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I have the Accelsior 8M2 with 8 x 4TB Kingston drives installed, using the Akitio Node Titan enclosure using SoftRAID 7.5
I am able to create RAID (APFS) volumes without issues on the MacBook with this setup but after a few minutes or when I try to transfer data to it, the drives will start ejecting at random and I will have to disconnect the enclosure, reboot the computer and enclosure and reconnect to get everything to come back. I have tried RAID 4,5,1+0 and I am getting the same result in all cases, even tried changing to 64K Stripe like suggested but does not make a difference. I have tried all of these configurations on a 14" MacBook Pro M1, MacMini M1, and MacMini M2, all give the same results and drives disconnect.
I removed the Accelsior card from the Node enclosure and installed internally on a Windows desktop, created the RAID 5 volume and was able to copy data with no issues and never had a disconnect and everything worked as intended. I formatted the drives in HFS+ so I would be able to test the configuration on my MacBook Pro, so I removed the Accelsior card from the desktop, put back into the enclosure, connected to my MacBook and the RAID volume appeared and I could access it... Everything seemed OK, then it randomly disconnected and I'm back to square 1.
One thing I have noticed is that I am not receiving any notifications from the OS to "Allow" OWC software to run, I have followed all the steps and reduced the startup security to allow 3rd party apps and developers, disabling SIP protection, and disabling root user authentication to get this to go but have not had any luck. I have also wiped/reformatted my MacBook multiple times to remove any bad/old files that could be causing an issue. I'm not restoring from any backups or signing in with an Apple ID so there isn't anything that should be coming through from an old install, I even went to the Apple store to have them check if there is anything wrong with the macbook and there are no issues.
After the install I also have not had the option to "Uninstall SoftRAID Drive" or "Reinstall SoftRAID Driver" and it appears it just has never loaded. I have tried different TB cables as well and no luck. I'm starting to lean towards it being an issue with the Akitio Node Titan enclosure because the RAID setup worked perfectly when installed internally on a Windows machine (yuck).
Looking for some advice on how I can get this resolved and working, I have tried generating reports for Tech Support from the software as well but they kept telling me to uninstall/reinstall the driver, which I'm not able to do because it won't install/load.
Anyone else have this issue with the Node Titan or similar enclosures?
Posted : 08/06/2023 12:34 pm
Can you save a SoftRAID tech support file with all the disks showing up?
With macOS 13.3 and later, there is no need for reducing security with SoftRAID. Everything is simpler now. You will not get prompted to "allow" OWC any longer, and there is no need to disable SIP or any other security protocol. You also never need to "Update" the SoftRAID driver any longer. This was several years in the making.
I think what you have tested is the card itself is OK, as it is not ejecting on your PC, so it must be the Titan, or the Thunderbolt cable. Make sure you try another cable, to start with.
Disk ejects is not a software, or configuration issue, it is a hardware issue. We need to isolate if the card, the Titan, the cable, those are the three variables.
Posted : 08/06/2023 4:16 pm
Topic starter
@softraid-support Thank you for the information!
I have tested with a different cable, I have an OWC Thunderbolt Dock for my MacBook that uses the same cable provided with the Node and it gave the same result. I was thinking it is an issue with the Titan but wasn't sure of a good way to test that theory.
I have reinstalled SoftRAID with security set back to defaults
I was able to initialize all disks, which I hadn't been able to do in the past so definitely progress and was able to setup the RAID, but when I tried to Verify the new volume I received an error disks were degraded and 6 ejected this time.
I have attached a log with all disks showing and a log after they disks ejected.
When I was working with the email support team they had me test all the drives and I can send that if needed, but they all passed with 100% health. They are not from a prebuilt setup from OWC. We are using Kingston SSD's purchased separately.
Thank you again for all the help!
Posted : 14/06/2023 2:13 pm
This looks to me a problem with the PCI card. 6 of 8 drives missing cannot be the Titan or cable. Those would be "all or nothing" with drives.
Let me investigate, but be preapred to RMA this, so back up until I get back to you.
Posted : 15/06/2023 11:31 am
Topic starter
@softraid-support Thank you!
I just tried reconnecting to my Mac and now I can't get any of the drives to appear, we haven't been able to use this since we purchased back in April so we don't have any data to backup and I would be happy to start the RMA process
Posted : 15/06/2023 11:42 am
These ejects happen within a few minutes of copying data?
Is it always 6 disks? Or is it a "random" number?
if you unplug the box and plug it back, do the disks always show up?
Posted : 15/06/2023 12:56 pm
You are outside the return on the Kingston, right? We may have a hard time supporting this with third party blades.
Another idea is get a trial of istat menus and monitor the disk temperature. See if they get hot before ejecting.
Its weird it works on Windows, so maybe it is heat, but a couple minutes is not enough for the blades to over heat, but is a theory.
Posted : 15/06/2023 1:05 pm
Topic starter
@softraid-support It's always a random number and only happens when I start to try to copy data or certify/verify the drives. It's been 2, 6, 3, etc, I've even taken the SSD's out and rearranged them in the card to see if it was a disk that was bad but it happens to different SSD's every time so nothing consistent, always random.
I did look at the card itself a little closer and it does look like the Broadcom chip is burning up the board, there is discoloration on the back of the board and the heat sync is all dried up/no longer sticky.
I'm starting to think there is an issue with the chip and its shutting down because of the heat to try and save itself. If I leave it alone for a few hours and reconnect it they usually all come back up and work for a few minutes, but again when I try to make it do work it shuts down.
Attached a picture of the back of the card with the discoloration.
Posted : 15/06/2023 1:05 pm
@astrom
Can you confirm the fan on the card is running? (pop the top off, or watch through the window)
Posted : 15/06/2023 1:18 pm
Topic starter
Hello! Just checked the fan and it is spinning, both the Accelsior fan and Titan fan appear to be working fine. However, I am no longer seeing any of the drives after the last crash/shutdown from the last report I sent you.
I did remove all drives from the 8M2 enclosure, put them in a different external enclosure, and was able to see them and reformat all of them with no issues on my MacBook using Disk Utility. After reformatting I put them all back in the 8M2 enclosure, put them back in the Titan, and now no drives are showing. I was going to try putting the card back in a Windows desktop to see if they will appear but I'm having my doubts. Please let me know what you would recommend for next steps, thanks again for all the help!
Posted : 16/06/2023 10:00 am
Looks like an RMA is in order for ths. Please try the card in Windows, as it might be the Titan, not the card, that is at fault here.
Posted : 17/06/2023 10:34 am
Topic starter
@softraid-support RMA sounds like a good option, how do we go about initiating that process?
I put the card with all 8 drives back in the Windows desktop and it recognized 7 out of 8 drives in SoftRAID and Disk Management in Windows. I then rebooted and checked SoftRAID again and all drives were showing this time so I set them up in RAID 0 but after I got the confirmation that the RAID was created I lost one of the drives (Not the same drive that was missing before, Disk 2 was missing first time, Disk 6 was missing after RAID). I tried to reconnect to my MacBook but I'm not seeing any of the drives now.
I did test the Titan enclosure with a RTX 3090 graphics card and a Windows laptop which worked with no issues, as soon as I connected the Titan to my laptop the RTX card started installing and I was able to use it as an external GPU. I do believe the issue is with the Accelsior card as the Titan worked with the external graphics card. Please let me know if you need me to test anything else, or if enough testing is done how to start the RMA process. Thanks again for all the help!
Posted : 19/06/2023 1:23 pm
go to macsales.com and request a return RMA.
Note: its also possible it is your drives, just FYI
Posted : 19/06/2023 4:06 pm
Topic starter
@softraid-support Thank you! I am starting the RMA process now. When I started down the support route I started with OWC support email and they had me test all the drives and send the report back to them to confirm the drives were not the issue, so I'm hoping they don't try to say that is the issue. All the drives work in different external enclosures, and in a windows laptop as a secondary drive. Hopefully it was just the card and RMA will resolve this for me. Thanks again for all the help! I'll post again if all goes well with RMA and I'm able to get a replacement device to test with!
Posted : 20/06/2023 10:38 am
The challenge for us is trying to support unusual issues like this, with third party blades. NVMe is unlike HDD's as they can have unique characteristics, so not all devices support all blades, etc.
It may come down to one day only offering pre-populated multi drive enclosures.
Posted : 20/06/2023 10:42 am
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