Lenovo P8 Think Station Storage Configurator Installation Guide

Lenovo ThinkStation P8
Storage Configurator

Overview

ThinkStation P8 is a single processor professional workstation powered by the latest generation AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO WX-Series processors.
P8 currently sits between P7 and PX not only numerically but in terms of features, from onboard wi-fi to total processor core count to the storage options offered. P8 utilizes the 39L tower chassis of P7 added to the Lenovo workstation portfolio in the previous spring of 2023. P8 offers multiple different storage options from M.2 NVMe SSD, 2.5” U.3 SSD to legacy 3.5” SATA drives for bulk & archive storage.
Integrated SATA, U.3 and NVMe RAID 0/1/10/5 is natively supported on P8 without the need for a key or dongle and configured via the RAIDXpert2 Configuration Utility from within the BIOS. Details can be found in Section 5
This document will focus on the storage subsystem of P8 and provides configuration guidance for an optimal storage solution to support the desired business workflow.
As more storage options are qualified this document will be updated to reflect these options so should be returned to in future.

Section 1 – P8 Storage Summary

The tables below give a quick overview of the type, capacity, and quantity of storage devices supported on P8. Totals will include a mixture of the feasible options to achieve the desired solution.
At launch Lenovo have not qualified concurrently spanning a single RAID volume between onboard, Front Access FLEX Bay and 3.5” storage bays, therefore the largest qualified quantity of drives in a single nonredundant array is 4.
A mixture of the following types and quantities is supported as some combinations are mutually exclusive.
Table 1 – P8 Supported Storage Types

Table 2 – Total Quantity and Capacity by Drive Type, not all possible at the same time!

Table 3 – Storage Location Summary

Front access FLEX bay
*Note: Not qualified as a single spanned volume across other NVMe bays!| 1 x M.2 SSD Gen5 (CPU)
Internal 3.5” bays 1 & 2| One of the following options:
2 x 3.5” SATA3
4 x M.2 SSD Gen4
2 x 2.5” U.3 SSD (U.2/U.3)
Internal 3.5” bay 3| 1 x 3.5” SATA3

Section 2 – P8 M.2 NVMe SSD Details

The P8 platform supports a variety of different M.2 NVMe SSD storage options.
The two tables below give details on the features, compatibility, and required parts for M.2 NVMe SSD support.
Table 4 – M.2 PCIe NVMe features.

Note: Although capable, no 22110 drives are qualified at the present time.
*Refer to the photo below for the location of the front panel storage activity LED

Table 5 – M.2 compatibility and required parts.

Heatsink Kit
3rd Onboard Slot| ·     Supplied as Standard*| ·     A Unique Heatsink to slot 1 & 2
Front Access FLEX bay M.2 Kit| ·     Cannot co-exist with Media Card Reader| · Front storage tray
·     M.2 storage access box for front storage bay (not toolless)
·     FLEX bay fan
Internal 3.5” bays M.2 kit| ·     Not compatible with Internal
3.5” bays standard SATA HDD’s| ·   HDD bay for NVMe SSD kit (includes trays and PCIe cables)
·     Internal Bay Fan

• In specific circumstances the 3 rd onboard slot may be unavailable.
  Onboard M.2 NVMe SSD Installatio n:
  There are two onboard M.2 NVMe slots at the top front of the motherboard and one at the bottom front of the motherboard as illustrated:

There is a diagram and legend on the inside cover of the system, also depicting where these are located plus other ports and connectors referred too throughout this document.
System cover motherboard diagram.

Remove any GPU’s or add-In-controllers that may obstruct access to the M.2 SSD motherboard slots.

Unlock the red retaining latch that secures the M.2 SSD carrier and heatsink to the motherboard (1) and gently lift clear (2) caution: at no more than a 20° angle.

Remove the heatsink (1) & (2) and dummy retaining plastic M.2 SSD (3).

Remove the plastic film coverings from both the upper and lower heatsink that protect the thermal pads. Then gently insert the new M.2 SSD face up, ensuring it is pushed all the way to the end stop.

Reattach the heatsink, note the notch in the top of the heatsink should align with the notch in the M.2 SSD. Reinsert the carrier into the desired motherboard slot remembering at no more than a 20° angle.

Close the red retaining latch and reinstall any GPU’s or add-in-controllers removed previously.
Note: the lower 3 rd M.2 SSD carrier has a slightly different heatsink, but the process remains the same.
Successful installation can be confirmed in the system BIOS under System Summary, “M.2 SSD Slot 1, 2 & 3”.
FLEX Bay M.2 NVMe SSD Installation:
Like P5 & P7, P8 supports a front removable M.2 SDD as an option. The M.2 SSD is installed in a flex bay carrier and this in turn installs into a flex bay slot.
The flex bay slot or frame is also removable but is only interchangeable with a media-card-reader, also available as an option. They cannot co-exist, so if the media-card-reader is installed this will need removing first.
Disconnect the internal USB cable (C16), then press internal clip (1) and remove the card reader (2)

Then the flex bay frame can be inserted. No cabling is required as it plugs directly into a motherboard via an edge connector, there should be an audible ‘click’ and the frame should be flush with the front bezel.

While the system cover is open, the flex bay fan can be installed and connected to the flex_bay_fan pin-header on the motherboard. It is keyed and colored white to match the plug on the fan.
(C10) on the system cover diagram, page 7.

To remove the flex bay carrier, ensure the lock is in the unlock position (1) and then press the button (2) remove flex bay carrier (3).

Open the flex bay carrier by removing the two small retaining screws (1) and remove the cover (2),

Remove the plastic film coverings that protect the thermal pads and retaining screw (3), and gently insert the new M.2 SSD drive face up (4). Reinstall the retaining screw (3).

Replace the cover and the two retaining screws. Reinsert the flex bay carrier into the flex bay slot, locking with the key if desired.
Successful installation can be confirmed in the system BIOS under System Summary, “Front NVMe Storage” and “Flex Bay Fan”.
Internal 3.5” Bay M.2 SSD Installation:
Like P7, P8 can support M.2 SSDs in the 3.5” HDD bays. However new to P8 is an extra PCIe cable, and no backplane PCB so can support four M.2 SSDs rather than the two supported in P7. Furthermore, we have two onboard MPIO PCIe cable connectors so they can coexist with the front Flex Bay M.2 SSD option.
Caution: A medium sized crosshead magnetic screwdriver is required.
Care must be taken not to slip and scratch the motherboard or lose a screw.

To install the 3.5” M.2 SSD kit, fist remove the side cover and front fan 1 & 2 assembly, if installed. Observe the power plug location, they are color coded akeyed. (C9) on the system cover diagram, page 7.

Remove the ‘Bottom System Fan & Internal Bay Fan’ assembly if installed.
Observe the power plug location, they are color coded and keyed.
(C11 & R4) on the system cover diagram, page 7.

Remove the 3 rd (lower) onboard M.2 NVMe SSD carrier as described above in the ‘onboard M.2 NVMe SSD installation’ section followed by the 3.5” SATA HDD trays supplied with all P8 systems.

The supplied SATA data cable and dual drop SATA power cable can also be removed at this point as these will no longer be required. 3.5” SATA HDD installation is no longer possible once the 3.5” M.2/U.3 NVMe bay kit has been installed.
(C5 & C14) on the system cover diagram, page 7.
Remove the 3.5” Internal Bay chassis bracket by first removing the two screws indicated, it should then lift out easily.

Remove the lower onboard M.2 SSD black chassis clip (3rd M.2 SSD) by pressing firmly with your thumb on the red arrow depicted, forward towards the front of the system, then in an upwards motion. The clip should then pop out.
Once the M.2 SSD clip is removed attach the two PCIe cables supplied with the 3.5” Bay M.2 SSD kit to the Internal Bay backplate using the black screws provided. The connectors go on the front of the plate but the cables route from behind.

The connectors are keyed, so their orientation is assured. Also note the bay numbers 1 & 2 etched into the metal.

1. Install the Internal Bay backplate with the silver screws provided.
2. Gently clamp down the cables with the M.2 SSD chassis clip but don’t crush or pinch them, the cables are routed underneath the M.2 SSD bracket.
3. Route the cables through the cable management provided.
4. Plug in bay 1 PCIe cable.
5. Plug in bay 2 PCIe cable.
   (C4 & C13) on the system cover diagram, page 7.

Reinstall all the components removed previously starting with the 3.5” chassis bracket including the two screws. If the Internal Bay Fan was not supplied with the system, now is the time to install one. The Internal Bay Fan has a brown connector.
(R4) on the system cover diagram on page 7.

Locate the 3.5” M.2 SSD carriers/trays provided in the kit,

Turn the carrier over to reveal the underside. Gently pinch each peg as indicated with a pair of pliers, do NOT use cutters, the heatsink should come free.
Turn over again and remove any plastic film coverings protecting the thermal pads.
Gently insert and lower the desired M.2 NVMe SSDs into the slots on the interposer board. Install the plastic retaining pegs that came with each tray into the hole at the end of each SSD. Reinstall the heatsink.

Install the carriers into the 3.5” Internal bays, then close the chassis lid.

Successful installation can be confirmed in the system BIOS under System Summary, “Internal Bay Slot 1-1, 1-2, 2-1 & 2-2 and Internal Bay Fan”.

Section 3 – P8 Internal 3.5” Bay U.3 SSD Details

P8 also supports 2.5” U.3 SSDs. Two of these can be installed in the 3.5” internal storage bays. The installation of the 3.5” U3 SSD kit and fan is identical to that of the 3.5” M.2 SSD kit, please refer to the instructions above for the most part.
Table 6 – U.3 compatibility and required parts.

cables)

·     Internal Bay Fan

The U.3 carrier tray is however slightly different to the M.2 NVMe SSD carrier tray due to the physical drive dimensions, it also has a different interposer board with it being a different storage technology.
With the U.3/U.2 SSD carrier right way up, carefully insert the U.3 drive into the interposer slot, then turn the carrier over while still holding the drive in-place.

Insert the four screws provided. Install the carriers into the 3.5” HDD bays, then close the system chassis lid. Successful installation can be confirmed in the system BIOS under System Summary, “Internal Bay Slot 1-1 & 2-1 plus Internal Bay Fan”.

Section 4 – P8 SATA Hard Drive Details

P8 supports a variety of different SATA hard drive storage options. The two tables below give details on the features, compatibility, and required parts for SATA hard drives. Installation location and information for each of the SATA hard drive options can be found in the subsequent pages.
Table 7 – SATA HDD features

• The drive trays for the internal bays each can adapt without any additional parts to hold a SATA 2.5” drive.
  However, at the time of writing, only 3.5” SATA drives have been certified by Lenovo on P8.
  ** Refer to the image below for the location of the front panel storage activity LED

Table 8 – SATA HDD compatibility and required parts.

bays)
·     Standard SATA signal cable count,
0 drives configured: one cable.
1-2 drives configured: two cables.
3rd HDD Bay kit| | ·     Optional HDD kit (includes cables)

Note: Microsoft Windows 11 does not support booting from magnetic rotational media.
Internal 3.5” SATA drive 1 & 2 installation:
All P8 models have two standard 3.5” SATA HDD bays, which are located at the inside lower front corner of the chassis.
Pinch the arrowed tabs and pull the drive trays out of the system.

1. Insert the 3.5” SATA drive into the tray using the metal pegs, with the drive face up and the HDD port/connector facing the end with the handles,
2. The tray is quite flexible and designed to bend to accommodate the metal pegs that secure the drive, gently bend the bracket,
3. lower the drive into place latching the remaining pegs.

Reinsert the drive/tray assembly upside down into one of the 3.5” HDD bays. Ensure it goes all the way in and clicks into place.

1. Connect the SATA data and power cables. One dual drop SATA power cable and one single drop SATA data cable are supplied as standard in every P8 system.
2. For the second 3.5” HDD, the cable can be routed to the SATA ports on the motherboard along the same path that the installed power & data cables follow.

Plug the SATA data cable/s into SATA ports (1) and/or (2).
(C14, C17 & C15) on the system cover diagram, page 7.

If the Internal Bay Fan was not supplied with the system, now is the time to install one. The power plug and motherboard socket location are color coded and keyed. The Internal Bay Fan and socket have a brown connector.
(R4) on the system cover diagram, page 7.

Successful installation can be confirmed in the system BIOS under System Summary, “SATA Drive 1 & 2 and Internal Bay Fan”.
3 rd SATA drive bay kit installation: An optional 3 rd
3.5” SATA HDD can be installed in a tray that mounts just above the CPU. The kit consists of the tray, drive carrier, data and power cables. Before installing the tray and drive carrier, connect the SATA power and data cable to the C7 (Internal Bay Power 2) and C15 (SATA 3) connectors on the motherboard. Refer to the diagram on the inside cover of the system depicting where these are located and on page 7 of this document.
(C7 & C15) on the system cover diagram, page 7.
The optional high-end CPU Fan unit is also required when the 3 rd HDD bay is installed. The power plug and motherboard socket location are color coded and keyed. Hook the SATA power and data cables through the cable management clip at the top of the fan unit. (C9) on the system cover diagram, page 7.

Install the 3 rd SATA HDD tray,

1. Insert the lower mounting posts of the 3 rd SATA HDD tray into the lower chassis slots. There are arrows etched into the chassis.
2. Then, using the lower posts as a pivot point, rotate the top of the tray down taking care not to squash the SATA & power cable routed previously.
3. The latching buttons should pop out to ensure the tray is secured.

Remove the 3.5” SATA HDD carrier from the 3 rd SATA HDD tray,

1. Turn the carrier over and insert the drive into the tray with the drive face down, it will only fit in the bracket one way.
2. The tray is quite flexible and designed to bend to accommodate the metal pegs that secure the drive, gently bend the bracket,
3. lower the drive into place latching the remaining pegs.

Return the drive right side up and install the drive back into the systems 3 rd SATA HDD tray, connecting the SATA and Power cable installed previously at the same time.

Successful installation can be confirmed in the system BIOS under System Summary, “SATA Drive 3 and Front Fan 1 & 2”.

Section 5 – Configuring RAID From BIOS

Please refer to the following steps to configure RAID for P8.

1. Boot into the BIOS by pressing the function F1 key at the Lenovo splash screen.

2. From the Main start menu item select System Summary to verify required drives are being seen by the system. To Enable NVMe RAID:

3. Select the Devices start menu option from the BIOS main screen setup utility and then select NVMe Setup.

4. In the NVMe Setup menu, select NVMe RAID Mode and change or verify the option is set to Enabled. Note: To secure erase NVMe drives, the NVMe Setup RAID Mode must be set to Disabled.

5. Press function F10 to save configuration and reset.Advance to item 10.
   To Enable SATA RAID:

6. Select the Devices start menu option from the BIOS main screen setup utility and then select Storage Setup.

7. Within the Storage Setup menu, select “Configure SATA as” and change or verify the option is set to “RAID”. Note: To secure erase SATA drives, the Configure SATA as option must be set to AHCI mode.

8. At the Attention prompt select Yes to proceed.

9. Press function F10 to save configuration and reset.RAID setup continued:

10. As the system reboots, press the function F1 key to re-enter the BIOS setup. Select the Devices start menu option from the BIOS main screen setup utility and then RAIDXpert2 Configuration Utility.

11. Select Array Management

12.  To ensure that all disks will be available it may be necessary to clear any previous data from the disks. If no arrays have been created previously but the “Delete Array” option is available, select it. If no arrays exist on the system, the “Manage Array Properties” and “Delete Array” options are unavailable.

13. All existing arrays are shown. Check the box for any array to be deleted and select Delete Arrays.
    Deleting Arrays is dangerous, use with caution, data loss can occur.

14. Heed the warning and check the Confirm box and select YES to completethe process.

15. No arrays are found on the system. Go back to the Array Management menu and note the only available option is Create Array. Select Create Array.

16. Select the desired RAID level from the Select RAID Level dropdown. Note: All RAID levels are listed below “Select RAID Level” with a brief description. However, based on the available drives in the system, not all RAID levels may be shown in the drop-down box.

17. After selecting the desired RAID level, proceed with Select Physical Disks.

18. There is an option to select media type to only show HDDs or SSDs. This can be used to ensure that only one type of drive is selected. Check the boxes of the desired disks and then select Apply Changes.

19. Select Create Array to complete the process.

20. To verify the array was created and to view information about the array, select Manage Array Properties.

21. Now F10 to save configuration and reset.

Note: Performance of the array may be degraded until initialization has completed, it should however be usable right away. The user may not see the RAID array show up in the BIOS boot sequence until after a bootable operating system has been installed on the RAID array. Please refer to the relevant operating system white paper for further advice and guidance.

Section 6 – Appendix

The ThinkStation P8 platform contains new mechanical parts for different storage device options. The following images and FRU’s offer a visual representation of some of these components for reference.
Table 9 – Compatible parts and upgrades mentioned throughout this document.

Onboard M.2 SSD Carrier + Heatsink
• M.2 Heatsink kit (SSD 1 & 2) FRU: 5M11H28470
• M.2 Unique Heatsink kit (SSD 3) FRU: 5M11H28811
NB: Supplied as standard without M.2 installed.|
Optional 3 rd  3.5” SATA Bay
• Internal Optional 3 rd  Inner Bay FRU: 5M11C16908
• 3.5” HDD Tray FRU: 01EF620
• SATA data cable, 350mm FRU: 5C10U58385
• SATA 1-drop power cable, 300mm FRU: 5C10U58388|
Optional high-end CPU Fan
• Optional CPU Front Fan duct with 2 Fan FRU: 5M11C16910|
3.5” Internal tray for Dual M.2 SSD
• Internal tray for Dual M.2 FRU: 5M11H28817
• Dual M.2 interposer card FRU: Included
• Top & Bottom Heatsink FRU: Included|
3.5” Internal tray for 2.5” U.3 SSD
• Internal tray for U.2 FRU: 5M11H28818
• U.2 interposer card FRU: Included
• Top & Bottom Heatsink FRU: Included
NB: Displayed with U.3 drive pre-installed|
Internal bay for NVMe kit (Integrated Controller)
• 84-pin NVME Gen4 Type2 cable for internal bay1, 400mm FRU: 5C10U58826
• 84-pin NVME Gen4 Type2 cable for internal bay2, 400mm FRU: 5C10U58827
• NVME Metal Bracket FRU: 5M20U51216
• Screw, M3 x4, Hexhead FRU: Included
• Screw, M3 HR-L5 x4, Hexhead FRU: Included|
Optional Storage Bay Fan
• 60×25 fan with guard 90mm cable FRU: 5F10U94085
• FAN-GROMMETS FRU: 5M20U50934|
SATA data cable for 2 nd  SATA HDD
• SATA signal cable for Internal tray FRU: 5C10U58386|
Optional FLEX Bay Fan
• Optional Front Storage Bay Fan & Guard FRU: 5F10U94089|

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