I would like to get into torrenting including private trackers, seeding back and all that stuff, while also remaining fairly safe from gov as much as it’s possible.
I have multiple reasons not to torrent at home: the internet at home is really bad and I need to do something about it, but even then, I don’t want to keep my computer running 24/7, especially that I don’t have a very power efficient setup. And I want to seed as much as possible, because I often download obscure files and not many people are seeding… so I want to give back to the community ;).
Another reason is that I don’t have that much storage now and it would be beneficial to rent a seedbox with plenty of storage space. Buying several HDDs would still be cheaper in the long run, but I don’t have anywhere to put them. I don’t have a NAS yet and money to buy one.
I’m afraid that torrenting on a VPS would quickly result in a termination of a deal. And it would be pretty easy to pinpoint who is torrenting. Does anyone have a bad experience with torrenting on a VPS?
Maybe it is possible to connect a VPN to a VPS to add an extra layer of anonymity (privacy?), but that would be an extra cost… so maybe it would be better to live with the risk for a while and save for a NAS and connect a VPN to that?
Hearing about seedboxes I was pretty sure at first that it was all about many people seeding from the same IP, so there is a plausible deniability. But it seems that they are just VPSes with more storage at the expense of performance and with preinstalled software for torrenting. So now I’m even more confused. I also want to host some not piracy-related services in the future, like Grocy and Matrix. Maybe I would just rent another server for these if that was necessary.
I have been pondering about that for a while now and can’t decide. What should I do?
You’re overthinking everything.
Go to your router, turn on qos. I like the cake aqm built into some of the alternative firmwares. Whatever you have is fine though. Now your internet connection quality/speed doesn’t matter and you’ll still be able to use it while torrenting.
Get a computer and put some drives in it. Or attach them to it. Use mergerfs and snapraid. Now you have a seedbox/nas in your house. You can use it with Jellyfin. If you’re worried about the power, use a device called a kill-a-watt to get real numbers, look at your bill and do the math or just trust me that it’s not expensive compared to a remote seedbox.
Subscribe to a vpn service with port forwarding. This is not meant to be super private from the cops, but to obscure your torrenting from the isp/authorities. Windscribe and air are good cheap options.
Even though I have a great internet connection, plenty of storage on a NAS, and a mini PC as a server, I still like the idea of a seed box that’s just off in another country somewhere. Everything has its place, and I don’t have to clutter my own server with things that maybe I want to seed but not keep around on my local network.
Locally, I route any downloading type apps through Gluetun for that little extra bit of anonymity.
VM or containers behind a vpn would be my reccomendation. Use the money saved from renting a seedbox or vps to create a nas.
I recommend keeping it simple.
There’s nothing special about a ‘seedbox.’ It’s just a computer.
If you want a computer that’s on 24/7 to use as a server, get a used dell optiplex from walmart for $100.
Don’t buy small form factor shit unless you have a specific reason to have a small computer. Don’t buy into the memes or hype surrounding ‘boutique’ products. They are all for idiots with more money than sense that try to fit in with other idiots on the internet.
