In need of hardware help

[usp97]

I am in need of some hardware suggestions. I have been looking to buy a NAS for over a year. I did my research and found an off the shelf one that I liked, but it was too expensive. I was saving money and watching ebay for good deals, but nothing ever came of it. A few days ago, I found out that it wasn't too difficult to build my own NAS. The problem I am having is that I know more about software than hardware, and my software knowledge isn't as up to date as it used to be. Anyway, a lot of posts that I found discuss NAS that were built in the past. When I try to price the parts to get a total cost, one or more of the components are discontinued. What I am looking for in this thread is at least information on what I should be looking for in each component, so I can do my research and find quality products that are not too expensive. If someone wanted to just list components that are of good quality and work well together, that would be great, but I don't mind doing the research if I know what I am looking for.

Thank you very much for your help,
Matthew

 

[cyberjock]

This isn't a guide.. as such it has been moved to the noob section.

As for discontinued parts, that's not always bad. Depending on the part and if it isn't necessary to have the latest and greatest(for example, a 3Gbps SATA controller that does support 2TB+ drives but is 1/2 price may be better than a 6Gbps SATA controller), you can get one on ebay for cheap!

You should read some of the stickies in the hardware sections. Those will give you ideas of what stuff to look for when choosing components.