Whereas cloud knowledge backups at the moment are extraordinarily standard, you shouldn’t overlook the utility of a neighborhood community connected storage (NAS) resolution. You should use 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 just accessible regionally). And the reality is that the majority NAS units seem like home equipment anyway, so why not lean into that truth 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 had been previously top-loading bread slots at the moment are locations for customers to insert commonplace 3.5” HDDs or SSDs. Pop these drives in and so they’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 coloration utilizing the patent-pending MoodGlow Knob. The LED coloration has completely no have an effect on on the system’s performance, however it might probably assist to create the suitable vibe to fit your kitchen.
Joking apart, it is a customized NAS constructed into the chrome steel enclosure of an affordable toaster of the traditional type. If you wish to comply with Meub’s Instructables tutorial, you’ll have to buy the identical Bella two-slice toaster mannequin. You’ll have to take away nearly the entire authentic toaster elements and change them with the brand new elements, with 3D-printed mounts to carry the whole lot securely in place.
The first part is a ZimaBoard single-board laptop. That has some attention-grabbing 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 mission. I’ve been utilizing a ZimaBlade with CasaOS for my very own NAS (and Residence Assistant server) for a few yr now and am glad to suggest it.
The MoodGlow Knob characteristic requires its personal Arduino Nano improvement board to manage the RGB LED. It does so in line with enter from a potentiometer, which resides the place the toastiness stage knob was.
After all, the entire toaster half is pointless and also you don’t want any of that to construct a practical NAS. Nevertheless it certain does make a utilitarian system a complete lot extra charming — particularly if it’ll sit on the kitchen counter.
