How do I share a SoftRAID volume between Mac and Windows?

There are two ways to share a SoftRAID volume between Mac and Windows: physically connecting the enclosure to each computer, or sharing the volume over a network.

Physical Connection (Direct Attach)

To physically connect a SoftRAID enclosure to a Windows computer, you must have one of the following installed on the Windows machine:

• SoftRAID for Windows — supports all RAID levels – RAID 0/1/4/5/1+0 (10)
• MacDrive Premium — supports all RAID levels – RAID 0/1/4/5/1+0 (10)
• MacDrive Standard — supports RAID 0/1

On Mac, SoftRAID volumes mount automatically — no additional software is required to read and write to the volume. If you want to manage the volume (monitor health, rebuild, etc.), you will need SoftRAID Standard or Premium installed.

You can download SoftRAID for Windows at: https://download.owc.com/softraid/windows

MacDrive is available at: https://www.owc.com/solutions/macdrive

Network Sharing

You can also share a SoftRAID volume over your network, just like any other volume. Any computer on the network can then access it as a standard network share, without needing SoftRAID or MacDrive installed on the remote machine.

Important note for macOS: macOS treats SoftRAID volumes as “removable” storage, which means they are not automatically included in file sharing. You must manually add the volume in Sharing preferences:

• Go to System Settings → General → Sharing
• Enable File Sharing
• Click the + button under Shared Folders and select your SoftRAID volume
• Set the desired user permissions

If the volume is still not accessible to other computers after following these steps, try also sharing a folder inside the volume. This can sometimes resolve issues where macOS is not correctly exposing the volume over the network.