How do I label disks in SoftRAID?

SoftRAID allows you to assign a custom label to any disk. Labels appear in the SoftRAID application and in the SoftRAID log, making it much easier to identify specific drives — especially when working with multiple enclosures or troubleshooting a problem.

How to Set a Disk Label

• Select the disk tile for the drive you want to label
• Go to Disk menu → Set Disk Label
• Enter a descriptive name and click OK

The label will appear on the disk tile and will be used to identify the disk in the SoftRAID log going forward.

Tip: If you select multiple disk tiles and apply a label, SoftRAID will automatically number them sequentially — for example, “My Drive-1”, “My Drive-2”, and so on. However, SoftRAID has no way of knowing which physical tray each drive is in, so the numbering may not match your enclosure’s tray order (A, B, C, D). If you want labels that correspond to specific trays, use Blink Disk Light to identify each drive individually before labeling them one at a time.

Why Labeling Disks Is Useful

Working across multiple enclosures

macOS randomly assigns disk numbers each time an enclosure is connected, so the same physical drive may appear as a different disk number from one session to the next. Disk labels give each drive a consistent, human-readable identifier that persists across connections.

This is especially helpful when building a RAID 1+0 volume across two enclosures. Use labels to identify which drives are in which enclosure (for example, “Enclosure A – Bay 1” through “Enclosure A – Bay 4”) so you can easily assign the correct disks as primary and secondary mirror pairs.

Troubleshooting disk ejects or I/O errors

When a disk ejects unexpectedly or generates I/O errors, the SoftRAID log records the event. If the disk has a label, the log entry will include that label, making it immediately clear which physical drive is involved — no need to cross-reference disk numbers. This is particularly useful if you need to swap the drive to a different slot to determine whether the problem is the disk or the enclosure slot.

Using Blink Disk Light to Identify Drives

If you are unsure which physical drive corresponds to a disk tile in SoftRAID, use the Blink Disk Light feature:

• Select the disk tile
• Go to Disk menu → Blink Disk Light

The activity light on the corresponding physical drive will blink, allowing you to confirm its location in the enclosure before assigning a label.

Note: Blink Disk Light works with HDDs. It cannot be used with NVMe drives.