Suggestions on setting up RAID drives for sharing files

Looking for some suggestions on how to best set up my schools mac lab...
What I have:
The lab admin computer is a MacPro 8GB ram two internal 1TB drives (no RAID card)
HD one is currently not raided and is running leopard 10.5.4, ARD3, CS3, etc. The HD 2 is waiting to be utilized.
The student computers are (intel) iMacs 2.66ghz 4GB ram running 10.5.4 and used primarily for running CS3 apps with yearbook and art students.
What I would like to do:
Use the second HD on the MacPro to share files with the imacs. My yearbook students need to be able to access their photos and layouts from any imac they log into, but I would also like to protect the files (from accidental deleting) and possibly make it quicker for them to access them (since our school network tends to be a bit slow).
I don't know wether I should partition the second HD, RAID and if so in what configuration? or some combination of both. I have never really used a RAID disk before so I am not sure how it could apply to what I want to do. Or am I going about this the wrong way?
Any suggestions?
Thanks

Because you are in an enterprise situation your major concern should be backup. Your data and all student data are at risk without a proper backup strategy. With a single 1 TB drive in use you should consider using the second 1TB drive as the backup drive. Daily backups should be scheduled to back up all user data and user accounts stored on the main drive. I suggest you use a top-grade piece of backup software that will do scheduled backups at designated times to assure you have a current daily backup on the second hard drive. If you are willing to go the extra bit then buy a third 1 TB hard drive and set up a mirrored RAID with the second drive you now have. This will provide some redundancy in the event of the loss of a hard drive due to mechanical failure (it does not protect you in the event of data corruption.) You should then set up a method of providing additional archival backups on a weekly or monthly basis. The archival backups should be done on separate hard drives (perhaps an external Firewire drive) or to multiple DVDs. A third backup would be a copy of the archival backups that would be stored off-site in the event of fire, theft, or other catastrophic loss as well as for security purposes.
There are few backup programs capable of doing it all including backing up across multiple optical discs - Retrospect is the least expensive one. Other suitable backup programs are:
Backup Software Recommendations
My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
2. Synk (Backup, Standard, or Pro)
3. Carbon Copy Cloner (Donationware)
4. SuperDuper! (Commercial)
5. Restore option of Disk Utility can be used to make only full backups.
The following utilities can also be used for backup, but cannot create bootable clones:
6. Backup (requires a .Mac account with Apple both to get the software and to use it.)
Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
More expensive enterprise backup solutions are:
1. NetVault
2. BRU Server or BRU LE

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