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Running latest version of SoftRAID (v 8.3, driver v 8.3 as well) on latest version of Mac OS (Sequoia v 15.3.1). Had RAID 5 (4x 256GB drives) in OWC enclosure being used as a Time Machine backup destination. One drive failed. Replaced with 512GB drive. SoftRAID rebuilt RAID, Time Machine working normally (backups occurring regularly, prior data accessible, etc.). Replaced other 3 drives with 512GB drives. Same result: successful rebuild, TM working normally. However, the RAID is 719GB, but it could be 1.5TB. SoftRAID recognizes the unused space and allows for the option to resize the RAID.
The resize function fails. SoftRAID has Full Disk Access. No other applications are running. All attempts are being made on a new Mac which is **not** using the RAID as a Time Machine destination.
The error dialog states “SoftRAID is blocked from accessing one or more disks…”. The error dialog also identifies a “disk with error”, but the identified disk changes randomly each time the operation is attempted. The SoftRAID log has the following two entries: (1) “SoftRAID Driver: The SoftRAID volume … encountered an error (E00002C1). A program attempted to read or write to a volume which was not open.” and then about 10 minutes later (2): “SoftRAID Application: The volume resize command … failed because this disk is being used by another application or because SoftRAID does not have Full Disk Access (error number = 106)”. If the RAID is unmounted first, the resize function still fails, but does so effectively instantaneously (instead of 10 minutes later) and the first of the two log entries is not present.
Creating a new RAID 5 from the leftover space on each drive also fails. The error dialog is basically the same as the one above in the resize attempt. The SoftRAID log is also the same (the second entry, not the first).
Validating the volume with SoftRAID succeeds but does not change any of the above. Disk Utility’s “First Aid” function finds nothing wrong with any drive.
Is this just a limitation because the RAID is being used as a Time Machine destination?
I have attached the “Report for Tech Support” generated by SoftRAID:
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
-Vlad
Posted : 08/03/2025 1:19 pm
Time Machine does not let go of the volume. Disable Auto backups, manually unmount the volume and try again.
Posted : 09/03/2025 7:40 am
Topic starter
Thank you for your reply. As you can see from my original post, I had already performed all of these steps. The volume is **not** a Time Machine destination for my new Mac, so there are no backups to disable. And unmounting the volume, as I also indicated, changes nothing except that the process fails much more quickly.
However, I was struck by your instruction to "MANUALLY unmount" the volume. So rather than ejecting it and/or unmounting it through a GUI (e.g. Finder, Disk Utility, SoftRAID), which is what I had done before, I now used the terminal and performed the following operation: sudo diskutil unmount <volume location>. I then tried to resize the RAID.
That got me past the "being used by another application" error from my original post. Now we have a completely new failure. SoftRAID threw an error, something about an internal component of SoftRAID failing (I have been unable to recreate the error to get the exact wording). SoftRAID now sees the volume as the full 1.5TB (so it looks like the resize worked?), but Mac OS only sees the original 719GB. I have tried unmounting, remounting, restarting, Safe Mode, etc. SoftRAID Validate shows no errors. However, Disk Utility shows invalid checksums on all of the TM snapshots and presents the following error: "Unable to perform deferred repairs without full space verification ... try running fsck against the entire APFS container instead of a volume". Running fsck against the container also returns the same errors (invalid checksums and inability to performed repairs without full space verification).
It appears there is some corruption at the APFS container level that will require wiping the whole thing. I even tried just removing one disk and initializing it and both SoftRAID and DiskUtility were unable to gain access to the device to even try initializing it in the first place. This was after the RAID volume was unmounted using the sudo command above. I also tried sudo diskutil eraseDisk and it too told me that it "couldn't open device".
The bottom line appears to be that whatever is preventing this from working properly has nothing to do with SoftRAID's ability to resize a RAID Time Machine backup location. I have manually erased each disk separately in a separate enclosure and then reinstalled them all back in the OWC enclosure and have created a new RAID. Please consider the issue closed.
Once again, thank you for your prompt response and help.
-Vlad
Posted : 09/03/2025 5:22 pm
