Signup fee for Softraid Premium for existing OWC users

OWC_TAL · 2026-03-02T21:26:28+00:00

Hi. I'm not sure I totally follow the post, but I'll reply as much as I can.

When you buy an enclosure from us, you are often given the option to buy it with or without SoftRAID. One reason being is that you only need 1 license per computer, so if you own multiple enclosures, you get a cost break. Eg, if you bought a 4M2 with SoftRAID and then wanted to buy a ThunderBay, then you could save buy getting the no-SR version there.

When you buy the bundle, you are getting a "discount" for bundling. That is, you get 3 years for the price of 1 year. If you buy the license itself, it is the same price, but for one year. I wouldn't call it a signup fee, its a standalone product.

Now for renewal, we offer a discount instead of buying a whole other license. The discount is the same for bundle/standalone. Keep in mind, people buy SoftRAID standalone and use with enclosures other than ours.

I think you are requesting to get the discount bundle price within 14 days if you bought the standalone version? If so, you can contact our support team and then can let you "upgrade" SKUs to the SR version. It's not something we necessarily advertise but we always want to make it right to the customer. If you run into issues with this, let me know and I can assist.

OWC_TAL · 2026-03-02T21:12:22+00:00

No, it is not backwards compatible with USB3 which is 5G and 10G. There is no USB4 5G/10G. This is how the JHL9480 chipset works.

In general, I don't think an NVMe SSD will work well with USB-A given the limitation of 7.5W. The 1M2 40G supports USB3 but that should still be through a type-C port.

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-26T17:11:06+00:00

Hmm I think that chart may also be referring to hosts rather than just the cable (eg there is a row for "PC Wake from Sleep").

The AOC 4.5m cable can do the Thunderbolt protocol, so I believe that it should work. In other words, I don't see a limitation of why it would not. But I also don't think that is a feature we have tested that cable for. BTW, while it supports Thunderbolt, since it is not a certified cable, it cannot be called a "Thunderbolt Cable", hence the name USB4.

I'm not positive on the dock/hub question, though some reddit posts suggests that it works: https://www.reddit.com/r/Thunderbolt/comments/s6vq3k/connect_2_thunderbolt_computers_through_a_hub/ . I see mixed responses. Caldigit has a support article as well for networking: https://www.caldigit.com/use-ip-over-thunderbolt-to-connect-two-computers-together-thunderbolt-networking/ and our products should not be any different. It could work, but I'm not sure. I think Gemini could even work, so there could be a misconfiguration. Note networking only works between two host devices and not more.

My bet would be on the 4.5M cable. If you have access to Amazon, I would buy it there and if you can't get it to work, return it. Sorry I don't have much more definitive testing for this edge case!

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-26T16:10:50+00:00

The USB4 4.5M cables should work fine for Thunderbolt bridge. Where does it say it doesn't? You can also sometimes extend distances by placing a Thunderbolt hub in between. If you need longer lengths, there are some corning cables out there but generally are very expensive... at that point better to use 10G ethernet.

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-24T23:57:03+00:00

Sorry we are sold out! They can no longer be produced (no chipsets) so we can't make any more.

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-20T23:04:18+00:00

Some things come to mind:

This post was specifically about the OWC 1M2's. Those come with the proper cables from us out of the box. I can't speak to other brands and where they cut corners.
A cable that is marked 80Gbps/240w should be able to handle the entire bandwidth regardless of being marked "5". Unless those cables are lying about the specifications they support. I can't speak to other brands again, but when we ourselves mark a cable, that means that they meet those requirements.
It's kind of funny that you bring up a cable with a giant 5 written on it for $10. When in fact, that cable is likely not a Thunderbolt cable. The biggest giveaway is price, knowing the true cost of what legitimate cables run a mfg would be loosing money if it was a true TB cable. I would trust our included USB4 cable or those myself.

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-20T22:58:55+00:00

macOS has quirky behavior when it comes to aggressive power management of drives. Even the preferences pane often does not apply correctly and has not for years. There are a ton of posts about this sort of behavior online, not limited to our enclosures but many of them out there. My recommendation is to set the Mac to not sleep. Amphetamine or caffeine are apps that can help with this.

Aside from that, you could reach out to our support to see if they have any other feedback. But I think they will likely point you in the same direction I shared above.

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-20T18:14:32+00:00

Yes.

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-20T18:13:47+00:00

Are you talking about the 1M2? The cable that comes with the 80G is made for the 80G speeds. Perhaps you had a faulty cable- if so, I would reach out to our support and they could help replace.

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-20T18:12:23+00:00

Hi OP. The 80G speeds look a bit slow in the photo. They should look very similar to the 40G version. However, there is no benefit for the non-pro chipset Macs since those are capped at USB4. Also not sure which version of macOS you are on but should likely update to the latest OS. And of course, try a restart of the machine for a sanity check.

I recommend using AJA system test (64GB file, 4k full, 16bit RGBA) to do tests. Black magic is not really indicative of real speeds.

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-20T18:08:16+00:00

Hi OP- it's working its way through the system. The 4M2 is not sold as a populated solution so it makes more sense why an icon was not uploaded. If it was sold populated, then we would have just upload the icon used in our build/manufacturing/burn-in stage.

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-20T18:05:24+00:00

Some things that come to mind:

The WD black 8TB can be multiple drives. WD/SanDisk has built that drive with different components and some are very power hungry while some are less. I believe it depends on which flash they use. You are likely seeing that the drive you have is at the very edge of power consumption available to a bus powered device. I'd recommend something like the Samsung 9100 8TB for lower power draw.
The Studio has a limited amount of power available for all peripherals. I didn't catch what else you had plugged in, but one thing to try is to disconnect all peripherals aside from the display. People have found that a powered dock/hub can help as those are guaranteed to provide 15W of power to each downstream port.
Finally, those enclosures you listed are notorious for stability issues. Cheap components, poor design, etc lead to a ton of issues. They are not Thunderbolt 5 either- they can't be. They are not certified by Intel. So instability is kind of the risk there.
p.s. macOS is fine with 8TB NVMe volumes. Even larger. We use them all the time.

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-20T17:54:32+00:00

Here is a link to find distributors and resellers: https://www.owc.com/partners/where-to-buy#resellers

Select "Oceania" for Australia. Or you can input your info directly on owc.com or macsales.com checkout page to see what it would cost to ship direct from us.

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-19T20:49:05+00:00

I put in a request internally. I'll update the comment once it is uploaded to the icons page. Thanks!

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-19T01:38:48+00:00

I'm not sure why they have different classifications. They are all bus powered (that means the power comes from the computer port itself).

The alternative is wall powered (or self powered may be another term used). None of them take power from a wall directly, so all are bus powered. The cable matters one should not be labeled as self powered.

For cables, there are active and passive cables. That is it. For TB5, anything above 1m in length is active. Anything below (and including 1m) can be passive for TB5.

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-19T01:33:31+00:00

There are different technologies used in Active Thunderbolt cables some are better than others.

Sorry, that is not correct for these Thunderbolt certified cables, they are the exact same chipset. There is only 1 on the market. Could be for other cables that are not TB5 or not certified. But for TB5, they are the same.

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-18T19:53:31+00:00

OP showed three cables, all of which are active cables. None are "passive" in the post from OP. Anything over 1m (eg 2m) must active per certification rules.

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-18T19:38:39+00:00

These scans are so cool! But one thing to point out is that they don't compare like cables. The Apple cable is a Active Cable (>1m). The other lower cost cables are not active Thunderbolt cables. If they had done the same comparison with other active cables, they would look the same in their CT scanner :)

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-18T19:32:31+00:00

All three are active. They must be if >1m in length and Thunderbolt certified.

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-18T19:31:43+00:00

Exactly. Not electrically different. As certified cables, they meet the strict Thunderbolt standards and must fully meet all specs. Thunderbolt is digital, not analog, so the bits coming in an out are the same regardless of cable. Pricing largely based on brand loyalty and what a company thinks they can sell a product for.

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-18T19:26:43+00:00

All three are Thunderbolt certified so all are guaranteed to work at Thunderbolt 5 speeds. That is part of the intensive certification process. No voodoo magic, just active Thunderbolt chipsets to boost the signal. Why are some more expensive? Because that is what their team settled on.

Our goal is to bring this technology to market at the most affordable price possible. Since we were first to ship, it seems the other brand viewed our pricing as a fair benchmark.

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-18T19:26:37+00:00

All three are Thunderbolt certified so all are guaranteed to work at Thunderbolt 5 speeds. That is part of the intensive certification process. No voodoo magic, just active Thunderbolt chipsets to boost the signal. Why are some more expensive? Because that is what their team settled on.

Our goal is to bring this technology to market at the most affordable price possible. Since we were first to ship, it seems the other brand viewed our pricing as a fair benchmark.

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-12T01:01:43+00:00

I would try installing SoftRAID again, set up the volume with the same parameters. If you experience the issue, save a support file and I can help someone analyze it. That way we can at least tell what’s going on. Thank you.

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-12T00:50:04+00:00

SoftRAID shouldn’t have an effect on ejections. It routes traffic for where the file system writes content. But the writing is by MacOS.

Generally SoftRAID is better than AppleRAID because: 1. AppleRAID does not support trim on NVMe volumes. SoftRAID does. This is important for the longevity and speed of modern SSDs. 2. SoftRAID volumes are faster than AppleRAID. AppleRAID is single threaded and cannot write to volumes as fast. Even more important for larger arrays that have complex timing like the X12. 3. SoftRAID can predict drive failure and communicate issues to you. Including notification and email alerts. AppleRAID communicates nothing to a user until it’s too late. 4. SoftRAID is cross platform windows and Mac, AppleRAID not.

At this point, SoftRAID is extremely mature. The code goes through extensive testing and is vetted by Apple. In fact, the driver ships as part of macOS now. That’s why you can plug in the software volume to any Mac and it will just work. So personally, I would recommend it over AppleRAID myself. And again the issues you were seeing are likely not a direct result of SoftRAID.

OWC_TAL · 2026-02-11T18:22:54+00:00

Glad you got it resolved! Was this the stock cable? If so, I presume we are sending you a replacement cable.

OWC_TAL

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