Softraid 6.0.5 and Big Sur 11.4 - Thunderbay 4 won't mount

@andye

The Silicon Labs driver does not work in Big Sur, so lets try that also.

sudo rm -r /Library/Extensions/SiLabsUSBDriver64.kext

sudo kmutil clear-staging
sudo kextcache -i /

restart

Then try reinstalling the softRAID driver once more. I am not optimistic, but its worth trying.

@softraid-support

I removed the SiLabsUSB driver and reinstalled the SoftRAID driver, but this did not resolve the problem. Only manual loading of my SoftRAID volumes works. 

So I went for another test. I booted into my 3rd volume on my ThunderBay Flex (TB) that still housed a macOS 11.2.3. Installed the latest SoftRAID 6.0.5 driver restarted several times and all ThunderBay volumes showed automatically. Then I installed macOS 11.4 on top and after that still all my TB volumes show automatically. Nice.

This led me to the idea of reinstalling macOS 11.4 on my regular boot volume on my Mac, which I did from my Recovery HD, but it did not resolve the issue nevertheless. 

I find it a bit strange after all that testing, that the 'spare' boot volume on the TB (the 3rd volume that I upgraded to 11.4) always mounts perfectly when I start my main boot drive on the Mac, although the SoftRAID driver at that moment is 'not loaded' yet. How can that be without the SoftRAID driver started yet? When I load the SoftRAID driver manually then the remaining two volumes show up as expected.

Any idea on this?

@andye

Remember that the SoftRAID driver is bundled with all intel versions of macOS, so your volume is loading the bundled version of SoftRAID.

I would be interested if when you install SoftRAID 6.0.5 on this volume, "Allow" OWC as an identified developer, whether the volume still mounts reliably on restart.(I think it should)

Posted by: @softraid-support

Next, I see some extensions that could be interferring with the SoftRAID driver from loading.

(Note: the Apple ethernet driver is a problem, but it may not be possible to remove. It has an invalid code signature.)

@softraid-support

sudo rm -r /Library/Apple/System/Library/Extensions/AppleUSBEthernetHost.kext

Ran the above per your advice and still cannot remove this Kext.

Any work arounds? Thank you.

@apple-answers-au

When I told our engineer sudo could not delete this, he was surprised, but it must have been elevated to that of one of the "included" extensions, that you cannot delete.

I guess we have to leave it. But most users can delete it, so it is weird.

Did you get the option to "Allow" OWC as an identified developer any any point? If so, you should be able to manually load the driver for now:

sudo kmutil load -p /Library/Extensions/SoftRAID.kext

As another data point, I installed the 6.0.5 driver (on MacOS 11.4) and two SoftRAID volumes would not mount. DiskWarrior didn't see them. The log file has no entries other than the usual startup ones.

The command from a previous post: sudo kmutil load -p /Library/Extensions/SoftRAID.kext brought them back.

I haven't done anything since - reboot or otherwise. Going to bed.

@tlee

Its the same problem, where the driver is not loading, so disk Warrior cannot see them either.

@softraid-support

Posted by: @softraid-support

Did you get the option to "Allow" OWC as an identified developer any any point? If so, you should be able to manually load the driver for now:

sudo kmutil load -p /Library/Extensions/SoftRAID.kext

Here’s an interesting development. I just updated OWC’s Dock Ejector Ver 1.3 to Ver 1.4.

After the install, I get the usual “Allow Apps from” OWC in Sys Pref. Allowed OWC.

Almost immediately, the ThunderBay 4 mounted, wouldn’t have noticed if the enclosure was off.

After a restart the enclosure (left on for the restart) did not mount automatically. Further an OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual on the same Thunderbolt chain failed to mount.

So, ‘Shut Down’ the entire system and cold boot.

OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual mounts fine this time, but not the ThunderBay (which was left on during the last step).

The ThunderBay drive and volumes are not listed in the SoftRaid 6 app.

Decided to manually turn off the ThunderBay and then back on. Restarted.

ThunderBay 4 and all other enclosures mount themselves & are now listed in the app.

Will continue monitoring the rest of today until my next reboot cycle.

@apple-answers-au

When disks do not appear in the SoftRAID disk column, macOS is not seeing them. I that cause, the enclosure (or a drive inside it) may have hung, as restarting fixed it.

Glad you are working now, but Big Sur should load an approved driver, reliably!