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Edit: Alright, they updated the blogpost saying this. But it's not an SSD 'cache' right? It's two separate disks/units merged by the OS. Not like Intel, OCZ, e

by barredo 14y ago

Edit: Alright, they updated the blogpost saying this. But it's not an SSD 'cache' right? It's two separate disks/units merged by the OS. Not like Intel, OCZ, etc which is an HDD with some SSD chips "before the bus", Right? http://s2.gizmologia.com/files/2011/06/2011-05-31-ocz.jpg http://s2.gizmologia.com/files/2011/06/2011-05-31-ocz.jpg Or I am missing out?

Lagged2Death 14y ago
It's two separate disks/units merged by the OS. That's my understanding, and in fact I expect that would make it work better in some ways. But if that's so - if it's two commodity pieces of hardware managed by some driver-level software - then it would make sense for it to be cheaper than the custom-hardware solutions from other sources. Or at least, we might expect the per-unit cost to Apple to be lower than the custom hardware systems. So that just makes the alleged overpricing worse.
- mbreese 14y ago
  It would only be cheaper if the components were the same. My Seagate hybrid drive has somwthing like 4-8GB of flash. Doesn't the Apple hybrid have 128GB?
  - Lagged2Death 14y ago
    Yes, 128GB for $250. But excellent 128GB SSDs can be had at retail for as little as ~$90 on sale. What does that 128GB drive - purchased in huge quantities directly from the manufacturer - cost Apple? Your Seagate hybrid isn't the only system of it's kind, it's not the comparison I had in mind.
talmand 14y ago
That was my understanding. I had thought they had automated the process of having an SSD for often-used applications plus an HDD for files and less-used applications that can be loaded slowly. It's not a new concept, I do it now on my Win7 machine, but the automated part seems handy.
- DannyBee 14y ago
  Isn't this exactly what intel RST does?
  - talmand 14y ago
    Sorry, had to look that up. From my brief glance this is not the same thing as I understand it. Intel's RST seems to be just their version of RAID. The Fusion Drive doesn't seem like a RAID to me. RAID provides speed benefits when data is split across multiple HDDs that can be accessed simultaneously. This doesn't seem to be what Fusion Drive does. For example, on my Win7 machine I have a SSD as my main drive and a HDD for storage. Since space is at a premium on my SSD I can install applications that I rarely use and files for storage on the HDD. Applications that I want to load quickly I install them on the SSD. But I have to do all this manually. Fusion Drive seems to be software in the OS that handles that idea for you. Anything you use constantly will be moved to the SSD for the speed benefit while everything else you rarely use goes to the HDD where speed is not as big a deal.
meaty 14y ago
Sounds like ReadyBoost that Windows Vista introduced...
deleted 14y ago
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by barredo 14y ago

Lagged2Death 14y ago

It's two separate disks/units merged by the OS. That's my understanding, and in fact I expect that would make it work better in some ways. But if that's so - if it's two commodity pieces of hardware managed by some driver-level software - then it would make sense for it to be cheaper than the custom-hardware solutions from other sources. Or at least, we might expect the per-unit cost to Apple to be lower than the custom hardware systems. So that just makes the alleged overpricing worse.

mbreese 14y ago
It would only be cheaper if the components were the same. My Seagate hybrid drive has somwthing like 4-8GB of flash. Doesn't the Apple hybrid have 128GB?
- Lagged2Death 14y ago
  Yes, 128GB for $250. But excellent 128GB SSDs can be had at retail for as little as ~$90 on sale. What does that 128GB drive - purchased in huge quantities directly from the manufacturer - cost Apple? Your Seagate hybrid isn't the only system of it's kind, it's not the comparison I had in mind.

talmand 14y ago

That was my understanding. I had thought they had automated the process of having an SSD for often-used applications plus an HDD for files and less-used applications that can be loaded slowly. It's not a new concept, I do it now on my Win7 machine, but the automated part seems handy.

DannyBee 14y ago
Isn't this exactly what intel RST does?
- talmand 14y ago
  Sorry, had to look that up. From my brief glance this is not the same thing as I understand it. Intel's RST seems to be just their version of RAID. The Fusion Drive doesn't seem like a RAID to me. RAID provides speed benefits when data is split across multiple HDDs that can be accessed simultaneously. This doesn't seem to be what Fusion Drive does. For example, on my Win7 machine I have a SSD as my main drive and a HDD for storage. Since space is at a premium on my SSD I can install applications that I rarely use and files for storage on the HDD. Applications that I want to load quickly I install them on the SSD. But I have to do all this manually. Fusion Drive seems to be software in the OS that handles that idea for you. Anything you use constantly will be moved to the SSD for the speed benefit while everything else you rarely use goes to the HDD where speed is not as big a deal.

meaty 14y ago

Sounds like ReadyBoost that Windows Vista introduced...

deleted 14y ago

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