I am not sure if LAN DISK is getting popular or not, but to me, it’s really one of a good device to have at HOME or in the OFFICE like the follow !
It looks quite messy though, cos I am very lazy to re-organise the cable….cos too many of them !!
Anyway, I use it as FTP and SAMBA mainly, keep most of my big files and backup for those important documents.
Backup, backup and backup is one of the hard lessons that I have learned previously, so I hope this will avoid me going through the same lesson again 
On the other hand, with some software like VLC, foobar and many other that support media streaming, I could also play music or video through the network, and you can stream it anywhere, as you as you could connect to the router either by LAN cable or wirelessly.
This is especially useful if you have a lot of APE or CUE music files that is expanding continously !
Couple with LARGE and CHEAP LCD TV today, setting up a network home media center seems getting very simple now !
If control with a wireless keyboard with TV/DVD remote function, that would be great then 