RAID 5 Expansion

You are correct to notice this. We will have to fix this user comment.

We are considering allowing the expansion of volumes this way, but it is a complex feature to implement considering the vast range of hardware users may have. So it will take time to implement.

We are also considering some RAID migration paths. This would be a future release also.

thanks for pointing this out.

You are correct to notice this. We will have to fix this user comment.

We are considering allowing the expansion of volumes this way, but it is a complex feature to implement considering the vast range of hardware users may have. So it will take time to implement.

We are also considering some RAID migration paths. This would be a future release also.

thanks for pointing this out.

I am also interested in this feature but for another reason.

I'd like the ability to grow raid volumes with multiple drive replacements that have more than the expected space.

Ex. Starting out with 3x1TB disks in a RAID 5, I'd like to replace one (or even add) disk that is 4TB in size (using just the 1TB space available initially). Then once I have replaced ALL 1TB drives with 4TB drives, allow me to expand into the space that the 4TB disks have available on all disks in the RAID group, giving me 8TB usable space in a RAID 5 configuration (4TB x3)

This is already supported. ;-)

This is already supported. ;-)

So adding another drive is NOT supported but replacing drives one at a time is?

Correct. It is relatively simple to let a user replace drives with larger ones, then enable them to expand the volume when all are replaced with larger ones.

Migrating the data around all the disks to add a disk to a RAID 5 is far more complex

Correct. It is relatively simple to let a user replace drives with larger ones, then enable them to expand the volume when all are replaced with larger ones.

Migrating the data around all the disks to add a disk to a RAID 5 is far more complex

Awesome. I'm keen to use this feature soon.

I'm not new to MAC, but I've been using Windows based home servers for a decade. On the Windows side, there are applications such as Drivepool and Drivebender which perform hard disk pooling similar to SoftRAID. These applications don't care what size drive you use and new drives can be added at any time without losing the data on them to expand your volumes. Having used Drivebender for 4-5 years without an issue, and Drive Extender before that, I'm confused as to why this is so difficult to incorporate for SoftRAID. Drivebender sells for $5 bucks. I'm never going back to Windows based computers, and I love the interface of SoftRAID. But given the high price, why the difficulty adding features that a lot of people seem to want when it's clear that it can be done cheaply by multiple software vendors?

Drivebender is more or less a GUI on top of Windows Spaces. It is not an actual windows disk driver.

(For those who want to know what "Windows Spaces" is here is an article from ars technica:
Notice the useability issues with different drive sizes and performance issues!

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/10/storage-spaces-explained-a-great-feature-when-it-works/

SoftRAID's RAID implementation is straightforward and reliable. Changing RAID to variable sized partitions/RAID chunks would be a complex undertaking that would potentially destabilize the product.
We looked at the products that try to do this in hardware and the struggles they have. (and we have heard multiple stories from data recovery services.)

We are unlikely to support variable partition sizes in RAID.

We are actively working on adding additional features to SoftRAID. Our focus is to give the user more options to keep their data safe, while maintaining great performance. We think the features we have planned will be exciting.

In addition, as we test Apple's APFS, we will be looking for additional ways to extend SoftRAID's capabilities.

Thanks for the quick reply. I think I understand. I don't understand about Drivebender being a GUI since Windows Storage Spaces was released with Windows 8. Drivebender was around years before. In addition, Windows Home Server 2011 doesn't have Windows Spaces and Drivebender as well as Drivepool are options. I can't wait to see what new features you have in store. Hopefully, it will be in the next 30 days before the end of my trial? ;-)

I don't know much about drivepool or diskbender, only from browsing their web sites.
They appear to be layers on Storage Spaces, but maybe they are not.

We do not have any dramatic new features coming within your 30 day trial period, however. ;-)

No worries. I'm very happy so far. I will be buying the full version as I really like your RAID10 implemenation.

I don't know much about drivepool or diskbender, only from browsing their web sites.
They appear to be layers on Storage Spaces, but maybe they are not.

We do not have any dramatic new features coming within your 30 day trial period, however. ;-)

Hello, just discovering this feature doesn't exist myself when attempting to expand my 4x4TB RAID5 to 5x4TB RAID5 and eventually a 6x4TB RAID5. Any chance this feature is in development and/or queued for an upcoming release?

We do not intend to support adding disks to a volume, such as converting a 4-disk RAID 5 volume to a 5-disk RAID 5.

There is a high degree of risk, as data has to be migrated, and re-distributed around all the disks to correctly implement this. If a disk fails during this process, it could affect data integrity.

Its better for the user to create a new volume and restore from backups.

We do not intend to support adding disks to a volume, such as converting a 4-disk RAID 5 volume to a 5-disk RAID 5.

There is a high degree of risk, as data has to be migrated, and re-distributed around all the disks to correctly implement this. If a disk fails during this process, it could affect data integrity.

Its better for the user to create a new volume and restore from backups.

Thanks for the prompt response and clarity.