I should look into getting such a system for backups and whatnot. Maybe give it an internet-facing interface with a secure connection (SSH or something similar) so I can back up stuff from outside my apartment.

Ideally, it’d be cool to set a pair of boxes: one at one’s house, and one at a friend’s house in a different state. The friend backs stuff up to your system, and you back up to theirs. Thus, if your house burns down, you still have your backups at your friend’s place. If you need the data quickly without waiting for the long transfer time, have them mail you the hard disk.

its small enough that it could be kept in a closet of someplace out of the way… mine is sitting on the top of my entertainment center behind some boxes… no thief would ever look for it, nor would they know what it was…