HD setup in Mac Pro to be used as Server

I've searched through the various hard drive posts here on the lists, and think I am actually more confused than I was before.
We are currently running Tiger Server on a Dual 2 G5 and are preparing to migrate to Leopard Server on a new 8-core Mac Pro (I wanted an Xserve, but given the tight purse strings lately, will happily settle for the Mac Pro!!). I will be doing a clean install and then migrating settings, accounts, etc. over to the new machine. I'm solid on server administration, but not so much on the nuances of various hardware configurations. I've been trying to figure out the best hard drive setup, but have quickly become confused by the overwhelming abundance of (and occasionally conflicting) recommendations out there.
I've seen some who swear by a RAID 1+0 set up {two sets of mirrored drives that are then striped...or is it a set of striped drives that are then mirrored?!? You can see my dilemma...}, while others swear off of such a setup; lots of STRONG recommendations in favor of a small OS disk and second data disk (perhaps a solid state drive for the OS and a regular drive for the data?); even recommendations for multiple drives with 2 partitions that are RAIDed in ways that made my eyes bleed just trying to figure them out.
Bottom line: what would you recommend hard drive wise for a Mac Pro that's going to be a primary server for a small private school? I would like the best combination of reliability / uptime and speed. Assume anything is possible (within reason--obviously a 16 bay external RAID is out of the question), and, if possible, include specific drive recommendations (I've seen LOTS of posts steering me as far away from Seagate as I can get because of high failure rates / firmware issues...any thoughts on the WD Caviar Black vs. the WD RE3 Enterprise?).
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Hi, I posted a threaded awhile back about my experiences setting up our small office servers. Perhaps some things might help you in your project.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1697924&tstart=0
Note, on our archive server we are running is a raid 10. However it is running on 10.4.11. If you are running leopard, it probably might not be a good idea.
Main server: G5
OSX Server 10.5.7
boot drive = raid 1
data drives (x8) = raid 5
Arch server: G4
OSX client 10.4.11 (using sharepoints)
boot drive = raid 1
data drives (x10) = raid 10
I also STRONGLY recommend AGAINST seagate drives, especially the deadly 7200.11 and ES.2 drives. They are a firmware hassle, and not worth any discount prices of what they are being offered at.
On my raid 5, I've lost 2 drives (within 10 mins of each other 0_0) crushing the raid to pieces.
On my raid 10, I've lost 2 drives. I'm scared to restart or shut down the computer, as this is I guess the issue with the seagate firmware(s) in question. Drive data is intact, however are not recognized, thus degrading the raid.
If you buy external enclosures from sonnet w/the drives (which is good as they come with free advanced replacement; great service) call them and see if they can give you WD RE3s instead. A much better drive.

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Don't use 1+0 type array.
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Message was edited by: Gaunja

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HD setup in Mac Pro to be used as Server

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