i have created my array using the following command

Code:
mdadm -Cv /dev/md0 --chunk=128 -l5 -n4 /dev/sd[a,b,c,d]1
This creates the array with what seemed to be no problems however when i view the details it says i am missing 1 disk and have 1 spare

Output of
Code:
mdadm --detail /dev/md0
Code:
/dev/md0:
        Version : 00.90.01
  Creation Time : Wed Jan 31 23:41:33 2007
     Raid Level : raid5
     Array Size : 1172133888 (1117.83 GiB 1200.27 GB)
    Device Size : 390711296 (372.61 GiB 400.09 GB)
   Raid Devices : 4
  Total Devices : 4
Preferred Minor : 0
    Persistence : Superblock is persistent

    Update Time : Wed Jan 31 23:41:33 2007
          State : clean, degraded, recovering
 Active Devices : 3
Working Devices : 4
 Failed Devices : 0
  Spare Devices : 1

         Layout : left-symmetric
     Chunk Size : 128K

 Rebuild Status : 0% complete

    Number   Major   Minor   RaidDevice State
       0       8        1        0      active sync   /dev/sda1
       1       8       17        1      active sync   /dev/sdb1
       2       8       33        2      active sync   /dev/sdc1
       3       0        0       -1      removed
       4       8       49        3      spare   /dev/sdd1
           UUID : 0aad3cb1:c0812dca:c4039584:754b5b4e
         Events : 0.8
If i stop the array and reassemble it, it tells me it assembled the array with 3 disks and 1 spare. This is not what i want

I want a 4 disk Raid 5 with no spares. Has anyone got any ideas as to what i'm doing wrong?

thanks guys