Whereas cloud knowledge backups at the moment are extraordinarily in style, you shouldn’t overlook the utility of a neighborhood community hooked up storage (NAS) resolution. You should utilize a NAS for normal knowledge storage or redundant backups, with out paying month-to-month subscription charges or worrying about your recordsdata being stolen (assuming the NAS is simply accessible regionally). And the reality is that the majority NAS gadgets appear like home equipment anyway, so why not lean into that reality and construct the DataToaster 3000? It’s, in spite of everything, the way forward for kitchen knowledge storage.
The DataToaster 3000, designed by Alex Meub, is a genuinely helpful NAS system in an avant-garde toaster enclosure. What have been previously top-loading bread slots at the moment are locations for customers to insert normal 3.5” HDDs or SSDs. Pop these drives in they usually’ll be accessible over your community. As soon as they’re full, you’ll be able to swap them out for contemporary drives and get again to enterprise. There’s even a glowing energy LED and the consumer can regulate its colour utilizing the patent-pending MoodGlow Knob. The LED colour has completely no have an effect on on the system’s performance, however it could actually assist to create the appropriate vibe to fit your kitchen.
Joking apart, this can be a customized NAS constructed into the stainless-steel enclosure of an affordable toaster of the basic type. If you wish to observe Meub’s Instructables tutorial, you’ll must buy the identical Bella two-slice toaster mannequin. You’ll must take away nearly all the authentic toaster components and exchange them with the brand new elements, with 3D-printed mounts to carry every thing securely in place.
The first part is a ZimaBoard single-board laptop. That has some fascinating advantages in comparison with most SBCs in the marketplace, together with a x86 (Home windows-compatible) Intel Celeron processor and SATA ports for simply connecting exhausting drives. Although the ZimaBoard can run Home windows, Meub caught with the included CasaOS for this undertaking. I’ve been utilizing a ZimaBlade with CasaOS for my very own NAS (and Residence Assistant server) for a couple of yr now and am completely happy to suggest it.
The MoodGlow Knob function requires its personal Arduino Nano improvement board to regulate the RGB LED. It does so in accordance with enter from a potentiometer, which resides the place the toastiness degree knob was.
After all, the entire toaster half is pointless and also you don’t want any of that to construct a purposeful NAS. Nevertheless it positive does make a utilitarian system a complete lot extra charming — particularly if it’s going to sit on the kitchen counter.