Most RAID products just protect you from losing files when a disk fails. SoftRAID does more. With the SoftRAID application you can easily create RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, 1+0 volumes for data protection and redundancy. Verify your disks to make sure all sectors are readable and certify a disk to make sure it is completely reliable before putting your work on it. If you'd like to add redundancy protection to an existing Apple®volume, SoftRAID can convert Apple volumes to SoftRAID without losing any files in the process. You can also add a second disk to a normal Apple volume to turn it into a mirror. Alternatively, if you need to delete a RAID volume and start over, SoftRAID can help. SoftRAID can even warn you when a disk or volume is becoming unreliable before any failures occur.

 

The SoftRAID Monitor is always running even when you're not logged in to your Mac. It watches your disks and volumes for errors and will warn you as soon as a problem occurs. The SoftRAID Monitor also keeps track of wear patterns which indicate that a disk is becoming unreliable and logs when those errors occur. It can even predict when a disk is about to fail and send you an email notification. With SoftRAID constantly watching your RAID Volumes, you can rest easy knowing your data is safe and be prepared in advance.

 

When you validate a volume, SoftRAID will read every block on the volume to make sure it can be read without errors. If there is an error, the SoftRAID Monitor will warn you and will add an entry to the SoftRAID log file. You can continue to use your volume normally while the SoftRAID driver is validating it. The driver watches to see if you're using the volume, and if you start reading or writing files on the volume, it stops validating for a second or two then resumes validation where it left off. You can even validate your startup volume without worrying about damaging your data. 

 

SoftRAID ensures your volumes are working properly by taking that extra step during the validation process. When SoftRAID validates a mirror or RAID 1+0 volume, it reads from each disk in a mirror set and compares the data. If the data from all the disks in a mirror set do not match, SoftRAID updates the disks so they are all identical.

When validating a RAID 4 or RAID 5 volume, SoftRAID reads the data for each block and calculates the parity information. It then compares the calculated parity information with the parity information stored on the disks. If the parity information on the disks is incorrect, SoftRAID updates the disks with the correct information. 

Now a days, disks are so big that manufacturers can't afford the huge amount of time it takes to test every sector on every disk. With SoftRAID's powerful Certify Disk feature, you can perform the test that should have been done at the factory. When you Certify a disk, you write, then read, every sector of the disk - more than once. This is the type of testing which should be done on each disk by the Manufacturer, and now you can ensure it's done on every disk you use.

 

If you use a SoftRAID mirror volume, every time you write out a file, the write goes to more than one disk at exactly the same time. If one disk fails, the other ones still have all the data on your volume. This is the type of protection SoftRAID can offer with advanced RAID Volumes, and keep your data safe.