M720q Server Ideas

[n3ongr33ns]

I have a Lenovo Tiny M720q that I wanted to turn into a server. As for right now I have Plex, Pihole, and some kind of personal cloud storage planned - I also have a dual disk Synology NAS that I am planning on setting up. It's currently running Windows - I was looking into UnRaid to install but I'm wondering if that is the right move? 

Currently it's an i5-8400t. - 16gb Ram and 256 NVMe SSD. (Open to any upgrade suggestions, but I'm wondering if this is a case of 'do things first and see what you need' vs 'here's what you'd ideally need to keep you happy')

Anyone ever done something with a similar Tiny PC?
 

[m9x3mos]

23 hours ago, n3ongr33ns said:

I have a Lenovo Tiny M720q that I wanted to turn into a server. As for right now I have Plex, Pihole, and some kind of personal cloud storage planned - I also have a dual disk Synology NAS that I am planning on setting up. It's currently running Windows - I was looking into UnRaid to install but I'm wondering if that is the right move? 

Currently it's an i5-8400t. - 16gb Ram and 256 NVMe SSD. (Open to any upgrade suggestions, but I'm wondering if this is a case of 'do things first and see what you need' vs 'here's what you'd ideally need to keep you happy')

Anyone ever done something with a similar Tiny PC?
 

I run a m920q for my parents as a server and nas and it has been fine. 

The core system runs windows so they can use it as a pc connected to the tv and the like. It runs truenas in a vm with 6 hdds in an external enclosure connected via USB c and they get passed into the vm. So that runs all the apps and allows my to sync my important files from my nas to them for off site backup. Been running for a few years now. I did upgrade it to 32gb ram though. 

[n3ongr33ns]

13 hours ago, m9x3mos said:

I run a m920q for my parents as a server and nas and it has been fine. 

The core system runs windows so they can use it as a pc connected to the tv and the like. It runs truenas in a vm with 6 hdds in an external enclosure connected via USB c and they get passed into the vm. So that runs all the apps and allows my to sync my important files from my nas to them for off site backup. Been running for a few years now. I did upgrade it to 32gb ram though. 

Awesome! Did you set them up with a personal cloud storage system too? Would you go for USB-C connectivity vs NAS?

If they didn't need Windows, would you install a Linux flavor?
 

[m9x3mos]

10 hours ago, n3ongr33ns said:

Awesome! Did you set them up with a personal cloud storage system too? Would you go for USB-C connectivity vs NAS?

If they didn't need Windows, would you install a Linux flavor?
 

I did also set them up with nextcloud. The hdds are connected to it with a das that is usb c. If using USB cn like that i would not run Linux. Doing do the usb is either flaky or doesn't identify disks correctly. 

If i was doing this and didn't need clean install in a box i would use a hba with a break out cable with sata and use an external power supply for the drives that's just always on then use truenas. 

Little too janky for my parents that way. But cheaper then the stand alone nas units they were looking at. I got the machine for about 100 and the enclosure was about 180 or so if I remember right. 

[LIGISTX]

M720q’s are very popular as Proxmox boxes or other homelab type systems. 
 

I run one as my pfsense router/firewall, and plan on getting a second as a second Proxmox server to augment my main server. Quiet, small, low (ish) energy, they are great. 

[m9x3mos]

On 6/26/2025 at 10:30 AM, LIGISTX said:

M720q’s are very popular as Proxmox boxes or other homelab type systems. 
 

I run one as my pfsense router/firewall, and plan on getting a second as a second Proxmox server to augment my main server. Quiet, small, low (ish) energy, they are great. 

When you did that did you add an additional network card i assume?

[LIGISTX]

21 hours ago, m9x3mos said:

When you did that did you add an additional network card i assume?

Ya, it has a NIC in it. They have PCIe riser adapter cards for the m720q specifically. There’s loads of info on doing this with those specifically. 

[m9x3mos]

17 hours ago, LIGISTX said:

Ya, it has a NIC in it. They have PCIe riser adapter cards for the m720q specifically. There’s loads of info on doing this with those specifically. 

Yeah I just never tried it yet ha ha.

Was debating doing that for a while to replicate Wendell's forbidden router setup. 

[Biohazard777]

On 6/28/2025 at 5:43 AM, m9x3mos said:

When you did that did you add an additional network card i assume?

I personally replaced the WiFi card with a 2.5Gb NIC (based around RTL8125B)
Can be found ~12$ on AliExpress and ~15$ on Amazon,
Keywords to search:
M.2 A+E KEY 2.5G Ethernet LAN Card RTL8125B

Works fine under linux (Alma 9.5, 5.14 kernel), no issues with the driver / stability.
iperf3 testing gets me arround 2.35Gb/s

You could go the PCIe adapter router as well, but I'm not sure if it will interfere with the internal 2.5" SATA slot, also you need to check if your power brick is sufficient (for whatever you plan on powering via the PCIe).

[n3ongr33ns]

On 6/25/2025 at 11:48 PM, m9x3mos said:

I did also set them up with nextcloud. The hdds are connected to it with a das that is usb c. If using USB cn like that i would not run Linux. Doing do the usb is either flaky or doesn't identify disks correctly. 

If i was doing this and didn't need clean install in a box i would use a hba with a break out cable with sata and use an external power supply for the drives that's just always on then use truenas. 

Little too janky for my parents that way. But cheaper then the stand alone nas units they were looking at. I got the machine for about 100 and the enclosure was about 180 or so if I remember right. 

Somewhat related: what was the amount of storage you used for your fam? I was thinking 8TB but I have no idea what realistic use looks like.

 

 

On 6/28/2025 at 9:36 PM, LIGISTX said:

Ya, it has a NIC in it. They have PCIe riser adapter cards for the m720q specifically. There’s loads of info on doing this with those specifically. 

Is there an incentive to run the 10Gig port? I just watched RACERRRZ video on the M920q with the card and wondering if I should do this.

(Also ty all for the help thus far)

[LIGISTX]

1 hour ago, n3ongr33ns said:

Is there an incentive to run the 10Gig port?

It doesn’t have a 10gig port natively. If you get a NIC, said NIC will be whatever speed you deem you need. 
 

Unless your LAN is capable of faster than gigabit, all you would need is gigabit. 

[m9x3mos]

16 hours ago, n3ongr33ns said:

Somewhat related: what was the amount of storage you used for your fam? I was thinking 8TB but I have no idea what realistic use looks like.

More dependant on what they will be using it for over anything when I decided the drives. Was mainly going to be pictures and video projects they were working on and not like 4k or anything. I used 4tb Seagate exos drives i found for around 60 usd each of i remember so that was a good price and went with those. 

But you can pretty much use any drive you like. Just make sure they are cmr drives and not smr.