SoftRAID, the venerable RAID software solution, has been updated to 5.6.4 and is now fully compatible with macOS 10.13 High Sierra and also back to OS X 10.6.8. While fully compatible with High Sierra, it does not support APFS volumes – that level of support is slated for the upcoming SoftRAID 6.0.
Besides supporting RAID 0, 1, 4, 5 and 1+0, one of the best features is the Certify feature. Certify can run multiple passes to verify that every sector on a hard drive or SSD is valid, and is one of the best ways to make sure that new and repurposed storage is safe to use. It also incorporates a Monitor extension that constantly checks disks for any signs of trouble and can even send alerts via email.
SoftRAID is $179 and has a fully-functional 30-day free trial. SoftRAID Lite is also available for $49. Specific changes in this 5.6.4 release:
• Now reports the number of total bytes written for most SSDs.
• Contains a work-around for a macOS bug which caused a kernel panic every time Apple’s Disk Utility program was used to erase a SoftRAID disk. This bug was introduced in Mac OS 10.12. With this work-around, the Mac no longer kernel panics but the Disk Utility application still hangs.
• All SoftRAID DMG files are now code signed, so users can be certain the image they download from our site is an unaltered DMG file.
• Fixes a bug which caused the SoftRAID Tool to crash when volumes were unmounted or initialized using the command line interface.
About the Author
Brian is an A.P.P.L.E. Board member and Managing Editor of Call-A.P.P.L.E. magazine. He is a long-time Apple consultant, historian and archivist.
Brian designed, edited, and co-produced several books including: "Cyber Jack: The Adventures of Robert Clardy and Synergistic Software", "Synergistic Software: The Early Games", "Nibble Viewpoints: Business Insights From The Computing Revolution", "What's Where in the Apple: Enhanced Edition", and "The WOZPAK: Special Edition" – an important Apple II historical book with Steve Wozniak's restored original, technical handwritten notes as well as a forward from Steve Wozniak and other Apple legends. Brian also co-produced the retro iOS game "Structris."
Brian was an extra in Joss Whedon’s movie “Serenity,” leading him to being a producer/director for the documentary film “Done The Impossible: The Fans’ Tale of Firefly & Serenity.” He brought some of the Firefly cast aboard his Browncoat Cruise and recruited several of the Firefly cast to appear in a film for charity. Brian speaks about his adventures at conventions around the country.
