sudo mdadm --create /dev/answers --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/blog,/dev/linux-raid@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Thanks for the responses Neil! I did try the following kernel parameter: md-mod.start_dirty_degraded=1 Does my kernel simply not honor that parameter? I'll try and look into my initial ramdisk and see some of these scripts you're talking about. Ok, I'll post more after I look at what you talked about. Jake -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html