OWC SoftRAID V.6.2 Software for Mac With Compatibility With macOS 12 Monterey and Support for APFS Volumes

Other World Computing, Inc. (OWC) announces the SoftRAID-6.2 for Mac, adding compatibility for new macOS 12 Monterey and, for the first time, support for APFS volumes.

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It is an RAID management software for macOS and Windows. It has features like multiple RAID options and predictive disk failure monitoring that provide a level of performance that you can’t get with hardware RAID. It builds on this foundation with new technology and features, making it a RAID utility.

What’s new in SoftRAID-6.2 for Mac

Compatible
Adds support for the new macOS 12 – Monterey.
APFS
For the first time, it supports the creation, management, and monitoring of APFS volumes and enables access to encrypted APFS volumes created with Disk Utility⁽¹⁾
Quick
The re-engineered driver features a method of handling TRIM commands on SSDs. The new mechanism is 3x faster than before. For example, using SoftRAID with an Accelsior 8M2 PCIe card enables continuous data transfer over 10GB/s. This level of performance isn’t possible in previous versions of the software and is impossible with RAID volumes not using TRIM commands, like Apple RAID. ⁽²⁾

“SoftRAID is for anyone who needs to safely store and backup important data, including audio/video pros, photographers, archivers, families, and small businesses,” said Tim Standing, VP, software development Mac. “SoftRAID offers vast advantages over hardware RAID and makes catastrophic data loss a thing of the past.“

At SoftRAID’s core are RAID creation and management technology that has been tuned over 20 years of development. Multiple RAID levels give maximum volume capacity, drive efficiency, data protection, or a combination of attributes. It is for anyone who needs to store and backup massive amounts of data safely.

SoftRAID highlights:

Universal: Works with Mac and Windows and built-in OWC MacDrive technology lets you seamlessly move SoftRAID volumes between OSs
Advanced: Create RAID-0/1/4/5/1+0 (10) with Macs, RAID-0/1 with Windows machines
Streamlined: Disk tiles are grouped together by enclosure making it easier to keep track of multiple drives
Licensing: Easily activate, deactivate, and add additional discounted seats
Protected: SoftRAID Monitor constantly watches disks and alerts you if problems are detected
Validated: Volume validation ensures sectors can be read and parity is correct
Certified: Checks disks before use to ensure they are safe for storage
Vigilant: Error prediction helps protect vs. unexpected failure

SoftRAID is easy-to-use RAID software that maximizes drive capacity offers faster performance and protects vs. data loss. It’s for voluminous data roles, including A/V production and editing, photography, graphic design, database servers, financial applications. It is the brain for running, maintaining, and protecting RAID arrays.

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Pricing and availability:
SoftRAID-6.2 is a free upgrade for current SoftRAID-6 users and discounted upgrades are available at the company’s Software Store for SoftRAID-5 users. It also ships with select company’s enclosures including ThunderBays, ThunderBlade, Express 4M2, Mercury Elite Pro Quad, Mercury Pro U.2 Dual, and Accelsiors. As always, you can test drive SoftRAID for yourself, free, with the full featured 14-day trial.

Compatibility
SoftRAID-6.2 for Mac is compatible with macOS 10.12 or later including macOS 12. Apple silicon (M1) Macs require macOS 11.3 or later. SoftRAID-2 for Windows works with Windows 10. It is licensed per computer, additional discounted seat purchases are available at the company’s website.

⁽¹⁾ SoftRAID can create unencrypted APFS volumes, one volume per container. It cannot create encrypted volumes but does support volumes encrypted by Disk Utility.
⁽²⁾ TRIM commands allow the file system to tell SSDs when a file is deleted and allows SSDs to erase the flash memory, which corresponds to the deleted file in the background, so it is ready for subsequent writes to the volume.