[wellylug] RAID1 on OS disk

[E Chalaron]

Hi there

Just a technical question before I bugger my PC...

I need a Raid 1 for my operating system. Data are irrelevant the can be 
reproduced easily and they already are on RAID 0 on 2 other disks.

I was wondering when one uses a soft RAID 1 with Linux, how can a Linux 
kernel  detect a faulty drive, if it already can't boot ? :-[

Am I not better off using a BIOS RAID 1 to preserve operating system ?
I can always do a dd I suppose, but it is a bit heavy.
Cheers
E