Title: I want to actually learn how to build and understand a NAS, not just follow a tutorial

I'm completely new to NAS servers and honestly pretty new to computers in general. I want to build my first NAS, but I don't want to just follow a tutorial that says "buy these parts, plug this in, click this" and then have no idea what I actually did.

I'm looking for advice on how you guys learned what you know.

I'd like to understand things well enough that I can:

• Build my first NAS and actually understand what each component is doing

• Understand why I'm choosing certain hardware/software

• Troubleshoot it when something goes wrong instead of blindly starting over

• Upgrade or expand the NAS later without destroyed everything i just did and not know why it dosent work now

• Eventually be able to design/build another NAS myself based on what I need

Basically, I want to learn the fundamentals behind NAS systems, not just memorize the steps from one particular build.

I'm also very much a visual learner, so if you know of any long-form videos or livestreams where someone actually builds/configures a NAS while explaining what they're doing, I'd really appreciate those too.