Is a "Fusion" hard drive a good idea for use w/ Ableton?

[bcwarlock]

I have decided to get an i-Mac and I'm trying to decide between a 3TB fusion hd or a 1TB ssd. I really want the 2TB extra storage the fusion can provide...but is it fast enough(I really have just now heard about fusion drives,tbh)?? Or should the 1TB ssd have enough space since I'm only using the computer for Ableton as I have an old macbook that I will use for day to day stuff....any advice is appreciated, thanks

[ark]

If you have enough RAM, the operating system will use the RAM as a disk cache anyway. 1GB is an hour of uncompressed audio at 16b/44K. So I don't think you need to worry about whether you use an SSD or a fusion drive as long as you have at least 1GB more RAM than you need. You probably don't need to worry anyway, but ...

[dcease]

read this... personally I wouldn't risk it. go with the ssd, and an external for projects.

[Tarekith]

I know a few different producers using Fusion drives with their new iMacs, no issues at all for them so far. Noticeably faster than a normal HD they've said.

[bcwarlock]

If you have enough RAM, the operating system will use the RAM as a disk cache anyway. 1GB is an hour of uncompressed audio at 16b/44K. So I don't think you need to worry about whether you use an SSD or a fusion drive as long as you have at least 1GB more RAM than you need. You probably don't need to worry anyway, but ...

I'm pretty sure I will because I'm getting 32gb so I should be ok in that respect...

[bcwarlock]

read this... personally I wouldn't risk it. go with the ssd, and an external for projects.

Yeah that doesn't sound too good....I think 1TB should be enough if all I'm using the computer for is production...I can always get an external drive...any recommendations? Also is 32gb ram overkill? Should I stick w/ a 16gb?
Thanks

[dcease]

read this... personally I wouldn't risk it. go with the ssd, and an external for projects.

Yeah that doesn't sound too good....I think 1TB should be enough if all I'm using the computer for is production...I can always get an external drive...any recommendations? Also is 32gb ram overkill? Should I stick w/ a 16gb?
Thanks

for externals i've always just bought wd or seagates from best buy, make sure they're 7200 drives, USB should be fine although you could spring for a thunderbolt drive or expansion bay, but tb stuff is still fairly expensive.

32 gb of ram seems like a lot, if you are running live at 32 bit it would be overkill for sure as live can only access 4 gb, but 64 bit could take advantage of it, I guess lol! i reckon that much ram would be useful for large sample libraries/instruments and video work... more can't hurt but don't buy from apple, i've had good luck with ram from OWC.

[jukehazzard]

my 2 cents worth:
after purchasing the new iMac 27inch i was somehow "convinced" by an apple drone to go for the Fusion Drive over a str8 SSD an dam now experiencing HUGE issues with my fir wire audio interface.
IT appears the Fusion Drive concept plays havoc with firewire audio ( i use a saffire pro 40)
so DONT do it. unless you have other more compelling evidence.. check that all your peripherals will work first!!