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Can someone please explain to me, what the difference is between creating mdadm array using partitions or the whole disks directly? Supposing I intend to use the whole drives. Note, that they are with GPT.

Imagine RAID6 created in two ways, either:

mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=6 --raid-devices=4 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdc1 /dev/sdd1

or:

mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=6 --raid-devices=4 /dev/sda /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd

Is there a difference?

EDIT1: I mean in for example reliability or manageability or recovery operations on such arrays, etc.

EDIT2: I do use different manufacturer's drives. But that is not the question really. They all have the exact same size, I do get the point, that there may be manufacturers making drives slightly different sizes. But for the sake of this question, let's assume they are the very same size.

EDIT3: Sort of disclaimer: So far I am always partitioning the drives.

Can someone please explain to me, what the difference is between creating mdadm array using partitions or the whole disks directly? Supposing I intend to use the whole drives.

Imagine a RAID6 created in two ways, either:

mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=6 --raid-devices=4 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdc1 /dev/sdd1

or:

mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=6 --raid-devices=4 /dev/sda /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd

What is the difference, and possible problems arising from any of the two variants?

For example, I mean the reliability or manageability or recovery operations on such arrays, etc.

Can someone please explain to me, what the difference is between creating mdadm array using partitions or the whole disks directly? Supposing I intend to use the whole drives. Note, that they are with GPT.

Imagine RAID6 created in two ways, either:

mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=6 --raid-devices=4 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdc1 /dev/sdd1

or:

mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=6 --raid-devices=4 /dev/sda /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd

Is there a difference?

EDIT1: I mean in for example reliability or manageability or recovery operations on such arrays, etc.

EDIT2: I do use different manufacturer's drives. But that is not the question really. They all have the exact same size, I do get the point, that there may be manufacturers making drives slightly different sizes. But for the sake of this question, let's assume they are the very same size.

Can someone please explain to me, what the difference is between creating mdadm array using partitions or the whole disks directly? Supposing I intend to use the whole drives. Note, that they are with GPT.

Imagine RAID6 created in two ways, either:

mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=6 --raid-devices=4 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdc1 /dev/sdd1

or:

mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=6 --raid-devices=4 /dev/sda /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd

Is there a difference?

EDIT1: I mean in for example reliability or manageability or recovery operations on such arrays, etc.

EDIT2: I do use different manufacturer's drives. But that is not the question really. They all have the exact same size, I do get the point, that there may be manufacturers making drives slightly different sizes. But for the sake of this question, let's assume they are the very same size.

EDIT3: Sort of disclaimer: So far I am always partitioning the drives.