Does SoftRAID work with network-attached storage (NAS, SAN, or other shared storage)?

No, SoftRAID is not compatible with Storage Area Networks (SAN), Network-Attached Storage (NAS), or other shared storage systems that have their own CPU and independently connect to your computer over a network.

SoftRAID works with directly-attached storage (DAS) only:

• Internal drives directly connected via SATA, NVMe, etc.
• Thunderbolt-connected enclosures
• USB-connected enclosures
• eSATA, Fibre Channel, and other direct-attach storage buses

Why doesn’t SoftRAID work with NAS enclosures?

SAN and NAS systems do not connect directly to your computer. They connect over a network, usually Ethernet. The drives are not accessible to macOS as independent storage devices—instead, you access them as network shares. SoftRAID requires direct, low-level access to the physical drives to manage RAID arrays.

Can I share a SoftRAID volume over my network?

Yes! You can share a SoftRAID volume using standard macOS file sharing (SMB/AFP), but the SoftRAID volume itself must be DAS (locally attached to the Mac running SoftRAID).