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Create Fusion Drive for Mac Mini?

With the falling prices of SSDs, I am fascinated by the prospect of adding one to my Late-2012 quad-core i7 Mac mini and set it up as a single Fusion Drive volume with the existing 1TB HDD.

The clunky 5,400rpm HDD that it came with is laboriously slow and the opportuity to add a 256GB SSD (probably a Sandisk?), for a lot less than the incremental price hike of having specified a 128GB Fusion Drive in the first place, seems very tempting. Better still, it was mentioned, in another thread, that Disk Utility in later Mac Minis automatically set-up two installed drives as a single Fusion Drive volume, so I would not even have to delve into the dark arts of the Terminal to set it up, just pick-up a disk doubler kit from iFixit or OWC, drop in the SSD, load OS 10.9 onto the SSD, boot into Disk Utilities, select 'Repair Disk' then go and make a cup of tea!

Even though I might have to forfeit my remaining 6 months of Applecare, it seems like a compelling way to vastly improve my Mac mini's disappointingly sluggish performance. I always back-up to Time Machine so am not overly concerned about doubling the risk of data loss with a Fusion set-up.

It all seems too alluring... am I missing something?

Can someone temper my enthusiasm before I bite off more than I can chew with a perfectly good 6-month-old Mac mini?

Mac mini, OS X Mavericks (10.9), rMBP, 2x 24" LG monitors.

Posted on Jan 22, 2014 11:25 AM

Top-ranking reply

Allan Eckert

Level 9

79,548 points

Posted on Jan 22, 2014 11:36 AM

I created one in my Mac Pro and it really improved the performance for me

For some insight on how to do it here is the site I used to make mine.

http://blog.macsales.com/15617-creating-your-own-fusion-drive

It does include directions for the Mac Mini

Good luck

I created mine with a 120 GB Accelsior PCIe SSD card and a 1 TB disk. I was able to move the vast majority of my files in addition to my system and applications to the Fusion Drive.

Allan

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68 replies

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,102 points

Dec 31, 2014 5:54 AM in response to keg55

No the 850 is completely different in controller and structure.

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,102 points

Dec 31, 2014 6:04 AM in response to Soundwire

I also use SSDs already for years Crucial, Samsung (but not - yet - the 850), Kingston, and others. I was a fan of the Crucials with the Marvell controller and less so for the Samsungs 830 and 840 with the Sandforce based controllers.

But now I am going to use the 1TB 850Pro soon...

Technical info about it here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/samsung-850-pro-ssd-performance,3861.html

About Trim: you will never notice the difference in speed, not longevity in a modern SSD. Theoretically only when almost full...

And the OS makes no difference for that, the difference being that you have to disable a security layer in Yosemite.

Dec 31, 2014 6:06 AM in response to Lexiepex

Thanks for the help guys, really cleared up some issues. Look forward to the upgrade Lex, 1TB 850 is a monster! 🙂

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,102 points

Dec 31, 2014 6:16 AM in response to Soundwire

Yes, 1TB.... ( i have a 1TB Crucial each in two of my MBP's).

PS: I used Trim since Leopard on the then rather crude SSDs. Tested all Trim apps (TrimEnabler, horror in the beginning; Chameleon, better but not perfect), and always used the GrantPannell commandline in the end. But since the last two years I stopped using Trim, because it does not add to the GarbageCollection of the new SSDs....

Feb 13, 2015 9:10 AM in response to keg55

I just had OWC install a 120GB SSD and a 1TB hard drive in my Mac Mini 3,1 (Early 2009). It sounds like I can create a Fusion Drive because I'm running Yosemite 10.10.2. Am I correct?

Feb 13, 2015 9:57 AM in response to Lexiepex

I just posted a question asking if I can create a fusion drive with my Mac Mini 3,1 (Early 2009) which I've just had souped up with a 120 GB OWC Mercury SSD and a 1 TB HD. You are clearly inclined to recommend that I put Yosemite 10.10.2 on the SSD with the applications and put documents and libraries on the HD.

Assuming I take the route you recommend, can I still use Migration Assistant to more the apps but leave the linked documents and IPhoto and iTunes libraries on the new HD? Thanks.

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,102 points

Feb 13, 2015 10:51 AM in response to nc.loggerhead

It is really not done to hack somebodies thread. And certainly not in this way. But then, since I am in a real time stress , I will answer this very curtly.

1. I advise NOT to do a Fusion drive on this combination (as you know from me).

2. The system and your Home folder on the SSD, and your large libraries (songs, photos, movies, and the like) on the HDD.

Lex

If you want more start your own thread.

Jul 6, 2015 7:46 PM in response to robinotter

I had the same problem with the disks not appearing in red so therefore no option to "fix" the disks and create the fusion drive.

Here's how I was able to work around that and create fusion drive.

1. Boot from USB drive with Yosemite installed. I created the USB drive using these instructions.

http://www.macworld.com/article/2367748/how-to-make-a-bootable-os-x-10-10-yosemi te-install-drive.html

2. Erase the SSD (mine had Yosemite already installed which may have been the problem).

3. Both drives will immediately appear in red when the SSD has been erased. Select "fix" and the Fusion Drive will be created within about 10 seconds.

4. Exit Disk utility and it then follow prompts to install Yosemite.

Create Fusion Drive for Mac Mini?