I posted a problem on June 9, which has disappeared: https://forums.softraid.com/functionality-issues/raid-array-wont-mount-or-rebuild/#post-10182 I finally bit the bullet and initialized and certified two drives and set them up as RAID 1. I'm running macOS 11.4 on an M1 iMac. I can successfully create a mirror with two drives, and copy files to to it. When I have macOS try to use it as an alternate Time Machine Volume it hangs during its attempt to set up the volume and unmount it. After that I can't remount it again. I previously had this configuration working on a 2014 iMac, but can't seem to get it going on the new one.
I had a typo... it hangs during its attempt to set up the volume and unmountS it.
This is a new "feature" in Big Sur. Time Machine requires APFS file system on RAID volumes.
Use the SoftRAID beta to create the volume as APFS. That will fix this. Do you have the link? You do not have to use the beta driver, just create the volume, then use 6.0.5 again.
Thanks. That's interesting because I have a Drobo RAID that is working fine, but perhaps because it is more proprietary it does't look like a raid to TM. ... and I do need the link to the Beta.
I did find 6.1b1. Is that what you referred to????
And I can't see where to Erase it and make it APFS... only HFS+, MS DOS, Ex FAT... Thanks.
SoftRAID cannot "convert" or erase a volume as APFS. delete the volume and create a new one, selecting APFS as the file system. that will work.
Yes a hardware RAID looks like a single disk to macOS, and while some like the drobo may need a driver, often a hardware RAID does not need a driver to load.
That helped! Created the volume in SoftRAID. Disk Utility shows it mounted, SoftRAID does not and when I try to mount it says no errors-mounting and then returns to unmounted, while Disk Utility continues to show it mounted.
SoftRAID does not support APFS in the user interface, which is why.
Aah. we're getting there. If there is no support for APFS in the interface how do I make it into a RAID volume. Time Machine DID accept it, but I was hoping for a RAID TM.
I had thought I mentioned to use the beta version to create an APFS volume. You do not need to use it, just run it to create the volume.
Here is a link:
I guess we're not understanding each other. Thanks to your help I did successfully create the APFS volume. What did you mean by "You do not need to use it, just run it to create the volume." If the interface doesn't support APFS how do I create an APFS RAID 1 volume? Is that possible?
The beta can create an APFS volume. Just create the volume, then go back to 6.0.5.
You do not need to keep using the beta once you create the volume.
You're right, although it says unmounted, TM is happy. I'm not as I still can't see how to add a 2nd disk to it to make it RAID 1.