Yes, you can do that, too.
However, I generally prefer and recommend mounting to a folder, for ease of access.
It's much easier to run "chkdsk c:\drives\pool1\disk5", than "chkdsk \\?\Volume{GUID}"... and easier to identify.
Yes. The actually pool is handled by a kernel mode driver, meaning that the activity is passed on directly to the disks, basically.
Meaning, you don't see it listed in task manager, like a normal program.