So what is the fastest way to create a new, synced RAID 1 array on two brand new blank drives? I will be creating systems with new hardware on a regular basis and do not want to have to wait for drives to "sync" before deployment. There really is nothing to sync anyway because the drives are blank and straight from the manufacturer. The array is for data only and will not have an OS, or SW installed it (by me anyway). I don't really see any reason it shouldn't take more than a couple minutes, rather than several hours.

I'm a RAID user, but I'm not much of an admin. I'm familiar with mdadm and parted, but by no means am I intimately familiar with these tools.

Any hints or suggestions?

edit: I am using software RAID.