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So something really weird just happened...  somehow my /Library/LaunchDaemons/ and LaunchAgents folders just disappeared and now my SoftRaid is totally jacked.  Tried reinstall and upon trying to load the helper I get an error I can't recover from.  Additionally in Disk Utility while I can see one of the original volumes GroovyData that was created under SoftRaid on my RAID SSD I now see SoftRAID_Media with the second volume I had but it's empty.  How do I relaunch SoftRAID to actually get this working again?

@dfortney 

Try using terminal.app:

sudo softraidtool uninstall

password, restart. now see if SoftRAID launches.

Ended up having to reinstall macOs due to other deeper OS issues like Finder not recognizing right clicks oddly enough.  Thought the reinstall command+r was supposed to keep the apps and data but it scratched me right back to white sheet of paper.  After reinstalling all my apps and configurations SoftRaid now installs and runs however the boot backup volume GroovyBootCCC is now empty another issue I had with DiskUtility trying to format it as APFS.  I seem to be able to save files on it but the format of the volume looks strange.  Is there a way to make this an APFS volume which is what CCC recommends?

@dfortney 

You got hit with a DiskUtil bug. It overwrote a part of the partition map (the volume header) on the disks. Best is backup/restore.

before you do that, can you post a tech support file from SoftRAID so we can report this to apple engineering?

How do I post the support file?  Softraid doesn't let me open even settings.  Also I don't have another 6TB disk to backup to restore.  Can I fix this without affecting the other volume GroovyData that is on the same RAID SSDs?  Or can I just reformat the volume it called EFI without messing anything else up?

someone at apple needs to seriously completely rewrite DiskUtility.  For such a critical foundation level app it never 'just works' if you know what I'm saying.  Literally half the time I try partitioning or formatting something it just hangs forever and needs force quit.

@dfortney 

Save the support file from SoftRAID, then the forum will allow you to attach it.

If I need to buy another 8TB RAID for to backup from this messed up one to reformat and restore what is OWC best latest 8TB RAID?  Might as well also get free SoftRaid license for 3 years as well as future proofing my setup.

@dfortney 

Just pick one out from this page:
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/thunderbay-4/thunderbolt-3-raid-5

Note: an "8TB" Thunderbay, with RAID 5, gets 6TB capacity. Remember to reduce the RAID 5 capacity by 25%.

For HDD's"
If you need 8TB total in RAID 5, you need 16TB, which has 4 4TB drives in it.

If you want 8TB drives, then get. the 32TB version, which will have 24TB online space.

For Flash Storage:
If you want more flash media storage, you have two options:

SSD:

the Thunderbay Mini (with SSD's)
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/thunderbay-4-mini/thunderbolt-3

NVMe

the Thunderblade (silent), or Accelsior 4M2 ( has a fan)

the 4M2 you can equip with your own blades, but do not get off brand blades, the Thunderblade is pre-installed with special blades and heat sink, so you do not need any cooling (outside of normal air conditioning)

The 8TB Thunderblade is extremely fast, will flod the TB bus. the X8 will get you slightly higher capacity in RAID 5, as you get 7/8 of 8TB, (about 7TB) while the 4 blade version (slightly smaller) has 4 2TB blades with a 6TB capacity in RAID 5.

The 4M2 is inexpensive, but you need to get your own blades, and will have a somewhat lower reliability (manual handling, etc), and has the fan.

Wish they had an 8TB version of the envoy ultra... I'd be all in.  Want something without separate power or having to install blades and more portable.

@dfortney 

We will release as soon as power consumption, heat consumption, availability, etc are available. It is obviously something we are working on, as who doesn't want to sell bigger capacity, but I remember there are some hardware limitations with current technology.

Received my 4TB TB5 Envoy Ultra and copied all my data from the 8TB mini Atikio RAID enclosure SSDs.  What's the next step in repartitioning and reformatting the RAID to start over with?  Ideally I would like 2 partitions across the 4 SSDs, one of about 500GB for system disk CCC backups and one with the rest of the space for my data.  Ideally I would like to use APFS for both partitions if possible with RAID4 in SoftRAID.  Once I repartition and format the closure I plan to copy the data back from the Ultra.  Is it possible to use APFS and RAID4 with SoftRaid?  Also since I bought the Envoy Ultra does that mean I get another year or two of proper and full SoftRaid license support? 

@dfortney 

You can create multiple different volumes with SoftRAID, and multiple RAID and file systems. No issues on your end.

APFS is different, it is a "Container", that also supports multiple volumes inside the same container. (Using Disk Utility, they are "soft volumes"