OWC Announces Release of SoftRAID 6.2 for Mac

Software solution offers compatibility with macOS 12 Monterey and support for APFS volumes 

Woodstock, IL – October 26, 2021 – OWC®, the premier zero-emissions Mac and PC technology company, and a respected provider of Memory, External Drives, SSDs, Mac & PC docking solutions, and performance upgrade kits, announces the availability of SoftRAID 6.2 for Mac, adding compatibility for new macOS 12 Monterey and for the first time ever, support for APFS volumes. 

SoftRAID is the most powerful, intuitive RAID management software on the market for macOS and Windows. It has impressive features like multiple RAID options and predictive disk failure monitoring that provide a level of performance that you can’t get with hardware RAID. The all-new SoftRAID 6.2 builds on this solid foundation with new technology and features, making it the most powerful RAID utility available.

What’s New in SoftRAID 6.2 for Mac

Compatible

SoftRAID 6.2 adds support for the all-new macOS 12 – Monterey. 

APFS

For the first time ever, SoftRAID supports the creation, management, and monitoring of APFS volumes and enables access to encrypted APFS volumes created with Disk Utility¹

Incredibly Quick
The re-engineered SoftRAID driver features a new method of handling TRIM commands on SSDs. The new mechanism is 3x faster than before. What does this mean in the real world? For example, using SoftRAID with an OWC Accelsior 8M2 PCIe card enables continuous data transfer over 10GB/s! This level of performance isn’t possible in previous versions of SoftRAID 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, OWC VP of 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 finely tuned over 20 years of development. Multiple RAID levels give you maximum volume capacity, optimal drive efficiency, data protection, or a combination of attributes. SoftRAID is perfect for anyone who needs to store and back up massive amounts of data safely.

SoftRAID Highlights:

• Universal: SoftRAID works with both Mac and Windows and built-in OWC MacDrive technology lets you seamlessly move SoftRAID volumes between OSes
• 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 your 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 data storage 
• Vigilant: Error prediction helps protect against unexpected failure

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

Pricing & Availability

SoftRAID 6.2 is a free upgrade for current SoftRAID 6 users and discounted upgrades are available at the OWC Software Store (https://software.owcdigital.com) for SoftRAID 5 users. SoftRAID also ships with select OWC 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. SoftRAID is licensed per computer, additional discounted seat purchases are available https://software.owcdigital.com. 

About OWC  
Other World Computing (OWC), founded in 1988, is dedicated to helping Mac and PC enthusiasts do more and reach higher. We believe in sustainability and OWC solutions are truly built to last, go the distance, and enable users to maximize the technology investment they have already made. OWC’s operation provides leadership in business sustainability, with our headquarters among the first in the world awarded LEED Platinum OWC features an award-winning technical support team as well as an unparalleled library of step-by-step DIY and informational videos. From the home desktop to the enterprise rack, the corporate backup to secure medical data, the recording studio to the motion picture set and beyond, there should be no compromise, and that is why OWC is here.

About SoftRAID
The SoftRAID team has been producing high-quality applications for over 20 years. SoftRAID has been first to market with many essential features, including fast mirror rebuilds, full email notification, bootable RAID volumes, disk certification, RAID volume validation, TRIM support on all RAID Levels, disk failure prediction, and more. SoftRAID has earned its reputation as a rock-solid product that comes with excellent technical support.

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Company Contact: Derrick Stembridge: (815) 502-5628 or dstembridge@owc.com.   
  
© 2021 Other World Computing, Inc. All rights reserved. Apple and Mac are the trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Intel and Thunderbolt are trademarks of Intel Corporation registered in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other marks may be the trademark or registered trademark property of their respective owners.

¹ SoftRAID can create unencrypted APFS volumes, one volume per container. SoftRAID 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. For more information on SoftRAID and TRIM visit https://www.softraid.com/using-softraid/ – ssd.