Bob, It’s a good thing you have backups via Time Machine and clones. That’s because the Fusion Drive software blends the data on both the SSD and HDD so thoroughly that if one drive dies, the other can’t be used. In addition, when a new HDD is installed, all data on the SSD will be lost as Disk Utility initializes and formats the two drives into a new Fusion Drive. So the data on the SSD likely is OK, but it will have to be deleted in order to make a new Fusion Drive.
So what I would do, in order to retain the original user(s), is to let Apple install the new Fusion Drive setup, then restore either from Time Machine or from a clone. Make sure the new user(s) installed by Apple is not the same as the old user(s), in order for the old user(s) to be migrated. You also might query Apple as to whether they can migrate any data from the SSD; I’m not aware that it can be done, but the Geniuses may have tricks I haven’t heard about. They may well be able to save the SSD data and then migrate it to the new Fusion Drive. It’s worth asking them about doing that. Good luck. Glad you have multiple backups, which are even more critical in a dual-drive Fusion setup than with a non-Fusion one. Jim > On Apr 27, 2016, at 10:58 AM, bobs2ndem...@gmail.com wrote: > > Thank you for your clear response, Jim. You are correct — its a 27" iMac with > fusion drive. It sounds like the operating system won't have been affected by > the crash, which is good. Data lost shouldn't be a problem either, except for > possible losses in the few hours before the crash when the computer was > behaving badly. We use Time Machine, regularly make clones and do home files > backups on external drives, and recently signed up for Backblaze. (I also > have the same model of iMac — our son bought them as gifts for us from > profits he makes with his website, which he has developed and maintains using > iMacs. > > On Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at 6:00:13 PM UTC-7, Jim Scott wrote: > > > On Apr 26, 2016, at 4:28 PM, bobs2n...@gmail.com wrote: > > > > My wife's iMac mechanical hard drive crash today, and will be replaced by > > Apple. What data/software does the solid-state drive hold? (I am definitely > > not technology inclined. I use computers, but my understanding of how they > > operate is not deep!) > > > > Bob > > > > Bob, > > You failed to tell us exactly which iMac you have, as well as its > specifications. But I’m going to guess that you have a fairly recent model > with Apple’s Fusion Drive installed. Apple’s proprietary Fusion Drive > software fuses an SSD (solid state drive) with a spinning platter hard disk > drive (HDD) so that the operating system sees the combined drives as one > contiguous storage volume. > > The SSD provides speed and the HDD provides economical storage capacity — the > best of both worlds. Apple uses algorithms to put the operating system and > the most frequently used applications on the SSD, and everything else on the > HDD. The Fusion Drive software “learns” what’s what over time, and it takes a > while for a newly activated Fusion Drive to reach peak operating speeds on a > daily basis. My late-2012 27” iMac with Fusion Drive boots to the desktop and > mail begins downloading in 14 seconds. But if I want to use a program that’s > infrequently used and thus is stored on the HDD, it often takes twice that > time or more to launch it. > > The average user of a Fusion Drive cannot determine what data is stored on > each drive because OS X simply presents the data as being on one drive. Thus > regular backups with Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner or another program > are necessary to protect data in case of hardware failure such as your wife’s > iMac has experienced. Hint, hint. :^) > > Jim Scott > Eureka, CA > -- You received this message because you are a member of the iMac Group, a group for those using Apple iMacs and eMacs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to imaclist@googlegroups.com To leave this group, send email to imaclist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/imaclist --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "iMac Group" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to imaclist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
