Does upgrading to SoftRAID 8 require me to reformat my disks, or erase my volume?

No. Upgrading to SoftRAID 8 does not require reformatting or erasing your existing SoftRAID volumes.

Broad compatibility across versions:

All SoftRAID versions from 4.x through 8.x share the same partition map structure, with only a few exceptions listed below. This allows SoftRAID volumes to be easily connected to any Mac and automatically mount.

Because a version of the SoftRAID driver has been included with all Macs (Intel and Apple silicon) since macOS 10.3 (2003), SoftRAID volumes will mount even on legacy systems, as long as they support the file system. (APFS was introduced in macOS High Sierra (10.13). Prior MacOS Systems cannot mount APFS volumes.)

Important: Connecting a newer or older SoftRAID volume to your Mac will never damage, erase, or destroy your data due to version compatibility issues.

Mounting exceptions:

These specific configurations may not mount on all SoftRAID versions:

• 64K stripe units (RAID 4/5): SoftRAID 6.3 introduced support for 64K stripe unit sizes on RAID 4 and 5 volumes. Earlier versions of SoftRAID cannot mount these volumes.
• APFS volumes: APFS was not supported by SoftRAID 4.x or 5.x and will not mount.
• Windows RAID configurations: Certain Windows RAID configurations are incompatible with macOS, such as RAID 5 volumes with 128K stripe unit sizes.
• APM partition maps: SoftRAID 8 dropped support for APM (Apple Partition Map), an older disk format used prior to GPT (GUID Partition Table). Volumes using APM cannot be mounted in SoftRAID 8.