The question is, on a three drive software RAID set up will the third drive be a hot spare, or will it be a mirror. On the web pages mentioned earlier in this thread, on HOW-TO 4 or 5 I think, reference indicate that the RAID setups are software configurable. The drives can be set up with a hot spare, or with all of the drives except the first one as duplicate mirror drives. This is all under RAID 1. The matter is written with some ambiguity on the first page, but is spelled out later. I am puzzled as to what benefit would be derived from having an extra drive hot and spinning all the time wearing out. If you have a failure wouldn't you be better off adding a new in at that time and rebuilding the data from there? Harold --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss