Remember that the drive replacement FAQ recommends installing a kernel/player to drive1 for just such an eventuality.

Really? Was this suggestion in the "old" pre-Riocar.org FAQ in the FAQ forum? I ask because I don't remember seeing that, and it's really a good idea. I didn't know the Empeg would fail-over to /drive1 in case of a /drive0 failure. Interesting.

Any way that I can prep my /drive1 with a kernel/filesystem without swapping drives or opening the Empeg?