Do you use the Lite or the full version of SoftRaid? Any major benefits to the full version for the majority of photographers?
David -
SoftRAID Lite.
The 'lite' version covers any number of RAIDs 1 and 0.
There's no need for the full version unless you're intending to move to a RAID 4, 5 or 10 setup.
The SMART reporting, "hours-of-use" monitor, block level health analysis and predictive failure are, I believe, the same in both full and lite versions.
OWC tout their superior and faster (to Apple) RAID driver. That may well be so, I haven't checked it, 'cos I'm still running Apple RAID, with Soft RAID doing the monitoring. There's also a cost difference $34 v $175.
You can convert Apple RAID volumes to SoftRAID but, obviously, not SoftRAID to Apple if you change your mind in the future. Also, you can convert Apple mirrored sets into single volumes , not at all sure if you can do that with SoftRAID. Moot points, but not, if like me, you're thinking of replacing my RAID-0 setup with an SSD (or two) and then backed up to RAID-1 mirror.
SSD's and TRIM are all supported under SoftRAID Lite, so unless you're operating in an 'enterprise' environment, RAID-0 and 1's are all a photographer is likely to need, particularly with storage capacities and speeds expanding all the time.
One small, but thoroughly irritating point – I bought my copy just over a month ago, only to then discover that OWC are unable (read: unwilling) to issue licence codes via email. They insist on sending a CD package out by post. Not too much of a problem if you're in the USA, but for delivery to the EU it took just under a month. And then all I had to do was type in the code for my trial copy to be validated, no need to reinstall. OWC, if you're reading this: it's almost 2016 …
All best wishes for 2016 – to all on LuLa.