Comment 0 for bug 320638

This is on a MSI Wind U100 and I've got the following stack running:
HDD & SD card (USB card reader) -> RAID1 -> LUKS -> LVM -> Reiser

Whenever I remove the HDD from the Raid1
> mdadm /dev/md0 --fail /dev/sda2
> mdadm /dev/md0 --remove /dev/sda2)
for powersaving reasons, I cannot run any apt related tools.

> sudo apt-get update
[...]
Hit http://de.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/multiverse Sources
Reading package lists... Error!
E: Read error - read (5 Input/output error)
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.

Taking a look at the kernel log shows (and many more above):
> dmesg|tail
[ 9479.330550] bio too big device md0 (248 > 240)
[ 9479.331375] bio too big device md0 (248 > 240)
[ 9479.332182] bio too big device md0 (248 > 240)
[ 9611.980294] bio too big device md0 (248 > 240)
[ 9742.929761] bio too big device md0 (248 > 240)
[ 9852.932001] bio too big device md0 (248 > 240)
[ 9852.935395] bio too big device md0 (248 > 240)
[ 9852.938064] bio too big device md0 (248 > 240)
[ 9853.081046] bio too big device md0 (248 > 240)
[ 9853.081688] bio too big device md0 (248 > 240)

$ sudo mdadm --detail /dev/md0
/dev/md0:
        Version : 00.90
  Creation Time : Tue Jan 13 11:25:57 2009
     Raid Level : raid1
     Array Size : 3871552 (3.69 GiB 3.96 GB)
  Used Dev Size : 3871552 (3.69 GiB 3.96 GB)
   Raid Devices : 2
  Total Devices : 1
Preferred Minor : 0
    Persistence : Superblock is persistent

  Intent Bitmap : Internal

    Update Time : Fri Jan 23 21:47:35 2009
          State : active, degraded
 Active Devices : 1
Working Devices : 1
 Failed Devices : 0
  Spare Devices : 0

           UUID : 89863068:bc52a0c0:44a5346e:9d69deca (local to host m-twain)
         Events : 0.8767

    Number Major Minor RaidDevice State
       0 0 0 0 removed
       1 8 17 1 active sync writemostly /dev/sdb1

$ sudo ubuntu-bug -p linux-meta
dpkg-query: failed in buffer_read(fd): copy info file `/var/lib/dpkg/status': Input/output error
dpkg-query: failed in buffer_read(fd): copy info file `/var/lib/dpkg/status': Input/output error
[...]

Will provide separate attachements.