[SOLVED] Lenovo TS440 Questions

[TechGuyAlabama]

I have a Lenovo TS440 and use(d) it for Plex.

I'm having two issues with it, the memory is rather low and the external usb hard drives bays won't stay on. I bought cheap hard drive enclosures so I probably need to replace them with a better alternative.

I want to upgrade the memory to the max of 32 gb. I'm having a hard time finding the right ram for it. Can I put in 2 16gb sticks or do they need to be 4 8gb sticks? Also, I see memory labeled HP Compatible 8GB PC3-12800 DDR3-1600Mhz 2Rx8 1.5v ECC UDIMM, is that what I am looking for? I'm not new to computers just not good with RAM.

Also, I've been using usb drives, approximately 12 of them, and it's not working out so well. Can I add another bay to this server to hold 4 more drives? Do I have any alternatives to adding additional drives to this server? I have quite a few I'd like to use but apparently I've been buying cheap enclosures that won't stay on.

Should I just ditch this setup and buy another server with more drive bays? If so, what server do you suggest? I have approx $600 to spend on this to either upgrade or to get a new server.

What do you guys suggest?

 

[SamirD]

Some guidance on memory:

Memory to use in Lenovo TS440

Hi. I just got a Lenovo ThinkServer TS440 barebones server with only 4GB ECC UDIMM pre-installed. I have some questions: 1) I would like to confirm that UDIMM just means Unbuffered DIMM, which means I can just buy any DIMM memory that is unbuffered/unregistered. 2) I would like to put in 16GB...

forums.tomshardware.com

From what I can tell 16GB modules aren't sold for it, but that doesn't mean they won't work--just were never tested so may or may not work. The HP ram you've found should work fine.

USB drives, especially in quantity won't work well, even with good enclosures. Better to use esata or just install them internally, which I'm surprised you haven't done considering all the bays on that server.

You can add an external enclosure like the ones made by sans digital:
https://www.sansdigital.com/tr8m6gnc.html

But it would really be better for you to get a rack mounted server or drive cages that work better with your existing server.

With this many drives, I would also seriously consider moving to an sas controller for the ability to use sas drives.