How to Recover Data From a RAID 5 Disk Created By OWC SoftRAID on Windows

• Author:
  
  Vladimir Artiukh
• Editor:
  
  Oleg Afonin
• Updated: 20.12.2025 15:58

In this article we will review, how to recover data from a RAID array created with SoftRAID after deletion or formatting, and also what to do if it stops working or is no longer detected by the system.

Contents

• What is SoftRAID?
• How to install SoftRAID on Windows
• How to create a RAID array using SoftRAID
• How to recover data from a RAID array created with SoftRAID
  • Data recovery from a SoftRAID disk array after deletion or formatting
  • Data recovery if a SoftRAID disk array has failed
• Conclusion
• Questions and answers
• Comments

We will also cover how to open SoftRAID RAID disks on Windows, even if the array was created on macOS, which applications to use for analyzing and recovering the array structure, and how to safely store recovered files.

After reading, you will know how to act in case of array failure, volume deletion, or disk damage, and will be able to restore access to important data yourself.

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How to Recover Data From a RAID 5 Array Created with OWC SoftRAID on Windows

What is SoftRAID?

SoftRAID is software for creating, managing, and monitoring RAID arrays on macOS and Windows computers without the need for a dedicated hardware controller.

SoftRAID allows combining multiple physical drives into a single logical volume to increase performance or storage reliability. It is a software alternative to hardware RAID controllers.

How to install SoftRAID on Windows

Installing SoftRAID on Windows is the same as installing any other application. Simply download the program from the official website and run the installer.

Then install the application following the prompts of the installer wizard.

How to create a RAID array using SoftRAID

To create a RAID array with SoftRAID, connect the disks you plan to use for the array to your computer.

To ensure the RAID array operates quickly, stably, and with minimal risk of data loss, it is crucial to use disks of the same capacity, type, and preferably model.

If disks differ, then:

• performance – decreases;
• stability – decreases;
• reliability – is at risk;
• recovery after failure – becomes more complicated.

Best practice: use identical disks in capacity, type, model, and preferably the same production batch.

Remember that creating a RAID array will erase all data on the disks used to create it.

Next, launch SoftRAID on your PC. When the application starts, go to the All Disks section in the main window. Here you will see all disks connected to the PC.

Open the application’s Menu and select New RAID Volume.

Select the RAID level to create. In this example, RAID5.

Specify the disks to be used for the RAID.

Specify the Volume name, its desired size, and the file system.

Specify the intended use of the array and the security parameters.

Review the configured array settings again and confirm its creation. When the program completes creating the array, you will see a corresponding notification.

Go to the RAID Volumes menu and view the parameters of the newly created array.

Record these parameters, or even take a screenshot of this program window. In case the array fails, this information will be required for data recovery.

The array will also appear as a separate drive in This PC, and will be displayed accordingly in Disk Management.

How to recover data from a RAID array created with SoftRAID

Data recovery from a SoftRAID disk array after deletion or formatting

So, we have a software RAID array created with SoftRAID.

It contains some files. Imagine that we deleted some files, or formatted the volume created by SoftRAID.

In that case, we can recover them using a hard drive data recovery application – Hetman Partition Recovery.

After launch, the program will see such a software RAID as a regular hard disk partition. Data can be recovered in the same way as from a regular disk. Simply scan the desired partition of the software RAID, locate the needed files, and recover them.

I will not dwell on this scenario in detail; our channel has a video on data recovery from various media using Hetman Partition Recovery.

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💽 Nine Common Causes of Partition Loss, and Data Recovery Methods to Use 💽

Data recovery if a SoftRAID disk array has failed

But what should you do if a SoftRAID (version 05.18) disk array has failed? If the volume created by the application does not appear in This PC, or cannot be opened? How to access lost data in this case?

When launching Hetman Partition Recovery, we also do not see the required partition in the application’s menu, since this utility is not designed for RAID array recovery.

In that case, Hetman Partition Recovery will only display the set of disks that previously formed the RAID. It will not be able to recover data from them: files will be recovered only partially and are often corrupted.

For such cases, use Hetman RAID Recovery — a utility specifically designed to recover data from RAID arrays.

Launch Hetman RAID Recovery and note that the program’s initial screen does not detect the RAID array created on these disks. To reconstruct it, click the RAID builder button.

Let’s try to recover our array in automatic mode.

Specify the disks on which the array was created. The necessary disks can be identified by capacity or by name.

Disk names can be seen in Windows Disk Management by opening the Properties of the required disk.

Wait while the program finds the RAID array. This may take some time. The program found our array. Click the Add button.

Double-click the RAID array found in automatic mode and start scanning. After the Quick scan the program could not recover all files from the array: folders are present, but they are empty or contain corrupted files.

Run a Full analysis. The result is the same.

This can happen if the program is unable to automatically determine the correct parameters of the found array for some reason.

Let’s try to recover the array in manual mode.

Return to the RAID builder and choose the Create manually function.

Using this function, Hetman RAID Recovery allows specifying all array parameters manually for more accurate recovery of a failed array. These parameters should not be intimidating, as they are all known. They were visible when the array was created in SoftRAID:

• RAID type: RAID5.
• Block order: Left-synchronous.
• Block size: 128 KB.

Proceed to the disks: we have already identified which of them belonged to the specified array. Add them to the selected list. To do this, click the required disk and press the Blue arrow button.

Disks are added; now you need to set the correct order.

Disk order is an important parameter; do not neglect it. You may also have seen the disk order in the SoftRAID application.

Set them correctly: click a disk and move it up or down using the blue arrow.

Next, you need to correctly specify the offset with which our array was created and the disk size within the array. How to determine these parameters?

Hetman RAID Recovery shows these if you select the corresponding disk on the application’s initial screen, in the Main Window.

We see that the array disks are partitioned. There is an unallocated area and a Local Disk.

The Local Disk is the area of the disk where the array files are stored.

Select it.

In the program menu at the bottom we see the parameters of the selected partition. We are interested in the First sector and the Number of sectors. These correspond to the required Offset and Disk size.

Therefore:

• Enter the First sector value into the Offset field.
• And in the Size field — the Number of sectors.
• All values are measured in sectors.

Repeat for each disk.

After entering the specified parameters, click the Update button next to the Detected RAID array window. You will see that the program correctly identified the RAID array to be recovered, its name, and capacity.

Click the Add button.

The manually configured array appears among other disks in the program. Start a Quick scan.

As we can see, the program now correctly displays all folders and files that previously resided on the array, including those that had been deleted (marked with a red cross).

Select the required folders and files and recover them. Save them to a convenient location.

Similarly, using Hetman RAID Recovery you can recover data from a SoftRAID disk array in case one or more disks fail, or from an array created in the macOS operating system.

Conclusion

Thus, we reviewed step by step how to recover data from SoftRAID arrays in Windows using Hetman RAID Recovery. Even if the SoftRAID system failed, the array does not mount, or Windows does not recognize the disks at all — the program allows you to reconstruct RAID parameters, read the file system, and restore access to your files.

Remember:

• first — do not initialize or format the disks in Windows;
• work only with copies or with physical media connected in “read-only” mode;
• and perform recovery using all disks of the array.