> Could the information be stuck in the master boot record?
Any LILO gurus out there who know about "spare" space in the MBR ??
> Anyhow, as far as I can see the real issue is how to replace a failed drive
> in the array..
No -- that's easy -- raidhotadd ...
> In a RAID setup, you'd like to be able to just stick a drive in and have the
> RAID subsystem automatically note that it's an available spare disk.
No I wouldn't -- I'd like to *tell* it that it is a new disk for /dev/mdX
> You don't want to have to go through the extra step of having to partition
> the drive
No big deal ...
> (and in the worst case reboot to make the system see that you've
> partitioned),
No -- the bit about looking at the partition type is *ONLY* at reboot time.
To hot fix, you just tell it, and it doesn't look at the partition type ...
> especially if there would be only one partition filling the entire drive.
Indeed ...
> On the other hand, you wouldn't want the RAID subsystem to just steal
> whichever drive it thinks is available, either.
Quite -- I want to say to which array it should be added !
> Tough choice.
... so the *USER* should make it ...
