IX4-300D Projects - DIYProjects

Customize your IX4-300D’s LCD Screen

Posted on March 9, 2015by Steven

This guide will walk you through the basics of customizing the LCD screen on your Lenovo IX4-300d NAS device. By default, the display shows only limited information, but with a bit of creativity and some simple scripting, you can extend its functionality to show more relevant and useful data. This guide serves as a starting point — once you’re familiar with the process, the possibilities for customization are wide open.

Instead of displaying text directly, we’ll be working with BMP image files to show custom content on the LCD. At the time of writing, there is no known method to write plain strings directly to the screen, so images are the way to go. Whether you want to show system stats, network info, or even fun visuals, this guide will help you get started with building and displaying your own custom BMP images.

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Silence your IX4-300D’s Fans

Posted on January 29, 2015by Steven

The fans in the Lenovo IX4-300d NAS tend to run loudly and constantly at a fixed speed, regardless of the actual temperature inside the device. This can be distracting, especially in quiet environments. In this guide, we’ll show you how to reduce the fan speed to make your NAS run much quieter, improving your overall experience without sacrificing functionality.

However, it’s important to approach these changes with caution. Lowering the fan speed too much can lead to overheating, especially during extended or intensive operations. Be sure to thoroughly test any new fan settings to find the right balance between noise reduction and safe temperature levels for your specific setup.

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NZBGet On IX4-300d

Posted on October 29, 2014by Steven

NZBGet is a powerful NZB downloader developed in C++ that prioritizes high performance and efficiency. It’s designed to maximize download speeds while using minimal system resources, making it an ideal choice for devices with limited processing power like the IX4-300D NAS. Whether you’re a casual user or a heavy downloader, NZBGet provides a fast, lightweight solution to manage your Usenet downloads effectively.

In this guide, I will walk you through the steps to install and set up NZBGet on your IX4-300D. By following these instructions, you’ll be able to leverage your NAS to handle NZB downloads smoothly and efficiently, freeing up your main computer and ensuring downloads run continuously and reliably.

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Sick Beard on IX4-300d

Posted on February 15, 2014by Steven

Sick Beard is a personal video recorder (PVR) designed primarily for newsgroup users, with some limited support for torrents. Its main function is to monitor your favorite TV shows and automatically download new episodes as soon as they become available. Once downloaded, Sick Beard takes care of organizing, sorting, and renaming the files, making it easier to maintain a clean and accessible media library without manual effort.

The application supports a wide range of NZB indexers such as NZBs.org, NZBMatrix, NZBs’R’Us, Newzbin, Womble’s Index, and NZB.su, as well as torrent sites like TVTorrents and EZRSS. To enhance the user experience, Sick Beard pulls show metadata and episode information from trusted sources like theTVDB.com and TVRage.com, ensuring your media collection is accurately labeled and up to date.

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Couchpotato on IX4-300d

Posted on February 13, 2014by Steven

In this guide, I will walk you through the installation of CouchPotato on your IX4-400d NAS. CouchPotato is a powerful server application designed to automate the process of downloading movies and TV series episodes. It continuously monitors popular torrent sites and Usenet servers, ensuring you get the latest releases in the best possible quality without manual intervention. By handling searches and downloads automatically, it saves you time and effort, making it easy to keep your media collection up to date.

Once properly configured, CouchPotato will actively scan for new episodes and movies as soon as they become available online, grabbing the best sources from trusted platforms. This means your favorite series and films will be downloaded directly to your NAS drive shortly after airing anywhere in the world. With CouchPotato running on your IX4-400d, your media library stays fresh and organized effortlessly, providing seamless access to your entertainment whenever you want.

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Preserve custom Servers after IX4-300d Update

Posted on November 19, 2013by Steven

Lenovo recently released a firmware update for their IX4-300d NAS to address critical security vulnerabilities that left many devices exposed to potential hacker attacks. While it’s highly recommended to apply this update to keep your system secure, users who rely on custom configurations—particularly those using custom startup scripts to run servers or applications—should proceed with caution. Updating the firmware can overwrite or disable these scripts, potentially breaking your setup and preventing essential services from starting automatically.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through the process of safely updating your NAS firmware while preserving your custom server functionality. We’ll back up key configuration files, reapply custom startup scripts post-update, and verify that everything runs smoothly. With the right steps, you can enjoy the latest security improvements without sacrificing the features and tweaks you’ve added to your system.

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Minecraft Server on IX4-300d

Posted on May 22, 2013by Steven

Installing a Minecraft server on your Iomega NAS is a great way to host a lightweight, always-on multiplayer world from your own hardware. While the NAS only has 512MB of RAM—half of Minecraft’s recommended 1GB minimum—the setup can still be surprisingly functional with a few optimizations. The performance may not be suitable for larger, mod-heavy worlds or many concurrent players, but it is more than adequate for a small group. In my testing, the server handled up to five online players with reasonable stability, making it a viable option for casual gaming sessions among friends or family.

To make the most of the limited hardware, this guide includes a curated selection of lightweight server plugins that help optimize memory usage and improve stability. These plugins were specifically chosen to reduce strain on system resources while maintaining essential features like teleportation, basic permissions, and performance monitoring. If you follow the setup and configuration steps closely, you’ll find that even with just 512MB of RAM, your Iomega NAS can reliably run a Minecraft server that delivers a smooth and enjoyable multiplayer experience for a small group of users.

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Transmission on IX4-300d

Posted on May 2, 2013by Steven

Transmission is a lightweight and efficient BitTorrent client known for its minimalistic interface and solid performance across multiple platforms. It offers a straightforward user experience while maintaining powerful features under the hood, making it a popular choice for users who want a no-fuss torrenting solution. With its clean WebGUI and support for remote access, Transmission is especially well-suited for NAS devices, allowing you to manage your downloads from any browser on your network.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through the process of installing the Transmission torrent client, complete with its WebGUI, on an IOmega/Lenovo IX4-300d NAS. This setup allows you to harness the power of your NAS for continuous, low-power torrent downloading while managing everything remotely via a simple web interface. Whether you’re looking to automate downloads or just want a convenient way to manage torrents without keeping a PC running, this guide will help you get everything up and running step by step.

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SABnzbd on IX4-300d

Posted on April 29, 2013by Steven

SABnzbd is designed to make using Usenet as simple and efficient as possible by automating nearly every step of the process. Once you provide it with a .nzb file, SABnzbd handles the rest seamlessly—no further user action is required. The program takes care of downloading the content, verifying its integrity, repairing any errors, extracting the files, and neatly organizing everything for you. This level of automation removes the usual complexity associated with Usenet, making it a user-friendly solution for both beginners and seasoned users alike.

If you’re looking to harness the power of SABnzbd on your own server, you’re in the right place. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the full process of installing SABnzbd on your NAS. Whether you’re running a home media setup or simply want an efficient way to manage your downloads, this setup will help you get started with minimal effort while maximizing performance and convenience.

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Modify Startup Script on ix4-300d

Posted on April 27, 2013by Steven

We want our installed applications to start automatically whenever the NAS powers on or reboots, without the need to manually log in via SSH and launch each service. Automating this process ensures that your custom services are always running and available, providing a seamless experience without extra effort on your part.

This can be achieved by creating a dedicated “Startup” script and configuring your NAS to execute it on every boot or reboot. By using this method, you can easily manage multiple services, adding or removing them from the script as needed, so your NAS always launches exactly the applications you want without any manual intervention.

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Install Package Manager on IX4-300d NAS

Posted on April 25, 2013by Steven

The Optware package manager is a lightweight system designed to deliver and manage software packages on NAS devices and other Linux-based small computer systems. It provides a convenient way to extend the functionality of your device by allowing you to easily install, update, and remove additional software beyond the default offerings. This flexibility is especially valuable for users who want to customize their NAS with new services or tools tailored to their specific needs.

To add these extra services to your NAS, the first step is to install the IPKG package manager, which serves as the foundation for Optware. Fortunately, on the Lenovo IX4-300d, IPKG is already pre-installed, so there’s no need for a full installation. Instead, all that’s required is to add the appropriate software repositories, enabling you to quickly access and install a wide range of useful packages to enhance your NAS’s capabilities.

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SSH Access on IX4-300d

Posted on April 21, 2013by Steven

SSH access on Iomega and Lenovo IX/PX NAS systems is a hidden feature, primarily intended for use by official support personnel. By default, it’s disabled and undocumented in the standard user interface, as it’s not meant for general users. However, enabling SSH opens up a powerful backend interface that provides direct command-line access to the underlying Linux operating system. This functionality allows advanced users to go beyond the limited stock options offered by the NAS firmware and gain full control over their device’s software environment.

Once SSH is enabled, users can install and run a variety of custom and unsupported Linux services such as SickBeard, SABnzbd, CouchPotato, and Transmission directly on the NAS. This dramatically extends the functionality of your device, transforming it from a simple storage box into a fully customizable media server or automation hub. In the following guide, we’ll walk you through the exact steps to unlock SSH access on your Iomega or Lenovo NAS and begin installing these powerful open-source tools.