Hey everyone! 
I’ve been reading through a lot of posts here and honestly this community is super cool. I really want to start building my own homelab but I don’t know where to begin lol.
I see you guys talk a lot about drives, HBAs, RAM upgrades and chassis stuff and it’s a little overwhelming for someone just getting started. Like I don’t even know if I should go with a proper server chassis or just use an old desktop PC to start.
Here’s what I’m confused about:
. For a beginner homelab, how many drive bays do I actually need to start?
. Is it better to buy used server hardware or go with something newer?
. How important is ECC RAM for a homelab – is it a must or just nice to have?
. What’s a good first HBA card that won’t break the bank?
I’ve been looking at some options on these sites:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=nas+hard+drive+4tb+homelab
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=used+server+ecc+ram+ddr4
Any advice from you homelab pros would seriously help me out so much! Even just a “start here” tip would be awesome.
Thanks a lot in advance, really appreciate it!