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Steps to reproduce:
- Create a volume in SoftRAID (I'm using RAID 4, workstation, 16kb stripes on a Thunderblade x8 16TB)
- Use the macOS Disk Utility to Erase the volume and Format it as APFS (Encrypted) with a password
- Run a Verify operation on one or more disks
Expectation (with health disks): it passes.
Reality: it critically errors, then passes. If the volume isn't encrypted it works fine. I suspect that this has something to do with SoftRAID's inability to mount the volume after verification due to not having access to Keychain or store its own credentials because it happens immediately after it declares that it's mounting. At a minimum I think the error message should be adjusted to indicate an encryption-related issue rather than a disk in need of immediate replacement. I'd love to see full and proper encryption support within SoftRAID itself.
2024.09.07 - 22:55:09 - SoftRAID Application: The verify disk command for disk disk4, SoftRAID ID: XXX, PCI bus 0, id 0, lun 0 (Thunderbolt) hung while reading (offset 1,920,383,320,064, i/o block size = 90,112). This disk should be replaced immediately. 2024.09.07 - 22:55:19 - SoftRAID Application: The verify disk command for disk disk4, SoftRAID ID: XXX, PCI bus 0, id 0, lun 0 (Thunderbolt) completed successfully.
This topic was modified 2 years ago by astrostl
Posted : 08/09/2024 10:07 am
Attach a SoftRAID tech support file, and I can try to replicate this. We do support APFS encryption, not in the UI, but as you are doing it. (We need to support HDDs to add encryption to SoftRAID and its not yet viable)
Posted : 08/09/2024 1:15 pm
Topic starter
@softraid-support is there a way for me to DM or email that to you rather than posting it on the forum? I'm reluctant to ship support blobs that could contain things like serial numbers up to the public. As for reproduction, it's super easy for me: just create a RAID volume, use Disk Utility to erase/encrypt it, start a Verify, then cancel it. The error appears 100% of the time for me when encrypted and 0% when unencrypted, and you don't need to wait for an entire cycle to actually finish to see it.
I also notice that if you Verify and cancel while encrypted that the SoftRAID display hangs on "mounting" (regardless of actual mount status), and that remounting with Disk Utility immediately clears it.
Posted : 08/09/2024 2:30 pm
@astrostl Post it and I will delete it.
We are in the process of making support file attachments a "drop box", that only we can access.
Posted : 08/09/2024 4:36 pm
Topic starter
I'd rather email if there's any way to do that, otherwise I'll just wait.
I would guess that the steps described can be reproduced on any devices with Mac + SoftRAID as it seems to be a software thing.
Posted : 10/09/2024 9:54 pm
Topic starter
Still present on 8.3 FYI.
Posted : 17/09/2024 9:06 am
Topic starter
This time it's on a validate, but similar: when I issue a validate on SoftRAID 8.5 it said:
no errors * validating, waiting for mount * incorrect parity blocks: 0
while making no progress and issuing no prompt. The issue, it seems, is that it's an APFS-encrypted RAID 4 volume, so it does actually want the volumes to be mounted and cannot mount them itself. I don't think this was clear at all from the messaging, though. I think it would be good if SoftRAID could mount volumes on its own with user approval, and that it's important to issue more clear warnings/errors in situations like this. Thanks!
Posted : 11/08/2025 1:03 pm
