SoftRAID Encryption? - Known Issues

RE: SoftRAID Encryption?

SoftRAID Support — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 18:27:26 +0000

@joemikeb

Try downloading MacOS 13.1, and see if it fixes the SoftRAID 7.0.1 issue.

this is a "race condition" of some kind, and one user reported 13.1 resolved it.

RE: SoftRAID Encryption?

joemikeb — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 20:53:48 +0000

Apparently the third time is the charm. I Initialized one more time, and this time it worked. I have my RAID back. Thank you for being patient with me. 👍

RE: SoftRAID Encryption?

SoftRAID Support — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 19:02:05 +0000

You can only create volumes using disks that are in SoftRAID format.

There is no error when you initialize those Disk Utility formatted disks?

RE: SoftRAID Encryption?

joemikeb — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 18:43:47 +0000

When I open SoftRAID 7.0, I see the target drives as not part of an array (screenshot 1), but when I attempt to create a new array the only drives that are offered are in another array (screenshot 2). Those drive were previously in an array used by Time Machine, but that array was removed from Time Machine and the array removed. Subsequently, the drives were erased and reformatted APFS using Disk Utility, but when I attempt to initialize, verify, or certify one of the drives as far as I can tell nothing happens??

What I am trying to do is to setup a new Raid array using these drives, which mount normally in Finder

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RE: SoftRAID Encryption?

SoftRAID Support — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 21:33:20 +0000

@joemikeb

This is a minor bug in SoftRAID. The problem is you are creating a volume that is too small (384MB), because "Database" already takes up all of the disks.

Database is encrypted. Is it part of a Time Machine volume? If not, you should be able to unmount it and delete it if that is what you want to do.

Or let me know your objective and I can help

RE: SoftRAID Encryption?

joemikeb — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 19:51:52 +0000

Reinstalled softRAID 7.0 incuding its helper and sure enough I see the drives, but when I attempt to create a new volume softRAID 7.0 reliably crashes with "an internal error". SoftRAID 7.01 still has a blank window.

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RE: SoftRAID Encryption?

SoftRAID Support — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 18:32:38 +0000

@joemikeb

Temporarily run 7.0. Don't install the driver. that will work.

When creating a volume for Time machine, just create a standard APFS volume. When you attach it to Time Machine, it will convert to Case Sensitive.

And you have an option to select encryption inside Time Machine.

RE: SoftRAID Encryption?

joemikeb — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 18:01:37 +0000

Okay, I successfully got a SoftRAID array formatted APFS encrypted and it is working like a champ, but... (why is there always a but?) but I attempted creating another array in as different enclosure formatted APFS case sensitive, encrypted for use with Time Machine. Disk Utility hung and after an hour I finally intervened with a force quit. Now I have a new problem, when I open SoftRAID 7.01 the display is empty and all the menus are greyed out. I have attempted reinstalling SoftRAID 7.01 with no change.

Any suggestions for reactivating SoftRAID 7.01 and reinitializing the second array would be greatly appreciated.

RE: SoftRAID Encryption?

SoftRAID Support — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 02:38:35 +0000

With 7.0.1, you can use Disk Utility to erase an APFS SoftRAID volume as encrypted.

We will update the web site with 7.1, as we will have user interface support for this.

SoftRAID Encryption?

joemikeb — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 00:26:18 +0000

I am have SoftRAID 7.01 running on macOS 13.2 beta on to create RAID arrays on two different OWC enclosures and for security reasons, I would like to encrypt both arrays, but when I go to Known Issues I find two apparently conflicting statements...

APFS

While the SoftRAID application is unable to create encrypted or case-sensitive APFS volumes, you can use Apple’s Disk Utility application to add them to an existing APFS container on a SoftRAID volume. Once you have created them with Disk Utility, the SoftRAID driver will support them fully and they will be protected from disk failure according to the RAID level you have selected.

Unsupported Formats and Feature Changes

There is currently an issue with macOS that can cause kernel panics on encrypted SoftRAID APFS volumes. We are unable to support encryption until this is addressed in macOS.

Can you please clarify this apparent conflict. I could forge ahead and test, but hopefully you can save me a LOT of time and aggravation.