SoftRAID

The product is slow. I purchased with SoftRaid 5.8.4 and SoftRaid 6 was in beta. They had shipped, but I asked them to return the product. I had not received the shipment and I had not opened it. They flat out refused. Then when SoftRaid 6 came out, which is required for Big Sur, they charged me $50 for an upgrade. Even worse, when I got it, configured my Raid, my performance was in the 300 Mb range (Read and Write) for three SSDs. This was on a Sabrent 10Gbps JBOD unit. I was expecting much better. When I tried to talk with tech support, that was impossible, and they used Covid as an excuse. Fine, but via email support was far worse and slow. You could NEVER use this utility for any kind of production, no matter how small. How could you when it would take days for them to back to you? The tech support guy clearly said his goal was to show me that the problem was my hardware. What kind of support is that? How could he ever find the problem when his only focus was to blame my hardware? Finally, I configured my three SSDs as a Raid 0 using the Mac Raid Assistant. My speeds were excellent; 940 write and 650 read. What that means is that the hardware can produce 10Gbps speed, given the right software. I'm out over $200 on this software Raid, and I wish I'd never ever bought it. OWC is now on my do not buy list.....I really thought they were a much better company than this!

Has become very unreliable on the Mac, OWC disk gets locked require you to restart sometimes a few times a day, Issues with Big Sur can not recommend OWC products anymore sadly

OpenZFS is here for good now. Originally ZFS for Sun Microsystems, then came macZFS, then Zevo ZFS and now OpenZFS for 16 operating systems. If you value your data, I suggest you rethink how you store it. SR was brilliant for HFS back in the day, I owned a copy. But things have advanced so much when it comes to storage. SR should consider adopting ZFS and use SR's great GUI to sit on top. (hint hint)

does not work well under Catalina you need to enable startup security if you have a T2 chip. not a good option. Given I need to rely on the software working to access my files they are behind the 8 ball in regards to compatibility and system updates which is not comforting.

Ok just bought new Mac Pro 2020, installed an OWC 8TB SSD as a back up disk, all good. Wanted to install a RAID 4 System onto the OWC SSD, so downloaded and installed OWC SoftRaid (AUD$270), its a 3 step set up in SoftRaid, but here's the problem everyone should be aware of and its not something OWC make clear in any way when you buy SoftRaid, if your Mac has a T2 Chip, the only way to Mount a finished RAID Volume with SoftRaid, is to disable the security system on the T2 chip to "No Security". When you talk to SoftRaid tech support they simply tell you to go ahead and disable the security system on the T2 chip, which I'm not prepared to do. They offer no support at all in how to re turn the SSD to pre SoftRaid format. My advice would be not to use this software while it requires disabling of the T2 chip security protocol. And the SoftRaid tech support ?? useless

Great App, have it running since 10.12.x with no fuss at all. I am angry about the reluctance of Akitio and OWC, about a firmware update on the Thunder2 Quad, to bring the controller to the version Apple uses on its Hardware. Lots of shit happens because of this, and it has nothing to do with either SoftRaid or macOS. I talked to the Akitio support about some critical issues regarding this. It can't be the controller, it must be a software bug, was the reply. I know it isn't...

Can SoftRAID 5.7 build RAID 50 (5 +0) arrays, if not 6?

I am planning to build RAID 50 with 10 bay tower casing with 10 500MB HDDs with 5 volume array each for RAID 5 (say, array 1 and array 2) and then mirrored with RAID 0. It's for SNS use and does not necessarily need speed and size for the arrays. 2.5TB each suffice, if not overkill.

After using this on two OWC ThunderBay RAIDs I am deeply disappointed in the product, and OWC who is cramming this obsolete technology on unsuspecting customers. SoftRAID is a serious kludge for modern users. I've lost confidence and respect in OWC.

Some folk's reviews here are mind-boggling. SoftRAID is one of the most acclaimed and widely accepted soft-RAID solutions. I myself have been running it on all my drives, (13 actively connected; some RAIDed - some not; some spinners; some SSDs) for well over a decade. In those 10+ years, I can attribute ONE issue to it, about 7 years ago. Is it fast? According to BlackMagic I can edit all types of vide except2160p50/p60 10bit YUV 4:2:2... and I do. Everyone has different hardware, skill levels and experience, so these reports are all just anecdotal.
My "anecdote" is that I'm trusting my entire setup, and my business to SoftRAID and have for about 14 years, and based on 16/6 experience, I'm going to continue to do so.

Two issues: > SoftRAID is just not reliable or efficient, it is a bygone technology snarfed up by OWC > The 'demo' lite version is a crappy marketing technique to extract another $179 from purchasers of the already-pricey ThunderBay. AVOID SoftRAID and ThunderBay at all costs.

Mixed feelings. I acquired Softraid Lite under the impression it could convert an Apple Raid 1 system into a Softraid system. To this day this function isn't implemented despite the fact that the very nice people from the customer service department kept promising: "soon, very soon..." So back-Up and complete rebuild. After that it is running solidly. But promising functions that never appear is a bit lame.

Absolutely, positively, top 10 in my tool chest.

Very solid software, nice support, have been using it for close to a decade: a 5-star product. However, it's kind of expensive if one wants to deploy it in multiple locations. I would have liked a more liberal licensing policy, of perhaps a single desktop / single laptop license, which enables switching disks between RAID arrays. Myself, I'll keep using SoftRAID for years to come on my main rig, but installed OpenZFS on all other systems.

Softraid 5 seems to be extraordinarily reliable as well as extraordinarily capable. While Apple's Disk Utility can set up RAIDs, SoftRAID gives you more options, and the interface is years better. I have always worried that when a disk fails, I won't know how to add a new disk back to my RAID 5 to restore the redundancy. With SoftRAID I know that it will be easy. SoftRAID also allows you to set up RAID 4, which has better performance in certain circumstances. It is also being actively developed. I found a small bug in it, corresponded with the developer, and he says that it will be fixed in the next release. Try doing that with Apple's software! Go to SoftRAID's website for benchmark speeds—my experience is that these are the speeds that you can expect. If you want fast or reliable or fast + reliable disks, use SoftRAID.

I had virtually no experience with RAID configurations other than establishing one based upon directions and Disk Utility. This software removes guess work and the user will know what he/she is getting. It is pricey, but it leaves little to the imagination and dissolves frustration.

I combined today three SSDs in an old MacPro of my customer and built a small but lightning fast server for a workgroup. This software works fantastically. I like the professional documentation. Thank you.

Yes, expensive. The trial version is a nice idea, but be warned you will get a message at least once a day for 30 days warning you your trial version will expire in * days. Once a week would be fine or on the last day, but everyday - how annoying. I was told the only way to get rid of this annoyance would be to buy the software.

I tried Yosemite PB1 on MacBook Pro 15in(Early 2011) with Intel SSD 530. Chameleon SSD and Trim Enabler does not success at TRIM enable. But SoftRAID 4.5.3 success at TRIM enable.

And if you have a look on the ZEVO forums, a very uncertain future as Zevo is currently broken on 10.9 with no clear plans other than tweets for assurances. We all wish ZFS was the way forward, but Softraid is the rock solid NOW compared to ZEVO's still to arrive FUTURE...

We have been using SoftRAID for years on Apple servers and workstations. Apple includes the SoftRAID driver on their servers, a testiment to how good it is. ZEVO...ya know, I gave them a shot, spent a few buckx on a license...wouldn't you know, they sold the product to another company. Yea....so much for ZEVO being a solid, supported solution. Not only have they flown under the radar (taking our money in the process), they just dumped on all their customers. Bye, bye ZEVO. SoftRAID...as always, recommended if you want bullet proof performance and excellent support from a solid company with a rock steady history. Don