How do the horcruxes work

[maidne]

No: HPFGUIDX 135327

I was just wondering -- does LV have any awareness of the state of 
his horcruxes once he has created them?  Does he know when one is 
destroyed?  It seems like the kind of thing that you would know, but 
he doesn't seem to have shown any signs of knowing it when the diary 
and the ring were destroyed.  Doesn't it seem a bit reckless to go 
around putting parts of your soul into containers that you then leave 
someplace where you can't check on them regularly?

I'm also wondering how the horcruxes really work.  When you get 
killed (like LV should have done when the AK hit him) do you have to 
somehow get the piece of your soul out of the horcrux?  Or does just 
the fact that it's out there not being killed somehow keep you 
alive?  If that's the case, then I guess it is best to hide them 
randomly, a great distance apart, and never go anywhere near them 
again.  I would opt for the North Pole, South Pole, Sahara Desert, 
top of Mount Everest, bottom of the Pacific, and on the moon.  
Surrounded by the obligatory potions and curses, of course.

Does any of this make sense, or am I missing something obvious?

Susan