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
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you want to do a homebrew scsi raid? - a case costs $300
4 drives around $1500 total
a controller card $400
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you want to do sata raid?
4 drives - 1000$
case $2-300
card $1-300