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Topic starter
Using 7.6.1 with MacOS Sonoma 14.12.1 for a while without problems. Today I get two error messages.
FIRST, that MalWareBytes "isn't compatible". First that I've heard of it! Why did it wait until now to make a note of it? Is there an alternative that Softraid has tested? The instructions say I should disable MalawareBytes and then uninstall and reinstall SoftRAID.... which leads to the second question.
SECOND. I got a "degraded" message. Running an OWC RAID5 setup on an SSD enclosure. So, it says "rebuilding" "waiting to mount". Menu shows "Mount" option on the volume but it does nothing. Is is really rebuilding? No progress indicator? You can imagine a user would want some indicator of activity or progress. Will it take ... an hour? A day?
THIRD question: should I uninstall and reinstall before doin the "rebuild" (if that's actually happening...) or should I let the rebuild complete (assuming it will) before doing an uninstall and reinstall?
Activity monitor shows that SoftRAID isn't doing much writing to disk... and it is using < 1% (one percent) of CPU. Doesn't install confidence.
I searched support and FAQ without any advice.
Thanks for helping this user learn that his software is doing what it should....
This topic was modified 2 years ago 2 times by dean@deanritz.com
Posted : 25/12/2023 1:40 pm
Topic starter
I installed Malawarebytes. Rebooted. Uninstalled Softraid. Reinstalled. Rebooted.
Running SoftRAID it shows the same messages of "degraded" and "rebuilding, waiting for mount" but it won't mount. And thus it won't rebuild. I had it "Generate report for tech support" but the dialog box has it "running" without a conclusion. That is, it isn't succeeding at generating that report. No cancel button. Can't quit. It just hangs...
What happened to the support phone number?
Posted : 25/12/2023 3:30 pm
Sorry, the forum moderation was down for a couple days and just was fixed.
We had a huge problem with users not being able to launch SoftRAID Application, as "the SoftRAID Monitor failed".
A few of these cases were a hardware issue with the 2019 Mac Pro, with installed internal SATA drives. We could not figure this out for months, as this error also came up because third party Applications were disabling/blocking SoftRAID Monitor as a login item/launch agent.
If you can get malware bytes to run without disabling launch agents, then it will be fine. They have queried us, we have offered to assist. I believe they just need to "white list" all OWC/SoftRAID installed components.
to the rebuilding issue, the problem is the volume is not mounting. We require a volume to be mounted to rebuild, to help protect data when the volume directory is damaged. That is why it is "rebuilding, waiting to mount".
Unfortunately, there are no APFS "repair" tools yet. So you need to erase/restore your volumes data. If it is not backed up, both R-Studio and Disk Drill can recover the data first.
Posted : 27/12/2023 9:07 pm
Topic starter
@softraid-support Are you joking? Your software fails at its primary purpose of managing a RAID setup including rebuilding? It won't mount even in read only? WTF?
Are you providing a license to this other recovery software? I already pay a subscription for your software. If this is a known issue, then you should warn users to not rely on your software...
I hooked the drive up to another device that has a SoftRAID license, same results. I have uninstalled Malwarebytes, so not sure what to do next.
Posted : 27/12/2023 10:12 pm
facupuig reacted
Topic starter
Or is this an Apple issue? https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/695361?page=1 This is the error I got when I ran disk utility and tried to repair the volume so that it could be mounted.
Posted : 27/12/2023 10:27 pm
Unfortunately, there are no APFS "repair" tools yet. So you need to erase/restore your volumes data. If it is not backed up, both R-Studio and Disk Drill can recover the data first.
I pointed some time ago that TechTool Pro claims to be able to repair APFS volumes, since v11 (currently at v18). As per their site:
"Most drive problems, however, result from data being in the wrong place, and can be repaired using Techtool Pro’s Volume Rebuild tool. In addition to native Mac drive formats, Mac OS Extended and APFS, Techtool Pro supports testing and repair of MS-DOS (FAT32) and ExFAT formatted volumes."
with the following caveat:
"...while the Volume Rebuild can repair many drives with volume structures problems, a full rebuild that reorganizes the volume structures can only be implemented once Apple provides further documentation.
It is important to note as well that Techtool Pro uses a low-level API to test, repair, rebuild, and defragment Mac OS Extended volumes. No such API yet exists for APFS, and it is unclear if Apple will make one available."
Have you had a chance to review this? Not sure what this all translates to regarding APFS repair support.
Posted : 28/12/2023 12:15 am
volume directory issues are not uncommon. that is the reason Apple moved to APFS. (Although APFS is neither bullet-proof against directory damage on external volumes, and Apple has no repair tools for when an APFS volume cannot mount)
I have used Disk Warrior for 30 years on my Mac volumes, it is an indispensible tool in my opinion. It exists because damaged HFS directories do happen and it is the only effective repair tool. Another symptom Disk Warrior fixes, is where volume directories are degraded , and all of a sudden users notice it takes a long time to do simple tasks like open folders.
This is not a SoftRAID volume issue, it is an inherent issue with any HFS volume. After a kernel panic, sometimes from hibernate/sleep issues, incorrect dismounts, drives not fully flushing their cache data before losing connection, issues with MacOS updates, etc. there are many possible causes.
My habit is running Disk Warrior monthly on all my HFS volumes. All, including Apple formatted disk volumes. Its an amazing utility. You will find many other experienced Mac users agreeing with this assessment.
Apple never bothered to write an effective repair tool for volume directories. Yet, this issue has plagued MacOS for 30 years.
Posted : 28/12/2023 1:22 pm
Topic starter
@softraid-support Current running a trial version of DiskDrill. It is scanning at 31% thus far after 2 hours. Will then try R-Studio if that fails. I have an OWC enclosure with 6TB of RAID 1 (hardware RAID) that I hope to recover to before wiping the M42 enclosure. Will do a speed comparison of SoftRAID 0 versus DiskUtility RAID 0. I assume Apple and software makers will be less conflicted over native RAID than a third-party RAID software. Will also compare performance of MacOS Extended versus APFS... since forums show a lot of this experience with APFS. Any advice here on performance of Apple vs. SoftRAID, and also disk format?
Posted : 28/12/2023 1:30 pm
I want to reinforce that directory corruption happens equally as frequent (or rare) on a SoftRAID RAID 0 or Apple RAID 0 volume.
there are no "driver" conflicts, as both use the same filter driver process to manage I/O's (using the built in MacOS driver to read/write data), so both behave the same with third party applications. Yes, some developers do not follow the rules, and may have less issues on Apple vs. SoftRAID volumes, but it should be rare, most follow the rules for accessing volumes. What is inside a Apple/Apple RAID/SoftRAID volume is identical, they are containers that applications write into.
Performance is the same, the biggest difference you may see is lack of TRIM support in Apple's RAID (shorter disk lifespans). On faster computers, the Apple RAID "single threaded" I/O's don't have much slowdown difference.
On flash, APFS/HFS are similar performance, over time, APFS slows down somewhat.
On HDD's, Over time, APFS gets much slower over time, its the nature of APFS.
the main difference in recovery (that I have found) is R-Studio is better at recoving things like Final Cut Pro "project" files. Disk Drill is somewhat easier to use.
Posted : 28/12/2023 6:00 pm
Topic starter
Update. Drill Doctor missed thousands of files. I then tried R-studio. I set up the RAID image, related it to the 4 NVMe cards that comprise the RAID 5. It wasn't much better. So, I am now just recovering from offsite archive (CrashPlan) and downloading the 4+ TB of data to an external HDD. Once I have that back and confirm its integrity, I'll rebuild the NVMe as a raid0. I'm also going to get a more reliable local archive since -- now I've learned -- RAIDs have their limits... better to have another copy of the drive then to rely on RAID5... it seems to me.
It is the combination of APFS failure and the resulting "out of sync" RAID failure, the inability to rebuild... what a clusterf*ck.
Posted : 29/12/2023 12:24 pm
Really sorry about this. APFS can be a big problem with recovery, when it goes wrong. Especially on flash media, with TRIM.
Posted : 29/12/2023 12:55 pm
I'm having the same issue, I was relaxed because I had the impresión that my files were safe in a Raid4 with 4 SSD and the 4M2...
So for me, Softraid falled miserably and is not Worth to have a paid suscriptor, really I don't see the Point.
Posted : 13/09/2024 6:33 pm
Remember RAID is not backup. RAID offers redundancy if a disk failure. it does protect against data corruption, hacks, volume damage from the OS, deleted files, etc etc.
RAID is designed to give you more capacity, higher speeds and protection against a sudden disk failure (called high data availability)
RAID is not a backup solution. Always keep your data on multiple drive sets, onsite and preferable also off site. the more valuable, the more redundancy you should plan for.
Posted : 14/09/2024 11:51 am
Don't get me wrong, my files are safe, I have backups, and no problems at all with files, but instead of just replacing a failed disk, I had to Erase everything in the Raid, and create a new Volume just because Softraid does not fix AFPS, and I know that would be Apple's faulth, just Softraid is incapable of fixing things, the only thing Softraid is good at is creating a Raid volume and that is it. nothing else, that is way I Say is not Worth to have a paid subscription
Posted : 14/09/2024 1:07 pm
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