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SoftRaid XT 5 to 6 update price

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(@sparkplug37)
Posts: 14
Member
Topic starter
 

I'm a home user of a ThunderBay 4 which came with software to use the only real advantage of this enclosure over other enclosures that being RAID 5.

Now that SoftRaid 6 is available you are asking for an additional $99 for the upgrade from version 5. To buy a full copy of SoftRaid 6 XT costs $119 so I get very little discount being an existing customer. I can understand Pro users paying more as OWC never got to sell them some hardware and they can use it on any hardware but I have a cut down version locked to one piece of hardware which you sold and profited from so I feel this is very unfair. If this one piece of hardware dies the software is useless. I could understand paying up to $49 for extra features like APFS support etc.

Please can you review the upgrade price before my 14 days are up.

Dave

 
Posted : 08/04/2021 7:46 am
(@arenhansen)
Posts: 5
Active Member
 

Just crickets from OWC.

I'm confused about what we can do with our Thunderbays without upgrading to version 6. They say that there's a driver built into BIG SUR, but what does that allow us to do. Is there documentation anywhere? 

 
Posted : 14/04/2021 2:04 pm
(@mountaincat)
Posts: 56
Trusted Member
 

Just contacted support at OWC. They don't care about the fact that they sold us a solution with RAID 5 which no longer works unless we pay $100 ($19 off the retail price) to get the same thing we already paid for to keep working. 

I call BS on this attitude. After all the incompatibility issues with Big Sur and M1, now with this unreasonable fee, I am done with OWC, done with SoftRAID. I will put my money towards HARDWARE RAID.

 
Posted : 28/04/2021 11:34 am
(@desertnomad)
Posts: 57
Member
 

Does anyone make a hardware-based RAID 1+0 system? I know there are a few RAID 5 systems, but as capacities go up RAID 5 get less reliable during a failure/rebuild.

This post was modified 3 years ago by DesertNomad
 
Posted : 29/04/2021 8:38 am
(@softraid-support)
Posts: 8006
Member Admin
 

@desertnomad

There are plenty. Most hardware controller chips that do RAID 5 also do RAID 10.

 
Posted : 29/04/2021 9:08 am
(@sparkplug37)
Posts: 14
Member
Topic starter
 

@softraid-support So you have seen this thread but have chosen not to answer my post above.

I'm so disappointed OWC has chosen to force home users, like myself, to pay $100 to keep using the hardware OWC originally sold them. As I say above when the hardware dies I can only use this software on other OWC hardware which is incredibly limiting and thus should not be forced to upgrade at such high prices.

 
Posted : 30/04/2021 1:31 am
(@softraid-support)
Posts: 8006
Member Admin
 

@sparkplug37

I have made our perspective clear several times, its not productive to keep revisiting the same subject. This is a support forum and discussions on upgrade policy are fair enough, as long as they do not get "personal". Its not easy maintaining SoftRAID for macOS. The overhead is extremely high. We gave SoftRAID updates away for years. It was not viable to not have more upgrade cycles. Users demand great software, and we do our best. Quality takes time and investment.

I once started a disk drive company many years ago. Our product was the cheapest on the market. Best quality also. Then one month we stopped lowering the price and raised it 25% overnight in all the magazine ads. Sales actually doubled overnight. Potential customers understood we were investing into the future, and quality would be there.

Think of SoftRAID like that, we need to invest more resources into SoftRAID. Apple is not going to stop making major changes to macOS every year. Users want more features than ever. We intend to give this to them. We have a great roadmap ahead for SoftRAID and OWC products. Users who get SoftRAID 6 today are going to see additional features added as we build out SoftRAID 6. And the most important thing is you can count on the fact that SoftRAID software will continue to be developed, because are adding the resources to make it happen.

No one wants something free or cheap that doesn't do the job. This is your data. Data is fragile, and can easily be lost. The amount of data people have is growing exponentially. Protecting that investment in data is becoming a service. Cloud backup is just one example.

 
Posted : 30/04/2021 2:48 am
(@issuesmounting)
Posts: 7
Active Member
 

Except that we did not buy the software.  We bought a RAID Box that now stopped working without paying to upgrade the software.  If your company had been clear about this up front, it would be a different situation...I don't need new features...I need my ThunderBay to work.

 
Posted : 05/10/2021 1:25 pm
(@softraid-support)
Posts: 8006
Member Admin
 

The Thunderbay came bundled with SoftRAID, which is software. Maybe the marketing was not clear enough, but I am pretty sure all the sales pages say "powered by SoftRAID" or "comes with SoftRAID". I apologize for any confusion.

With Big Sur, the SoftRAID 5 version you received a license for cannot launch, because Big Sur had a major change to how drivers work.

If this was a printer, there would be no option at all, just buy a new printer. I have half a dozen old printers here that do not work with newer versions of macOS and there are no upgrades.

We are offering a upgrade path for SoftRAID to keep your enclosure working. I am guessing your enclosure is out of warranty?

However, your Thunderbay should be mounting even with Big Sur.

Does your volume not mount? that is a different problem.

 
Posted : 05/10/2021 2:34 pm
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