Spin up delay of 2-3 seconds

This seems to be a blocking operation on MacOSX that cases a noticeable and annoying pause in GUI response.

Check erformance of other OSs
What happen if someone removes the disk?
- Locking? Want to avoid locking. Prompt for disk?
Perhaps ldconfig could link to a volume that is considered available but not mounted.
More locking issues
How to fail nicely

Research

Old OSs that start up from floppy disk such as RISC OS and early MacOS (System 2).

For example memory stick, USB key, camera.

Link in with udev to alert the OS to the removal of a device before attempts are made to access it.
How to fail nicely