30k$ for a raid system?

have you looked at the prices of discs?

they are nowhere near that much.

even the basic xserve raid with 4 drives - enough to do HD - costs $6000

---

you want to do a homebrew scsi raid? - a case costs $300
4 drives around $1500 total
a controller card $400

---

you want to do sata raid?
4 drives - 1000$
case $2-300
card $1-300