Apple Fusion Drives, what are they and why should I care?

Starting around 2012 Apple started offering a new option for storage, the Fusion Drive – it was good for a couple of reasons but also had some drawbacks. To have a look at this we have to understand how they work.

There are two types of Apple drives, SATA drives (or spinning drives) and SSD drives. SSD drives are modern drives and are a lot faster than spinning drives but are, and especially in 2012, a lot more expensive and smaller capacity. The Fusion drive married these two type of drives to make a hybrid drive using the speed of a small SSD with the larger storage of a spinning drive.

Sounds great – was it? Generally Fusion Drives work well but the weakness is the spinning drive, because spinning drives start slowing and failing after 2 to 3 years you have to be very careful with them and make sure you have a strong backup at all times. Today we have much cheaper, larger SSDs so the Fusion Drive is largely obsolete – and you can convert a Fusion Drive to a full SSD fairly simply – and that’s what you should do! Be aware though, when a spinning drive slows down you get a fair bit of warning it should be replaced, a Fusion Drive hides the slowing down so it can fail with very little warning – hence the back ups!

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Paul Sherriffs (Mac After Dark owner)

Paul has 20 years experience with IT computers and internet networks, both with Macs and PCs - his experience let’s him translate technical terms into plain English and layman terms - he can advise what the best path is to get your Mac systems working to their full potential.

As the owner of Mac After Dark Paul is a Internet and Macintosh specialist and has a boutique repair business, with an emphasis on service, especially in the small office/home office area, he offers the same level of care for all his clients. Happy to help is his own personal motto.