used 2012 macbook pro 3 tb fusion drive imac

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. 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. 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.

Step 2 – Have a copy of your computer’s data. This is absolutely necessary, as the proper version of Disk Utility for doing this is on 10.8.2 or later on the mini and you want the OS versions to match. Make sure the OS on the mini’s drive is updated to 10.8.2 or later.

An external drive to clone to – 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.

A hard drive and an SSD installed/to install internally – Fusion is designed to work on internal drives only.

A 2012 Mac mini – this is an absolute requirement as these are the only machines that currently have a version of Disk Utility that can create a Fusion volume.

First, though, let’s look at the process of actually setting it up. Of course, there are a few caveats to this setup (or the stock Fusion Drive, for that matter) that you should consider before committing to a Fusion setup. However, you don’t need to have a Fusion Drive from Apple to do this with the proper command-line version of Disk Utility, you can create your own array with any platter-based drive and any SSD. The practical upshot of all this is that Fusion gives you roughly the performance of an SSD, while also taking advantage of the plentiful storage of platter-based drives. Apple’s underlying Core Storage technology then uses the SSD for the OS and frequently-accessed files, which will benefit from the speed, while placing lesser-used files on the larger, but slower platter-based drive. This is essentially a Solid State drive and a platter-based drive combined into a single volume.

One of the newest technologies available with the latest Macs is the ability to have what Apple calls a Fusion Drive.

Used 2012 macbook pro 3 tb fusion drive imac