Go Back   The macosxhints Forums > OS X Help Requests > Hardware and Peripherals



Reply
 
Thread Tools Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 03-01-2014, 10:20 AM   #1
cpragman
All Star
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Limerick, PA
Posts: 858
About to create my first Fusion Drive

One of my projects for this weekend is to create my first Fusion Drive. I've got the OWC data doubler kit with a 100GB (6G/s) SSD. I plan to install it in my daughter's 15-inch 2010 MacBook Pro (6,2).

I've spent the last few weeks googling for all sorts of instructions and guidance, and it seems pretty straightforward to me. I've done my share of hardware work over the years, so am not intimidated by the hardware or configuration steps.

The only thing that is bugging me is that all the guides and walkthru's (except one or two comments in various blogs) say to combine the two drives at their root level, like this:

Code:
diskutil cs create /dev/disk0 /dev/disk1
And then there's random chatter that this leaves no way to create Apple's Recovery Partition.

Since this is a portable computer, and will ultimately have FileVault2 enabled, I definitely want a recovery partition when I'm done.

From everything I've read, it seems that Core Storage is a lot more sophisticated than the walkthru's show, and would allow adding individual partitions to Core Storage, and not just the whole drive.

My belief is that I can destroy just the data partition on the original HD, leaving the existing Recovery Partition intact, and then add just that data partition from the HD to Core Storage, like this:

Code:
diskutil cs create /dev/disk0 /dev/disk1s2
Has anyone else tried this, or have opinions to offer?

P.S., I've also seen various comments saying that the order that I type the drive IDs in the cs create command matters and it's best to put the fastest drive first. I've also seen the opposite comments saying that Core Storage is smarter than that, and will figure this out on it's own. My machine is 10.9.2. Does anyone have experience either way with this?
cpragman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2014, 04:50 PM   #2
jsalmi
Major Leaguer
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Down by the river
Posts: 283
Take a look at this writeup.
jsalmi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2014, 07:56 PM   #3
cpragman
All Star
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Limerick, PA
Posts: 858
Yeah, I'd read that one before...

It ALSO says to combine the root of the drives, not the data partitions. Like I said in my original post, I didn't want to do it that way.

Today I found that it is indeed possible to specify the actual partitions to enroll into the core storage volume, like this:

Code:
diskutil cs create [LVGname] disk0 disk1s2
for me, the SSD was disk0, and disk1 was the original internal HD. The command above added the entire SSD to the LVG, and only the data partition (disk1s2) of the HD to the LVG. This left the original Recovery Partition (disk1s3) on the HD unchanged, and still usable.
cpragman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2014, 02:57 AM   #4
benwiggy
League Commissioner
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: London
Posts: 5,841
There are methods of adding a Recovery Partition after the fact. I came across an AppleScript that does this a while ago. I don't know whether the Fusion partition scheme complicates this.

I think that running the OS X installer and installing OS X on that volume will also create a recovery partition.
benwiggy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2014, 09:48 AM   #5
cpragman
All Star
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Limerick, PA
Posts: 858
I haven't found a way to add the recovery partition AFTER the corestorage volume has been created. Lord knows I've googled it to death. From what I've read, corestorage volumes can't be resized once created, so that means you can't shrink one to create space for the recovery partition.

I had a little trial and error due to some mistakes. I've found that if you created a corestorage volume in error and want to delete it, it's VERY easy to inadvertently delete the recovery partition.

Having a working installer is very important, just to recover from the eventual mistake you will make.
cpragman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-03-2014, 07:16 AM   #6
agentx
Hall of Famer
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Brighton, UK
Posts: 4,123
I have feeling it cannot be done...but maybe wrong!

Overall all new Macs with a stock Fusion drive will boot to Internet recovery not a Recovery partition on local disk. Older machines are not able to do this.

However you maybe able to create a USB recovery disk
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4848?v...S&locale=en_US
And see if it allows you to enable Filevault i have a feeling not ;-(
agentx is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-03-2014, 07:30 AM   #7
agentx
Hall of Famer
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Brighton, UK
Posts: 4,123
and here is recovery info

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

wow lots of conflicting info out there in the wild. Some people say to add a recovery to yours pining drive then create a fusion drive from SSD and a partition. I was under impression it had to be whole disks.

Last edited by agentx; 03-03-2014 at 07:49 AM.
agentx is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-03-2014, 09:24 AM   #8
cpragman
All Star
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Limerick, PA
Posts: 858
So just to summarize, I was successful. I've created a Fusion Drive (SSD + Original HD), that HAS a Recovery Partition, and is now encrypted with FileVault2. It is a lot faster than the original, so I'm calling it a success.

Steps to reproduce:
1. Make bootable clone to an external disk (SuperDuper or CCC).
2. Boot off clone, make sure it's good. (Hold down OPTION key when booting for a menu of available boot disks)
3. Shutdown. Install SSD per OWCs excellent install videos. I used OWC's "Data Doubler kit". Quite happy with it.
4. Boot off clone.
5. Run terminal.
6. Determine your disk ID's by typing "diskutil list".
SSD will likely be "disk0". Original HD will likely be "disk1". Partitions on HD will likely appear as follows:
Code:
disk1    GUID_Partition_Scheme
disk1s1  EFI
disk1s2  Apple_HFS   - This is your actual data partition (typically "Macintosh HD")
disk1s3  Apple_Boot  - This is your Recovery Partition
Note: The trick is to enroll just the data partition of your HD into the Fusion Drive, and not the whole disk. Next step does that by enrolling "disk1s2" (the data partition), instead of the whole disk ("disk1"). All the walkthru's say to enroll the whole disk ("disk1"), and that is the major way we are diverging here.

7. Issue the following terminal command:
Code:
$ sudo diskutil cs create [ArbitraryName] disk0 disk1s2
Note: [ArbitraryName] should have spaces and special characters escaped. I used "Fusion", to avoid any special characters, so I couldn't screw up.
Caution: The step above will wipe all data from your data partition disk1s2. That's an unavoidable step in the process, and is why we made a bootable clone first.

8. The final output of Step 7 returns a UUID (ex., 352D9D2B-E0F2-4A16-B583-A257802EC74C) for your new CoreStorage volume. Copy that to your clipboard.
9. Issue the following terminal command:
Code:
$ sudo diskutil cs createVolume [paste the UUID here] jhfs+ [ArbitraryDriveName] 100%
Note: [ArbitraryDriveName] should have spaces and special characters escaped. I used Macintosh\ HD. You can always use something simpler, and rename the drive later in the Finder.

10. Copy the contents of the external clone back to the Mac (SuperDuper or CCC) again.
11. Reboot, from internal hard drive (fusion drive, yeah!). Disconnect external drive. Don't erase the external yet, in case something went wrong.
12. Test that your Recovery Partition still works (it should), by rebooting with COMMAND-R held down. Does recovery tools load? If so, then success!
13. Reboot to normal internal HD. Does everything look fine? If so, then now you can activate FileVault2.
14. Assuming no problems have occured, NOW you can erase your external temporary clone.

--------------------------------------------
If you accidentally damage the Recovery Partition on your HD, you can re-create it by running the MacOSX installer from the clone. Once re-install is done on your HD, you can re-start the directions above at step 4, and try again.
cpragman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-03-2014, 09:27 AM   #9
agentx
Hall of Famer
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Brighton, UK
Posts: 4,123
Good to know although we don't use fusion as Apple's way is not our way ;-)
My power users use 2 separate disks SSD and HDD.
agentx is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-03-2014, 09:29 AM   #10
benwiggy
League Commissioner
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: London
Posts: 5,841
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpragman
So just to summarize, I was successful.

Very cool. Well done.

Quote:
Originally Posted by agentx
all new Macs with a stock Fusion drive will boot to Internet recovery not a Recovery partition on local disk.

FWIW, my 2012 MacMini came from Apple with Fusion Drive and there is a Recovery Partition on the HDD that I can boot to.
benwiggy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-03-2014, 09:30 AM   #11
agentx
Hall of Famer
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Brighton, UK
Posts: 4,123
OK thx Ben once again Apple just do not have perfect info on all this. Maybe when they do the fusion drive stuff they do some tomfoolery.
agentx is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-03-2014, 12:38 PM   #12
jsalmi
Major Leaguer
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Down by the river
Posts: 283
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpragman
So just to summarize, I was successful. I've created a Fusion Drive (SSD + Original HD), that HAS a Recovery Partition, and is now encrypted with FileVault2. It is a lot faster than the original, so I'm calling it a success.

Nice work, and thanks for the write up! Stored away for future reference.
jsalmi is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
core storage, fusion drive, owc


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 02:56 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2014, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Site design © IDG Consumer & SMB; individuals retain copyright of their postings
but consent to the possible use of their material in other areas of IDG Consumer & SMB.