1) How much is the budget?
2) RAID5 / 6 speed is down to the adapter implementation. A more expensive adapter will be significantly faster than a cheaper one.
3) Why 24 drives? Would a Dell MD1000 (refurb or whatnot) be better?
What roles will this server be fulfilling? What kind of DR...
First post! :D
How much is that data worth?
I would say that accountants need bulletproof backup and disaster recovery procedures. They need to understand that losing that data is the end of the business.
90% of businesses who lose data close 2 years down the line.
Disaster recovery...