SoftRAID LLC has announced the release of SoftRAID 3.0, a new version of its RAID software. The software now runs natively on Mac OS X, and requires Mac OS X v10.2 or later.
Like the Disk Utility software included with Mac OS X, SoftRAID enables users to create Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAIDs) either using RAID Level 0 (striping data across multiple disks to increase performance) or RAID Level 1 (mirroring, which duplicates data across disks for fault tolerance).
SoftRAID supports a wide variety of media, however, with any combination of FireWire, ATA, SCSI and Fibre Channel-connected devices. It features automatic rebuilding of Mirror volumes, automatic notification of errors, the ability to easily update SoftRAID OS 9 volumes and more.
SoftRAID 3.0 was initially expected for release earlier this summer, but the developers spent an extra couple of months that SoftRAID worked with the Power Mac G5 and other key applications. Version 3’s release received kudos from utility software maker Alsoft and FireWire drive maker Maxtor, both of whom noted compatibility between their products and SoftRAID.
SoftRAID LLC is offering the new software at a special “upgrade” price of US$99 until November 1, 2003. After that, the price is increasing to $129 for an electronic version or $149 for a retail version. Users who bought SoftRAID v2.2.2 on or after August 1, 2002 are entitled to a free upgrade (OEM bundles do not qualify).