What does a Fusion Drive combine in its design?

A Fusion Drive is specifically designed to merge the high capacity of a traditional hard disk drive with the rapid access speeds characteristic of flash memory, such as that found in solid-state drives (SSDs). This hybrid approach allows macOS to intelligently manage data by placing frequently accessed files and applications on the faster SSD, while less-used data remains on the spinning hard drive.

This design aims to provide users with both the ample storage capacity that larger hard drives offer and the improved performance that comes from SSD technology, thereby enhancing the overall user experience without requiring users to choose between speed and storage size. This combination addresses common limitations seen when using each type of storage independently, effectively optimizing both performance and capacity.