This week's geek post: NAS

My Linkstation
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

NAS stands for network attached storage. a small box you plug into your network which then shows up as a networked drive you can back up files to. I' ve been playing with the idea of using NAS around the studio for about 3 years ago. This Linkstation is a 120 gig box abotu the size of an old DVD burner. Runs on an embedded Linux OS. Many people have hacked and replaced the OS with a different version that can do all sorts of things.
Last week, while reading about Aperture users using different libraries on external drives it dawned on me: I can run iTunes off this thing.
So I pointed the iTunes on my iMac to use a library on the Linkstation. Turning sharing on iTunes suddnely means I have gigs and gigs of music sharing all over my network without gumming up my iMac with music!
We've been talking about this concept getting into the home and eventually I think you are gonna see more of this. Down in the basement beside the freezer, you'll have a big grey box that serves up your media, music, photos, movies, to all the machines in the house.