[Solved] SoftRAID 7.6.1 won't mount newly created RAID 4 or RAID 5 Volume (after erasure) to the desktop

Since the Sonoma forum (Beta) exists and no Sonoma Forum (non-beta does), not sure where and if this goes in MacOS or functionality issues. It's in both for now. 

Found the issue. Apparently there is an issue when formatting an APFS from an HFS+ volume such that the disks themselves need to be reformatted even though the GPT format for SoftRAID is the same, they can' be re-used in this way. Additionally the split volume using a remaining portion of a large physical disk already formatted as APSF com;icaates the issue in some way (possibly driver updates?) such that that non-RAID formatted partition likewise must be reformatted.

So... This what I did:

1. Make a backup of course to restore the data to volume after creation.
2. Initialize all disks in (each) RAID4 Volume and the standalone volume (...Extra)  format (GPT) before setting a new Volume(s). 
3. Set up new volume(s) normally. 
4. Migrate media back to new volume from the previously created backup. 
5. Check both Volumes.
6. Encrypt them in FileVault. 
7. Restore them. All backups and restores were done in CCC (Carbon Copy Cloner 7.0b1)

@henry-in-florida 

I did not realize we did not have a "Sonoma" page. I will look at this and fix it.

We do not support erasing an HFS as APFS, or vice versa at this time.

@softraid-support Thanks for your confirmation that worked a fix for a regenerated a volume instead of a direct upgrade path to APFS from HFS+ with SoftRAID is presently unsupported. While I agree that it doesn't work as you apparently intend, didn't see any notification about it before as either unsupported or supported. My work-around was the only answer that I could find and it worked and continues to so far as I can see. Seems to continue to do so, FYI. Cumbersome, for sure. Probably would not try it in the future. Desirable? Yes, if it is made better.

Posted by: @softraid-support

↑

@henry-in-florida 

I did not realize we did not have a "Sonoma" page. I will look at this and fix it.

We do not support erasing an HFS as APFS, or vice versa at this time.

@SoftRAID Support... All my RAID array Volumes are entirely composed of SSD Disks. That should have been stated (perhaps was also visible in the Support docs?). Have a great day. My de-encryption was started. When done, I will test again. My RAID 4 array using NVe modules is running about half as fast as a single startup internal drive on my MBP. so, yes it is affected by the encryption, I believe.  As to speed issues, the other SATA SSD RAID runs about as slowly as a single drive where it used to be about 3x the speed of a single SSD on the T3/T4 bus. Far more affected. 

Posted by: @softraid-support

↑

@henry-in-florida 

I did not realize we did not have a "Sonoma" page. I will look at this and fix it.

We do not support erasing an HFS as APFS, or vice versa at this time.

Moreover you do not have a release page for Sonoma 14.4, it's true. Hence I did not know where to put the post and opted for both. The functionality pages later seemed appropriate to post the fix. 

@henry-in-florida 

We are going to fix the APFS erase issue soon. We do not like to throw up dialog boxes that say "broken" if we have a fix coming. ;-)
Delete is the only way to go with APFS, erasing a SoftRAID APFS is difficult, we may be able to fix/change this, but are waiting for some Apple assistance.

I will be moving the Sonoma beta threads to the new Sonoma forum.

Yes, SSD encrypted volumes tend to be slow, but tolerable. Its the cost of encryption.
Examples: (OWC Thunderblade enclosure, 1TB blades)

Volume                                        Writes          Reads (MB/s)
RAID 5 APFS volume standard       1375            2040
RAID 5 APFS encrypted (Intel)        725            1585
RAID 5 APFS encrypted (M2)          865            1940

Made these test results today after decrypting both sets of RAID's... Tests with AJA System Test Lite

@henry-in-florida 

Actually screen shots are much easier.

Make sure you have the current lite AJA from the App store, it is fully updated this year.

use these specific settings:
Go to the App store and gert AJA System Test Lite.
Run AJA, set resolution to any 5K video, Codec to 16bitRGBA, and filesize to 16GB or 64GB. Select your volume to test.
Also, in settings, check "Dual DMA engine".
See what results you get.

Posted by: @softraid-support

↑

@henry-in-florida 

Actually screen shots are much easier.

Make sure you have the current lite AJA from the App store, it is fully updated this year.

use these specific settings:
Go to the App store and gert AJA System Test Lite.
Run AJA, set resolution to any 5K video, Codec to 16bitRGBA, and filesize to 16GB or 64GB. Select your volume to test.
Also, in settings, check "Dual DMA engine".
See what results you get.

@SoftRAID Yeah, well... You could accept .png to make it easier (default screen capture). Don't you think that's a pretty big disparity for the SATA drive 2.5TB RAID 4. It's on the same port.

 6TB NVe RAID3

@henry-in-florida 

It was determined that png has a risk of "injection" or some kinds of exploits, sorry.

that is absurdly low, yes. the second image is an encrypted volume?

Posted by: @softraid-support

↑

@henry-in-florida 

It was determined that png has a risk of "injection" or some kinds of exploits, sorry.

 

that is absurdly low, yes. the second image is an encrypted volume?

@SoftRAID 

No, both are now unencrypted. Comparing the two after the process of de-encrypt complete. I have past tested the 2.5TB RAID at a much faster speed Write speed and don't know why it has gone backwards. 

@henry-in-florida 

Theory: Let the computer sit on at least overnight. Perhaps TRIM needs to catch up to clear the cells, so you can write at normal speeds.

Posted by: @softraid-support

↑

@henry-in-florida 

Theory: Let the computer sit on at least overnight. Perhaps TRIM needs to catch up to clear the cells, so you can write at normal speeds.

@SoftRAID 

Yippee! Theory proven. Thanks so much for the tip. This is more like it. 😎 😎 😎