My NAS: Lenovo TS140

  • I just wanted to post a picture of my setup. Moved my equipment around and set it up on a little lab table.


    Lenovo Thinkserver TS140
    Xeon E3-1200 v3 Series w/ 8GB Ram
    4 x 3TB 3.5" WD Red Hard Drives
    1 X 16GB Samsung SSD


    1 X 4TB WD Elements External Drive for Backups
    1 X 16GB Samsung SSD inside 2.5" USB SSD enclosure for System Drive Clone
    Eaton 5S700 UPS


    1) 1st WD Red underneath the low profile DVD drive, there is a small fan on the back of that bay
    2) 2nd WD Red in the second bay below the DVD drive, there is a small fan in the front of the bay
    3) Samsung SSD inside the 3.5" bay, held down with Velcro
    4) 3rd WD Red in the top removable tray
    5) 4th WD Red in the bottom removable tray


    It's been a nice piece of equipment so far. It's not loud at all, not that it matters much for me since this is in the basement. I like that it has plenty of USB ports. I labelled my SATA cables,used velcro straps, and used some cable organizers to help with cable management inside the server.

  • I plugged in a power monitor where the ups plugs into the wall. The draw is constantly 60w for the server, external hard drive, cable modem, and gigabit switch. When the server was shutdown the draw on the outlet was 15w- 17w for the switch and cable modem.

    OMV 1.9 - Lenovo Thinkserver TS140 - Xeon E3-1200 v3 Series w/ 8GB Ram: 3 x 3TB WD RED - AUFS Pool, 1 x 16GB Samsung SSD System Drive
    Plex - Syncthing - Couchpotato - Sonarr - NUT

  • Nice set-up! I got the TS140 w/ 4GB RAM in the mail yesterday and really like it so far. I was pleasantly surprised how silent it is.


    I'm hoping that you can answer some questions:
    How did you install the 1st drive? Did you have to remove the slim DVD drive or did you just disconnect it since it's only 5 SATA onboard?


    Can you also clarify how you set-up the SSD drive in the bay.


    How's the temperature with the 5 drive set-up?

  • I disabled the DVD drive completely, I used it's Sata/Power cables for the HDD.


    I placed Velcro tape inside the 3.5" cavity. I then used Velcro wrap on my SSD and just stuck it onto the Velcro tape. It's sitting directly above the top removable tray.


    My TS140 sits in a cool basement and temps are consistently 25-30 degrees. 25ish for the HDD's in the removable bays as they have the big fan with the air diverter. 28-30 degrees for the top two HDD"s that only have the little fans in the bay.

    OMV 1.9 - Lenovo Thinkserver TS140 - Xeon E3-1200 v3 Series w/ 8GB Ram: 3 x 3TB WD RED - AUFS Pool, 1 x 16GB Samsung SSD System Drive
    Plex - Syncthing - Couchpotato - Sonarr - NUT

  • Many thanks for the info! That makes sense. Will do something similar.


    I was back and forth between getting the TS440 or the TS140, but your pictures convinced me that the smaller case is the better option for me (since I don't need the hotswaps or hardware raid plus to get in 8 HDs in there you need to get the more expensive cards).


    Did you install any of the TS140 drivers and bios updates that can be downloaded from Lenovo? http://support.lenovo.com/us/e…r-ts140?tabName=Downloads


    BTW: Messed a script up and managed to get a disc stuck in the DVD drive, and it does no longer respond to eject via CLI or the button. Will troubleshoot more tomorrow.

  • I bought this second hand, but the previous owner only used it for a day or so. I can't say what he did, but I did absolutely nothing to my TS140. I loaded OMV onto my SSD and configured everything from there.

    OMV 1.9 - Lenovo Thinkserver TS140 - Xeon E3-1200 v3 Series w/ 8GB Ram: 3 x 3TB WD RED - AUFS Pool, 1 x 16GB Samsung SSD System Drive
    Plex - Syncthing - Couchpotato - Sonarr - NUT

  • Thanks for the reply!


    There are bios upgrades on the Lenovo website, but rule of thumb is why upgrade if everything is working fine. :)


    Got two more HDs in (one right under the slim DVD drive) but I need to get a 5.25 to 3.5 adapter for the 4th drive.


    My drives are HGST 4TB NAS drives (7200RPM) and are between 31-35 degrees C since server is temporarily sitting in my hot living room.

  • What's the adapter for? I didn't need an adapter for mine.

    OMV 1.9 - Lenovo Thinkserver TS140 - Xeon E3-1200 v3 Series w/ 8GB Ram: 3 x 3TB WD RED - AUFS Pool, 1 x 16GB Samsung SSD System Drive
    Plex - Syncthing - Couchpotato - Sonarr - NUT

  • The holes for the HD doesn't line up in the second optical drive slot and I believe a conversion bracket is required. I assume this is where you have one drive installed, or? Maybe the person you bought it from had a conversion bracket installed.


    See section Installing or removing the tertiary hard disk drive (page 51-52) in the manual. It also has some pics.: https://support.lenovo.com/es/es/docs/UM018865


    "You can install a tertiary 3.5-inch hard disk drive into the secondary optical drive bay of your server"
    "Note: For a 2.5-inch hard disk drive or solid-state drive, install the drive into a 3.5-inch to 2.5-inch drive adapter first"

  • I don't believe the previous owner added an adapter as he didn't install any extra disks or plan to. It just seemed to work for me. I popped out the 2nd bay, directly below the dvd drive bay, placed the hdd inside in front of the fan, and screwed it into place.

    OMV 1.9 - Lenovo Thinkserver TS140 - Xeon E3-1200 v3 Series w/ 8GB Ram: 3 x 3TB WD RED - AUFS Pool, 1 x 16GB Samsung SSD System Drive
    Plex - Syncthing - Couchpotato - Sonarr - NUT

  • @theory Let me know if you have any questions about the TS140. I work for Lenovo and I am part of the enterprise server division. ^^


    Very cool!


    The only thing I've wanted to find out is if there's anyway for the drives to be hot plug/hot swap?

    OMV 1.9 - Lenovo Thinkserver TS140 - Xeon E3-1200 v3 Series w/ 8GB Ram: 3 x 3TB WD RED - AUFS Pool, 1 x 16GB Samsung SSD System Drive
    Plex - Syncthing - Couchpotato - Sonarr - NUT

  • @shadowzero - Nice - thanks for offering.
    I'm jumping in with some questions too if OP doesn't mind.


    The latest version of the Easy update firmware updater (1.9.9034) doesn't include the latest BIOS version. I think it's only the 99A version, but the latest version is B3A. What's the safe & easy way to update it?
    I currently have stock TS140 MUX version - Any recommended performance tweaks from default?
    What are the option to add more than 5 HDs?

  • Will let @shadowzero answer for the most part.


    As for more HDD's. The power is supplied through the motherboard which would be my concern. There are 6 power plugs but I'm not sure if the mobo can take all that power?


    I saw one guy take all the guts out of his ts140 and placed them into a rack mount enclosure. He swapped out the stock power supply for one that had additional power connectors that didn't run through the motherboard. He also added a PCI expansion card for extra sata ports.


    I'll see if I can find his post.

    OMV 1.9 - Lenovo Thinkserver TS140 - Xeon E3-1200 v3 Series w/ 8GB Ram: 3 x 3TB WD RED - AUFS Pool, 1 x 16GB Samsung SSD System Drive
    Plex - Syncthing - Couchpotato - Sonarr - NUT

  • Thanks for the link! The power makes me a bit nervous too plus I kind of like the case of the TS140. It's small and relatively silent.


    In regards to memory - what's a economical but good RAM to add? If I don't do virtual stuff (but I have been playing with the idea), how much is recommended for OMV? (using it with fileserver,back-up plus media with emby or plex). I currently only have the stock 4GB.

  • The only thing I've wanted to find out is if there's anyway for the drives to be hot plug/hot swap?


    It is not hot swappable.


    The latest version of the Easy update firmware updater (1.9.9034) doesn't include the latest BIOS version. I think it's only the 99A version, but the latest version is B3A. What's the safe & easy way to update it?
    I currently have stock TS140 MUX version - Any recommended performance tweaks from default?
    What are the option to add more than 5 HDs?


    Easy update usually gets updated about every 3 months so the current BIOS is not in the latest release which came out in May. You could create a bootable dos USB key and extract the files to the key to update the BIOS. As for tweaking performance there is an F9 key to load optimized defaults. Other than that, turn off things you don't use like PXE booting and disable the serial port. The system was designed to use only 4 HDDs and 1 slimline DVD drive. Adding more drives is not really an option because of the power supply config.


    In regards to memory - what's a economical but good RAM to add? If I don't do virtual stuff (but I have been playing with the idea), how much is recommended for OMV? (using it with fileserver,back-up plus media with emby or plex). I currently only have the stock 4GB.


    If I remember correctly it can support up to 32GB of memory. 8GB PC3-12800E 1600MHz DDR3 ECC-UDIMM is the maximum size memory stick you can use in each slot. OMV only needs about 2GB or ram to run normally but when you add more plugins obv. you will need more ram at some point. I would say 8GB is a good start in my opinion.

  • Many thanks for the info! I will be fine with the HDs I have in there for a while.


    BTW: These budget servers are a great way for people like me to get started!

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