Lenovo P330 tiny Mods and Possibilities

rocking · August 19, 2025, 11:44am

seems like there are more Lenovo Thinkcentre/ThinkStation Tiny (Project TinyMiniMicro) Reference Thread | ServeTheHome Forums

but one can convert the sata one with two m.2 device using this adapter,

numToStr · August 19, 2025, 11:50am

How speedy do you think that thing would be? if I’m not wrong, it’ll still be single sata bandwidth split between two m.2 sata drives. Could be worth it for as NAS drives!?

rocking · August 19, 2025, 12:13pm

speed would be limited as sata so i don’t know. i have imported adapter if you want. seems like costed around 1000, but you can also buy from amazon or site like Pi+® (PiPlus®) M.2 NGFF SSD(Key M) Key B SSD to U.2 SFF-8639 Adapter

intruder16 · August 19, 2025, 12:29pm

I’m doing exactly this but this isn’t risky since the 12v/5v rail can easily handle the running current required by HDD. Only at the cold start the HDD can consume high current via 12v rail but that too for a brief period. But for me I don’t restart my tiny usually, maybe once in 3-4 weeks.

Nikzcool · August 19, 2025, 1:16pm

Also I found that nvme also works from the thread , some components may not be placed in the proper place, few have got it to work.

Read this.

github.com/badger707/m920q-dual-NVME

Interest in working on the M710q/M910Q series as well?

opened 07:21AM - 01 Apr 23 UTC

Overwatching

The M_10q series are DIRT CHEAP right now and make great HomeLab machines. It w…ould be great if we could expand your mod to get a second M.2 slot on these, and other Lenovo models as well. I purchased a lot of 5x M710qs for $160 and I'm willing to sacrifice one for The Greater Good™. Plus, if it works, it could be super useful. I can disassemble one and get a bunch of photos, but I have never done a hardware mod this complicated before. I'm really only good as a pair of remote-hands. I've been looking for an excuse to get a hot-air rework station and learn though. Other possible things. 1. Break out the extra SATA traces on the board. Also need to find somewhere to harvest SATA power. 2. Find somewhere to steal 12v from so we can use one of those cheap ADT-Link M.2 to PCIe x4 slot adapters and cram a 10/25/40Gbit ConnectX card into it. The datasheets say they only need 5-10W depending on the card, which is probably doable with the stock 90W power bricks. My units only seem to pull ~48W when I run a torture test. (I'm pretty sure we don't need 5v? The ConnectX datasheets only say 3.3v and 12v, and some of the M.2 adapters only have 12v. I'm not sure the 5v traces on the floppy power connectors that many of these seem to use actually go anywhere.) 3. Break the A+E key into 2x PCIe x1 slots. I'm pretty sure I see both the x1 lanes run to the A+E socket...

numToStr · August 19, 2025, 2:13pm

He just speculated once and vented. He or anybody else didn’t confirm anything regarding working NVME. Read this as to why second slot will only support SATA in M710q. NVME will work in other models but not in M710q.

github.com/badger707/m920q-dual-NVME

Interest in working on the M710q/M910Q series as well?

opened 07:21AM - 01 Apr 23 UTC

Overwatching

The M_10q series are DIRT CHEAP right now and make great HomeLab machines. It w…ould be great if we could expand your mod to get a second M.2 slot on these, and other Lenovo models as well. I purchased a lot of 5x M710qs for $160 and I'm willing to sacrifice one for The Greater Good™. Plus, if it works, it could be super useful. I can disassemble one and get a bunch of photos, but I have never done a hardware mod this complicated before. I'm really only good as a pair of remote-hands. I've been looking for an excuse to get a hot-air rework station and learn though. Other possible things. 1. Break out the extra SATA traces on the board. Also need to find somewhere to harvest SATA power. 2. Find somewhere to steal 12v from so we can use one of those cheap ADT-Link M.2 to PCIe x4 slot adapters and cram a 10/25/40Gbit ConnectX card into it. The datasheets say they only need 5-10W depending on the card, which is probably doable with the stock 90W power bricks. My units only seem to pull ~48W when I run a torture test. (I'm pretty sure we don't need 5v? The ConnectX datasheets only say 3.3v and 12v, and some of the M.2 adapters only have 12v. I'm not sure the 5v traces on the floppy power connectors that many of these seem to use actually go anywhere.) 3. Break the A+E key into 2x PCIe x1 slots. I'm pretty sure I see both the x1 lanes run to the A+E socket...

Following is the actual comment that mentioned M710q mod and didn’t mention any missing passives.

github.com/badger707/m920q-dual-NVME

Interest in working on the M710q/M910Q series as well?

opened 07:21AM - 01 Apr 23 UTC

Overwatching

The M_10q series are DIRT CHEAP right now and make great HomeLab machines. It w…ould be great if we could expand your mod to get a second M.2 slot on these, and other Lenovo models as well. I purchased a lot of 5x M710qs for $160 and I'm willing to sacrifice one for The Greater Good™. Plus, if it works, it could be super useful. I can disassemble one and get a bunch of photos, but I have never done a hardware mod this complicated before. I'm really only good as a pair of remote-hands. I've been looking for an excuse to get a hot-air rework station and learn though. Other possible things. 1. Break out the extra SATA traces on the board. Also need to find somewhere to harvest SATA power. 2. Find somewhere to steal 12v from so we can use one of those cheap ADT-Link M.2 to PCIe x4 slot adapters and cram a 10/25/40Gbit ConnectX card into it. The datasheets say they only need 5-10W depending on the card, which is probably doable with the stock 90W power bricks. My units only seem to pull ~48W when I run a torture test. (I'm pretty sure we don't need 5v? The ConnectX datasheets only say 3.3v and 12v, and some of the M.2 adapters only have 12v. I'm not sure the 5v traces on the floppy power connectors that many of these seem to use actually go anywhere.) 3. Break the A+E key into 2x PCIe x1 slots. I'm pretty sure I see both the x1 lanes run to the A+E socket...

ibose · August 19, 2025, 5:25pm

And where will get the U2 connection?

ibose · August 19, 2025, 5:58pm

That needs a U2 connection.

If you scroll up I had listed a dual m2 card which goes into the pcie slot and supports 1 NVME and 1 SATA. You will still need to connect the SATA.

numToStr · August 25, 2025, 7:52am

Wait is Over! Now I present you Lenovo M710q with dual nvme (sort of)

I’m using EVM 128GB M.2 SATA SSD that i bought from computech.

Don’t judge the masking tape, I’ll use 3D printed clip when using the stick properly .

Checkout those SSD’s pads at each end, those are interconnected. That means the pads that i shorted while soldereing were meant to be like that .

Thanks to @Tobikage for offering the SSD intially for testing but at the end i went n bought a new one.

Paget89 · August 25, 2025, 9:31am

Commendable work

napsterlabs · September 13, 2025, 10:07am

P330 can technically have 5x nvme slots. So far I have tried with 4 nvme + 1 M.2 SATA without issues.

For 5, you need:
2x nvme at the back, 1x via WiFi slot (M.2 A/E to NVMe - only x1 bandwidth though) and Pcie 8x to 2x nvme bifurcation card. This card costs a bit, but works well, although not tried myself.

For 4 nvme + 1 sata, instead of the bifurcation card, use Pcie 4x to nvme+sata card available for cheap on Amazon, and use the SATA port to use the M.2 SATA SSD. I have used this in 24x7 operations in the past without issues.

napsterlabs · September 13, 2025, 10:08am

That was me!

KrishUK · October 2, 2025, 4:42pm

Anyone knows or managed to run 2x 3.5 HDD out of a p330/920x/720q?

I wanna power 2 HDD without a pico PSU (which I understand is possible), however I am trying to explore if I can connect 2 HDD without using a m.2 to SATA converter, HBA etc.

Reliability of ASM1166 converters is a hit and miss from what I read and HBA is power hungry. I was trying to explore if somebody here has attempted it

The_Eternal_Guest · October 2, 2025, 5:00pm

If you are that worried about power consumption then having two 3.5" hdd itself is a bad idea. Better to get a 4TB nvme/sata ssd or cheapest 2 bay synology nas.

Paget89 · October 2, 2025, 5:30pm

I had used these two enclosures with 4TB drives passthrough to truenas never had any issues

KrishUK · October 2, 2025, 5:48pm

Cant afford enterprise NVME, dont wanna use commercial NVME for NAS.

I already own 2x10 TB NAS drives, I wanna use them

KrishUK · October 2, 2025, 5:50pm

Which enclosures are u referring to again? the tiny?

did u use either the HBA or m.2 to sata converter?

The_Eternal_Guest · October 2, 2025, 8:49pm

Any specific reason. As far as I understand, if you are using NVMe for typical media storage in NAS then there is little chance you will ever exceed TBW rating of a decent 4TB retail NVMe drive.

Paget89 · October 3, 2025, 4:45am

Sorry i had linked

These

kuduku · October 3, 2025, 5:07am

2 of these got sold for 1k here in September . One in warranty also