2012 IMAC FUSION DRIVE

[Mindtheater]

Hi Guys.
So I bought an iMac 2012 with all the upgrades including a fusion drive. Worked great for a few years then came the problem. My screen started to blink and after countless resets, It came back on like a brand new computer. My login name was gone and my life of files was gone also. 1tb of data just gone! I brought it to the Mac store and they said theres nothing they could do. They told me to send it out to a data recovery place.

To this day, I still used the computer bc the HDD still works. So my question is, does anyone think that that data is still there somehow? I was told that the fusion drive unfused. I don't see how the fusion part of the drive could erase itself...or could it?
any input would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance

[pcimage]

I doubt the fusion drive has wiped, but there could something wrong with it.

Either way, it's doubtful you'll get a full recovery (I.e. With file and folder structure) due to the way the boot drive (usually a SSD) is "fused" with the storage drive with the catalog file (file index) on the SSD.

You may well be able to get a raw recovery (I.e. No file names) with recovery software IF the drive is working fine

[DR-Kiev]

SSD disk is very important to make Fusion work. You tested 1tb hdd, what about ssd?

[jono-ats]

Apple’s Fusion Drive™ is a hybrid data storage configuration, consisting of a
(mechanical) hard drive and a SSD (or solid state drive), also called Flash
storage. Fusion drives are found in some Mac minis and iMacs beginning in late
2012.

Note that while a Fusion drive is a hybrid storage configuration, it should not be
confused with a hybrid or cache hard drive. Nor is it a RAID.

When properly configured in an Apple® computer, a Fusion drive normally shows
up on the desktop as a single volume. It is configured at the factory, and can be
set up thereafter using OS X version 10.8 (Mountain Lion) or higher.

The SSD portion of a Fusion drive is intended to store the most used files, to
allow for faster execution. The OS is usually cached on the SSD drive.

Important to Know:

Apparently, the computer’s directory is present on the SSD, but not on the other
drive. Therefore:

• A complete recovery of a user’s data is impossible without the availability
of both drives, preferably in as failed condition;

• If the SSD drive is not available, only raw data is available from the other
drive (i.e. files recovered by their types, without the benefit of names or a
directory);

• If a replacement mechanical drive is installed in a Fusion Mac and the
SSD is left in place, the old directory information will be erased forever
when the Fusion drive is reconfigured.

AppleCare refers clients to us for recovery. Let us know if we can help.

Jon Yaeger
Data Savers, LLC

[cheadledatarecovery]

I've just had a fusion setup in, without the SSD. Unfortunately, the Apple reseller removed the HDD, but then installed a new HDD for the customer. Needless to say, a re-install of the OS took place reusing the existing SSD. All I was presented with was the HDD. Using APFS, but not encrypted.

Imaged in PC3000, but I found the RAW recovery in PC3000/Data Extractor to be useless in this case, as it was unable to determine the correct file sizes for the majority of files. UFS Explorer and R-Studio did a much better job.

Regards,
John