SoftRAID V4.0 ($129)

SoftRAID, LLC announces SoftRAID version 4.0, an upgrade to its RAID software and disk management application for Mac OS X.

This release incorporates support for the latest technologies in Mac OS X including support for the 64 bit kernel in Snow Leopard and complete support for SSD (Solid State Disks). It also includes new features, many of which are not found in any other RAID product for the Mac.

"SoftRAID 4.0 contains a wealth of new features which we are really excited about," said Mark James, VP Sales. "SoftRAID 4.0 has many features which will make your life easier whether you’re a system administrator who runs a group of servers, a consultant who has to keep track of the health of clientsʼ Macs, or a professional who has to make sure his or her business is protected against disk failure or human error. We wanted to make this the best RAID solution for Mac OS X and I think we’ve succeeded."

SoftRAID 4.0 includes these key features:

• Accelerated Mirror Rebuilds: mirror rebuilds can now take less than 10 minutes even on 1 – 2 TB volumes.
• Email Notification: the SoftRAID Monitor can send out email messages in response to error conditions to ensure that you know when things are going wrong before itʼs too late.
• Command Line Interface: there is now a SoftRAID command line interface. You can check the status of your SoftRAID volumes, start a mirror rebuild or perform most SoftRAID functions remotely, even from your iPhone.
• Checking SMART Status on Disk: the SMART status on every disk is checked every time you launch the SoftRAID application and every 24 hours your Mac is running. In addition, the parameters returned with the SMART status are used to determine if your disk is more likely to fail in the next couple of months.
• Disk Hours of Use: SoftRAID now keeps track of how many hours each disk has been used. This will allow you to replace old disks before they fail.
• Validating Volumes: you can now read every sector on a volume even when it is in use without interrupting your work. For mirror volumes, the data on each disk in the mirror is compared to ensure that all disks contain identical copies of the volume.
• Certifying and Verifying Disks: new disks can now be certified before you use them to ensure that each and every sector is reliable.
• Support for SSDs and Disks with 4 KB Sectors: SoftRAID now has complete support for SSDs and disks with 4 KB sectors.
• The SoftRAID Log: all SoftRAID specific errors and events are now written to one log file. You can monitor the health of your SoftRAID disks and volumes without wading through all the diagnostic messages in the system.log file

"We at SoftRAID are incredibly proud of this new version of SoftRAID," said Tim Standing, President of SoftRAID LLC. "We have been working on it for over a year and a half and have been running SoftRAID 4 on all our internal Macs (development and business workstations, laptops and servers) since early October, 2009. In addition, there have been over 200 beta users. In the past several months, more than half of our beta users have been using SoftRAID 4.0 beta releases on their servers and workstations in production environments."

SoftRAID version 4.0 costs $129 for the electronic download version and includes one year of free technical support via email. It can be purchased via the SoftRAID website and retail outlets worldwide. SoftRAID offers a free 30 day trial for users who want to evaluate SoftRAID 4’s performance and reliability before purchase.

Users of SoftRAID 3 can purchase an upgrade to version 4.0 for $69. All users who purchased SoftRAID 3 after January 1, 2009 can obtain a free upgrade.