
The command do not complete most of the times. Either the computer hangs or it's waiting forever on 30-50%. I then have to pull out wither one of the disks to get it to reboot in recovery so i can delete the logical partitions one by one on the disks to get them usable again.. just to start over with the same (un)expected result.
From what others write about the MBP8,2 - mine seems to behave exactly the same as theirs. So it seems to be relatet do just this one model.
Previous message edited after posting.
Correct. Seems to be the same issues that I have.
And, why would you assume I have no experience with an FD? Furthermore, suggesting whether it's worthwhile creating one is certainly relevant.
DIY Fusion Drive on MacBookPro8,2
