Thank you! I have been trying to redesign the blog portion for weeks but this whole "time" thing keeps getting in the way 😉
But as you save don't be discouraged. I was in the same boat when it came to the training and software purchase because of the heavy upfront costs and question of ROI. However, digging into books and tools from Brian Carrier and Harlan Carvey (keydet89) fueled my hacker mentality to think that there is more than one way to skin a hard drive.
If you go to Home Depot and look for something as simple as a hammer you are overwhelmed by the choices and price points - you have to find the one that fits your needs and budget. Same with forensic tools. EnCase is only one type of tool from one manufacturer.
Your goal as you start is to be method-centric NOT tool-centric.
Agreed, the Steve Bunting book is a great place to start, I used it quite a bit until I finally was able to afford my own dongle! )