SoftRAID News
In the Press
Industry Mentions
Sign Up for SoftRAID News
Sign up for SoftRAID news and be the first to know about critical updates, time saving tips and powerful tricks that help you setup and optimize your RAID volumes.
Don’t miss out, sign up for SoftRAID news now!
What are customers are saying
Using SoftRaid for Windows Lite Version and have 2 Western Digital M.2 NVME SSD’s in Raid 0 and speeds are incredible. No issues whatsoever. What we love is that SoftRaid for Windows supports TRIM while Windows build-in raid Does Not. Trim is essential for SSDs drives. Highly recommend SoftRaid for Windows.
Had issues after upgrading from 5.6.7 to 5.7.3, submitted a request for help and Mark James provided quick response and excellent service to resolve the problems.
Delighted to see my experience is far from unique! Looks like SoftRaid gets the Nobel Prize for 4.99 Star average! Sure get my vote. Nothing like having support that responds like you’re family! By far best experience in my decades of computing. In a universe by ourselves!
I wish more companies would take note of how support should be run. Mark offered near immediate response, addressing all my questions in plain to understand English. I wish more companies would take note of how support should be run. Thanks SoftRAID!
The new version has performed flawlessly! I was just thinking about you guys today and how reliable the software is interacting with my MacBook Pro. I did have some trouble at first but you guys got me back up and running and at the time it honestly seemed like magic.
Have been using SoftRAID Version 5(.x) since around 2014 with external (Thunderbolt) OWC RAID arrays. Perhaps the best thing I can say is that since then, except for replacing drives from time to time as needed, I’ve barely thought about SoftRAID, everything has just worked.
But what prompted me to post this review tonight was how quick/helpful/friendly tech support was late today (Friday) helping with recovering a volume. My initial email was answered within a few minutes and after maybe 5-6 back and forths (mostly waiting for me as I was also working on something else), everything was wrapped up about 2 hours later.
I was a little surprised at the quick response, but realized then I had used support once before for some type of recovery situation (and questions) and had a similar experience. While I’m sure there are plenty of issues that just don’t lend themselves to quick/same-day resolution like this, my (admittedly limited) experience with the tech support folks has been great, nice folks.
How SoftRAID is Evolving With the Mac to Keep Your Volumes Safe
/in SoftRAIDOver the past five years, the Mac has changed a lot. Amid all the changes, the SoftRAID development team has been hard at work making volume management easier and safer than ever.
At OWC, we have made some subtle changes in the past 12 months in the way SoftRAID is installed and used. Gone is the need to download and install the SoftRAID driver before your volume will mount. Gone is the need to replace a limited feature driver with the full featured one to get the fastest performance. Gone is the need to reduce security on your Mac. Gone is the need to enter your password and restart. And gone is the need to approve the SoftRAID driver each time you install a new version.
Instead, the SoftRAID driver is automatically installed and loaded anytime you attach a SoftRAID volume. OWC will continue to add features and improvements to the SoftRAID driver, so each time you upgrade to the latest version of macOS, you will automatically be upgraded to the latest SoftRAID driver. No downloading upgrades, no reinstalling the driver, no passwords, no reboots, no bother. It just works. (This new driver installation architecture requires macOS 13.3 or later.)
These changes are part of our continued dedication make SoftRAID the best software RAID solution available. We recently released SoftRAID 7.6 which incorporates bug fixes and features tailored to take full advantage of the latest version of macOS, Sonoma. If you want to run the SoftRAID application to monitor the health of your disks, get error notifications, display the SoftRAID log, or create and delete new volumes, you will need to upgrade to version 7.6 when using macOS 14, Sonoma.
Let’s take a look at the benefits of keeping your SoftRAID install up-to-date and how the team here at OWC has been hard at work making sure this software evolves with the Mac platform.
Your SoftRAID volume just mounts and runs full speed on any Mac, anywhere in the world
Want to move a SoftRAID volume to another workstation, share a project with a remote coworker, send the final cut of a movie to a post house for color grading, or send dailies to the lab for backup to tape? Just pass along the SoftRAID volume. Your coworker can just plug it in and start work with no software installation required*.
The SoftRAID volume will even keep working if one of the disks fails, just as it would if it was on your desktop. (Only RAID 1, 1+0, 4 and 5 volumes are protected from disk failure.)
So what do the SoftRAID application and SoftRAID Monitor add to your SoftRAID volume?
Using a SoftRAID volume without installing the SoftRAID application and SoftRAID Monitor is just like using AppleRAID or a hardware RAID. It’s plenty fast, but you are given no warnings before something goes wrong ,and little to no information after a failure. Also, there is no menubar indicator that everything is working correctly, no log to search for driver level details about which disk is misbehaving, and no warning dialog when a disk is fails or is predicted to fail.
It’s sort of like driving a car. You don’t need the dashboard to drive your car. If you covered them with black paper, your car would operate just fine. You could drive wherever you want. But the dashboard gives you a lot of up-to-the-minute information about how your car is performing, how fast it is going, how healthy it is, and how long before you need to plug it in for a recharge.
Just like the dashboard in your car, the SoftRAID application and SoftRAID Monitor give you up-to-date information about the health of your SoftRAID disks and any errors on your SoftRAID volumes. The SoftRAID application and SoftRAID Monitor are not required, but they give you the reassurance that everything is working correctly and will continue to do so.
How long can I use the SoftRAID application?
Your SoftRAID application and SoftRAID Monitor will work forever, once you’ve installed them and entered your SoftRAID serial number. The only limitation is that each version of the SoftRAID application is designed not to run on future major versions of macOS. For instance, the current version, 7.6, will run on all versions of macOS 14.x but will not run on macOS 15.
We set this limitation because macOS changes dramatically with every major release. Just think of all that has changed over the past 5 years: Apple has introduced a completely different processor (ones using ARM cores); Macs can no longer boot from RAID volumes; all drivers now must be checked for malware and cryptographically signed by Apple’s internal servers (a process called notarization); and the entire way Time Machine works has changed.
In order to prevent users from encountering major problems, we thoroughly test each new major release of macOS with SoftRAID and make sure we release a new version of SoftRAID which we know is compatible with this new macOS version. We don’t want users using old versions of SoftRAID on newer versions of macOS and encountering problems which we have already fixed.
How can I upgrade to a newer version of the SoftRAID application and SoftRAID Monitor?
To upgrade to a newer version of the SoftRAID application and SoftRAID Monitor, you must be enrolled in our Upgrade & Support Plan. This plan allows you to download new versions of the SoftRAID application and SoftRAID Monitor and to contact our customer support representatives whenever you have a problem.
You are automatically enrolled in the Upgrade & Support Plan the first time you enter your SoftRAID serial number. You will be enrolled in our Upgrade & Support Plan for 1 or 3 years. You will be enrolled for 1 year if you purchased stand alone SoftRAID and 3 years if you purchased a hardware enclosure from OWC. Once your Update & Support Plan has expired, you can renew it annually to maintain access to newer versions of the SoftRAID application and SoftRAID Monitor and to keep using our excellent customer support.
What happens if my Upgrade & Support Plan has expired and I want to upgrade to macOS 14?
If your Upgrade & Support Plan expired before we released SoftRAID version 7.6, you will have to renew your plan before you can run this new version, which is required for macOS 14.
If you do not wish to renew your Upgrade & Support Plan, your SoftRAID volumes will continue to work as normal, and be just as fast and reliable as they were before. You will just lose the ability to monitor the health of your disks and volumes using the SoftRAID application and SoftRAID Monitor.
*Requires macOS 13.3 or later.
SoftRAID 7.6 Now Available, Adds Support for macOS Sonoma, Expanded Windows Server Support
/in SoftRAIDThe latest version of OWC’s SoftRAID software adds support macOS 14 (Sonoma) and Windows Server 2022/2019.
We are excited to announce new versions of SoftRAID for both Mac and Windows. Both versions add new OS support for both platforms and continue to make SoftRAID the best software RAID solution available.
Enjoy your trip to Sonoma
We have been testing macOS 14, Sonoma, ever since Apple released the first developer preview at WWDC 2023. After thousands of hours of testing and many long days of coding, we released SoftRAID for Mac, version 7.6 two weeks ago. This version incorporates bug fixes and features tailored to take full advantage of the new version of macOS. If you want to run the SoftRAID application to monitor the health of your disks, get error notifications, display the SoftRAID log, or create and delete new volumes, you will need to upgrade to version 7.6 when using macOS 14, Sonoma.
Windows compatibility expands
For Windows, we’re happy to announce SoftRAID 4 brings support for Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server 2022. Our team has spent the last few months updating SoftRAID to work with the special constraints and security considerations in Windows Server.
We’ve also improved RAID 5 performance in Windows-users with SSD (or NVMe) RAID 5 volumes should see a noticeable improvement in writing speeds.
Connect your SoftRAID volume to any Mac, it just works
Starting with macOS 13.3, you don’t need to run the SoftRAID application to use your SoftRAID volumes. You can attach a SoftRAID volume to any Mac, anywhere in the world, and it will just show up on your desktop. SoftRAID volumes mount, run full speed and continue to protect you from disk failure (for RAID 1, 1+0, 4, and 5 volumes) just as they always have. When you are on macOS 13.3 and later, macOS automatically installs and activates the SoftRAID driver as soon as the first SoftRAID disk is connected, without any action from you. Your SoftRAID volumes have all the speed and reliability you expect even if you never ever run the SoftRAID application.
The SoftRAID driver which macOS automatically installs is the full release version, not one with reduced performance or limited features. This is the same version of the driver we are continually testing and improving.
When running macOS 14, Sonoma, version 7.6 of the SoftRAID driver is the one which will always be used. When running macOS 13.3 – 13.5, version 7.5 of the driver loads.
In Windows, to access your volumes on any Windows computer, simply download and install SoftRAID. Once installed you have full read/write access to SoftRAID volumes – you will still need a licensed version for all extra features.
Why should you upgrade to SoftRAID version 7.6?
While you can use your SoftRAID volumes on macOS 14 and Windows without upgrading or having an active support plan, you will miss out on all SoftRAID’s great volume and disk monitoring features. When you run the SoftRAID application, it installs the SoftRAID Monitor, the part of SoftRAID which watches over your disks and volumes and notifies you when there is a problem.
Using a SoftRAID volume without the SoftRAID Monitor is just like using an Apple RAID volume: you are protected from disk failure, but there is no periodic testing to see if your disks are reliable or likely to fail; there are no dialogs when an error occurs; and there is no log file to help you figure out what went wrong when a volume starts acting up.
You will also need to upgrade to this new version of SoftRAID if you want to verify or certify your disks before use. Certifying a disk is the single best way you can check that a disk is reliable before using it for your important files. We certify every disk we ship with any OWC enclosures which come pre-formatted with SoftRAID. This is why we have such low return rates on these products.
macOS 13.4 Brings Bug Fix for Some SoftRAID Users
/in SoftRAIDIncludes a fix for a bug some SoftRAID users were encountering when accessing RAID 5 volumes
Apple has changed the CPU used in Mac computers many times in the past 30 years, first from Motorola to Power PC, then from Power PC to Intel, and most recently from Intel to Apple silicon. Each time, macOS has done an incredible job of hiding the fact that macOS software, your applications, and all of your files are running on a completely different type of processor. With each of these changes, not only are the instructions used by the CPUs totally different, but the mechanism used to access main memory has changed as well.
Sometimes, the change in CPU type also introduces bugs. This was the case with the transition to Macs with Apple silicon. This transition introduced a bug which very occasionally causes a kernel panic when reading or writing files to SoftRAID RAID 5 volumes on Macs with Apple silicon. Reading or writing the same file to the same volume on an Intel Mac never fails.
This bug happens so infrequently that it took our testers more than a year to figure out a way of reproducing it. Most SoftRAID users on Macs with Apple silicon never see this problem.
We determined that this bug was in the code which transfers data to and from disks when accessing files on SoftRAID volumes. We then notified Apple engineers of the bug and helped them investigate it. After many, many months of working with Apple, there is finally a fix which has been introduced with the release of macOS 13.4. Now, Macs with Apple silicon are as reliable as Intel Macs when accessing SoftRAID RAID 5 volumes.