# Are Fusion drives still a problem for Logic Pro X?



## WindcryMusic (Mar 29, 2018)

I'm coming quickly to the conclusion that the maxed-out 32GB in my current iMac is no longer going to be enough for me to run my studio in. I can't afford the iMac Pro (I mean seriously, ouch), so I am looking at the latest iMacs, which at least have the (also not cheap) option for 64GB. However, the only hard drive options seem to be either Fusion drives or SSDs of 2GB or less, which is probably too small to accommodate my requirements ... I already have external SSDs for my sample libraries, but even so, I have more than 2GB of stuff on my internal HD as well.

I remember that people were having significant problems with Fusion drives when using Logic Pro X. Have those been resolved via more recent updates, or are Fusion drives still pretty much out of the question if I want to use such a computer for music purposes?


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## Wally Garten (Apr 26, 2018)

WindcryMusic said:


> I remember that people were having significant problems with Fusion drives when using Logic Pro X. Have those been resolved via more recent updates, or are Fusion drives still pretty much out of the question if I want to use such a computer for music purposes?



Did you ever come to a conclusion on this? I'm also looking into new iMacs and running into the same thing -- a factory-installed SSD on a new iMac costs a fortune, but I wonder if the Fusion Drive is so unusable that I'd wind up having to buy an external SSD anyway.


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## WindcryMusic (Apr 26, 2018)

Wally Garten said:


> Did you ever come to a conclusion on this? I'm also looking into new iMacs and running into the same thing -- a factory-installed SSD on a new iMac costs a fortune, but I wonder if the Fusion Drive is so unusable that I'd wind up having to buy an external SSD anyway.



I haven't found any information specific to Logic, but just a lot of general dislike for the Fusion drives, so I'm thinking they are to be avoided if at all possible.

What I am now seriously considering is an upgrade to an iMac Pro with an internal SSD, which nicely sidesteps the issue (albeit at a significant cost).


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## Wally Garten (Apr 26, 2018)

Ah, yeah -- looks like a lovely machine, but a bit out of my range. I have been thinking about buying a base model and having an SSD installed, or else buying an external one.

Anyway, thanks!


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## LinusW (Apr 26, 2018)

I have no trouble with my current Fusion Drive, but - I’m planning to break it down to SSD and HDD this summer.
A SSD system drive with APFS would be faster than Fusion Drive (HFS+ only) and I can still put the user folders on the internal HDD for storage with less speed requirements.


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## Ashermusic (Apr 27, 2018)

No problems with Logic and a fusion drive here.


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## Tim Clarke (May 5, 2018)

I think going SSD makes the most sense, even though the price difference is tough to swallow.

I just popped for the 2017 iMac 5k. I waited forever to make this decision - hopefully I don’t regret it. Always used Mac Pros before, so it’s philosophically difficult to go the iMac route. Anyway...

I decided, after looking at the iMac Pro cost, the best current value AND future-proof option Apple has provided us is the 27” top of the pile iMac 5k, with the 4.2 ghz i7 upgrade and a 1 tb ssd upgrade - but staying with only 8 GB of memory. Then you buy a 32 GB upgrade kit for less than 1/2 what Apple wants, and you have 40 GB of memory.


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## WindcryMusic (May 6, 2018)

Tim Clarke said:


> I think going SSD makes the most sense, even though the price difference is tough to swallow.
> 
> I just popped for the 2017 iMac 5k. I waited forever to make this decision - hopefully I don’t regret it. Always used Mac Pros before, so it’s philosophically difficult to go the iMac route. Anyway...
> 
> I decided, after looking at the iMac Pro cost, the best current value AND future-proof option Apple has provided us is the 27” top of the pile iMac 5k, with the 4.2 ghz i7 upgrade and a 1 tb ssd upgrade - but staying with only 8 GB of memory. Then you buy a 32 GB upgrade kit for less than 1/2 what Apple wants, and you have 40 GB of memory.



Yeah, I think I too have pretty much accepted that I’m going to be spending a big chunk of money shortly, both on SSD and otherwise.

For a while I was looking at the same iMac config that you just got (and congrats on it, by the way!). My problem is that the new orchestral template I am building is threatening to hit the 32GB limit of my current iMac before I have so much as recorded a single note, and as such, even the 64GB max of the newest iMacs seems likely to be only a short term fix for me. So I think I’ve accepted that I need to go for the whole iMac Pro hog now, to get that 128GB of space to play in, and then trust that it will last me for quite a few years.


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## Tim Clarke (May 6, 2018)

wow - I was hoping 40 GB of ram would alleviate any of those concerns!


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## gpax (May 7, 2018)

As for the question of LPX and fusion drives, performance may also depend on how you use the fusion drive and allocate its space. Or at least that was my experience going back three years.

I was getting routine hangs and hiccups in Logic on my (then new) late 2014 iMac, purchased in mid 2015, and intuited one culprit was the fusion drive trying to juggle between the threshold of the HDD and SSD.

So, I stripped everything down to production software only, and have (in theory) only utilized the SSD since (with no hiccups). I am meticulous about leaving headroom on that SSD portion of the fusion, though next time I do a clean install may partition these.

As is (or used to be the case), the fusion drive defaults to the SSD first for the OS, and also prioritizes applications it detects as frequent and routine. I recall reading somewhere that Logic and other Apple pro apps are given priority, though cannot confirm this.

But... Apple cut the SSD portion of the fusion drive from 128 GB (mine) to only 24 GB, in 2015. That is a substantial decrease. I’m not sure what the ratio is now, or if they’ve increased this back. But anyone buying should consider this.

While I suspect the fusion’s efficiency has improved with later OS releases, I’ve gotten used to a streamlined iMac with project files and audio residing on external drives (I also have five SSDs for sample libraries). FWIW, the last time I detected the HDD spinning was before I streamlined over two years ago.

But all that was in late 2015, so perhaps the fusion drive is fine now, as Jay is reporting on his end. The other issue some may be referring to is fusion drives not getting along with audio interfaces, though that all seemed to be sorted out about the time I got my iMac.

Greg


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## Wally Garten (May 7, 2018)

Well, I ordered an iMac with a fusion drive. I'll see how it goes. Worst case scenario, if it doesn't work out, there's a shop near my office that can install an aftermarket SSD for way less than Apple would have charged, or I can just tack on an external one through one of the Thunderbolt ports.


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