Less than 10K Poor man's download rig!

Neo-N

Neo-N

Skilled
Looking to get an Android phone (4.0 and above) that would be used only for 24*7 torrent downloading (using uTorrent over WiFi).

This will replace my R-Pi setup which currently serves as my download rig.

Three important criteria:
1) Should be able to download upto 8GB (on internal memory or SD card or combined) at a go.
2) Should not have heating issues/burn up as I will leave it in my room unattended!
3) Should preferably cost less than 2.5k (hence poor man's)! :eek:

Any suggestions?

Thanks
 
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I thought of doing the same sometime back and I was advised (by @Crazy_Eddy, I think) not to rely on SDCard/Flash memory for such continuous use... limited write cycles issue.

I tried using USB pen drive with PC and it died pretty soon. It was an old one; maybe the latest flash memories perform much better. If you are successful in making this rig, please share your review.
 
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It is a bad idea to use a phone as download box. Heat dissipation is very very poor in such an enclosed system. Any reason you are discontinuing the use of the Pi as a downloader?

In the long run you will be paying more as the phone will overheat and die much sooner than the Pi.
 
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I have been using my old phone for downloading torrents for more than a couple of years now. Used a sandisk class 4 32Gb card all the time, so all the read write was on the card. And the card still works just fine. So I dont think it should be of any concern.
 
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Criminal said:
I thought of doing the same sometime back and I was advised (by @Crazy_Eddy, I think) not to rely on SDCard/Flash memory for such continuous use... limited write cycles issue.

I tried using USB pen drive with PC and it died pretty soon. It was an old one; maybe the latest flash memories perform much better. If you are successful in making this rig, please share your review.
Click to expand...

^ I am not gonna rely on it for long term storage. Idea is to transfer the files from the phone to tab/lappy as soon as download is done. Happy if a SD card lasts 2 years... they come real cheap these days. Plus, I have used a Sandisk 8GB SD in my older R-Pi setup for more than 2-3 years without the card dying.

hotshot05 said:
It is a bad idea to use a phone as download box. Heat dissipation is very very poor in such an enclosed system. Any reason you are discontinuing the use of the Pi as a downloader?

In the long run you will be paying more as the phone will overheat and die much sooner than the Pi.
Click to expand...

^ Discontinuing the Pi usage as I am a programming noob. It had taken me 3-4 days to setup the R-Pi the first time and then another 3-4 days once when my mum had disconnected everything while I had gone abroad. Now again I was away from home and someone disconnected everything and my Pi works but Transmission, Samba etc.. is messed!

Now I want a system that is pre-configured for torrenting and a cheap android phone comes closest. A TE friend had suggested a Android TV but I need a headless solution... And as portable as possible so I may put it in a corner of my desk and forget!
 
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Neo-N said:
I am a programming noob. It had taken me 3-4 days to setup the R-Pi the first time
Click to expand...
(Mine is Ubuntu setup on Raspi-3)
You can keep a copy of /etc/samba/smb.conf and ~/.config/transmission/settings.json. That should take away pain of setting it again and again.

I use one of my raspi for transmission + samba. Have an old 250gb WD passport mounted for storage. Recently faced an issue where Samba messed up because of abrupt disconnection. If yours is a similar case, there could be mount problem. Check /media/<user>/ and delete mount folders. Restart and it should work fine.
 
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Get the cheapest android TV box available on eBay for ~2k. Most of them are rooted and have Google Play Store. You can install utorrent and save torrents to external HDD ( I think). The 2k ones are usually kit Kat OS versions so saving to sdcard is possible.

Edit: example http://www.ebay.in/itm/262234681439

Wi-Fi is not very strong on these boxes so you should keep them near the router if possible or use wired connection. With ESExplorer it's possible to connect from Android to PC I think.
 
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Neo-N said:
^ I am not gonna rely on it for long term storage. Idea is to transfer the files from the phone to tab/lappy as soon as download is done. Happy if a SD card lasts 2 years... they come real cheap these days. Plus, I have used a Sandisk 8GB SD in my older R-Pi setup for more than 2-3 years without the card dying.



^ Discontinuing the Pi usage as I am a programming noob. It had taken me 3-4 days to setup the R-Pi the first time and then another 3-4 days once when my mum had disconnected everything while I had gone abroad. Now again I was away from home and someone disconnected everything and my Pi works but Transmission, Samba etc.. is messed!

Now I want a system that is pre-configured for torrenting and a cheap android phone comes closest. A TE friend had suggested a Android TV but I need a headless solution... And as portable as possible so I may put it in a corner of my desk and forget!
Click to expand...

Like you I too faced the same issue, however i was able to cut short the time required to get everything set up to just one hour. I assume you have a RPI1 or RPI2.

I made a note of all the steps taken for installing all the applications, I have vsftpd(for file transfer), transmission(for torrents), nginx(webserver for doing some testing) running on RP12. Applications like transmission have settings stored in the settings.json file, I copied all of them, then I made a script file for installing them and then stopping it, replacing the settings file and then starting it so it then starts the way I want it. Samba settings are in smb.conf so that can also be set up

I have a Samsung class 10 64 GB card in the RPI2. Below are the sample scripts

Code: 
#!/bin/bash

echo "Setting up RPI step 1"

echo "Copying Host/Apt files"
cp -v /home/config/hosts /etc/hosts
cp -v /home/config/hostname /etc/hostname   
cp -v /home/config/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list

echo "Expanding File System"
resize2fs /dev/mmcblk0p2

echo "Updating RPI"
apt-get update

echo "Updating RPI Packages"
apt-get upgrade -y

echo "Installing Utilities"
apt-get install nano htop vnstat

echo "Installing vsftpd"
apt-get install vsftpd -y
service vsftpd stop
cp -b -v /home/config/ftpusers /etc/ftpusers
cp -b -v /home/config/vsftpd.conf /etc/vsftpd.conf

echo "Starting vsftpd"
service vsftpd start

echo "Installing Transmission"
mkdir /media/downloads
mkdir /media/incomplete
apt-get install transmission-daemon -y
service transmission-daemon stop
cp -b -v /home/config/settings.json /etc/transmission-daemon/settings.json

echo "Applying permissions to Transmission"
chgrp debian-transmission /media/downloads
chgrp debian-transmission /media/incomplete
chmod 770 /media/downloads
chmod 770 /media/incomplete

echo "Starting Transmission"
service transmission-daemon start

echo "Setting up Nginx"
mkdir /var/www
cp -r -v /home/config/www /var/

echo "Installing Nginx"
apt-get install nginx php5-fpm sqlite3 php5-sqlite -y

echo "Copying Nginx files"
cp -v /home/config/rpi /etc/nginx/sites-available/rpi

echo "Applying permissions to Nginx"
unlink /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/rpi -t /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

echo "Starting Nginx"
service nginx start

Let me know if you need more information, I have to just run the script

./RPI1.sh

And all is set.
 
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mk76 said:
(Mine is Ubuntu setup on Raspi-3)
You can keep a copy of /etc/samba/smb.conf and ~/.config/transmission/settings.json. That should take away pain of setting it again and again.

I use one of my raspi for transmission + samba. Have an old 250gb WD passport mounted for storage. Recently faced an issue where Samba messed up because of abrupt disconnection. If yours is a similar case, there could be mount problem. Check /media/<user>/ and delete mount folders. Restart and it should work fine.
Click to expand...

tommy_vercetti said:
Like you I too faced the same issue, however i was able to cut short the time required to get everything set up to just one hour. I assume you have a RPI1 or RPI2.

I made a note of all the steps taken for installing all the applications, I have vsftpd(for file transfer), transmission(for torrents), nginx(webserver for doing some testing) running on RP12. Applications like transmission have settings stored in the settings.json file, I copied all of them, then I made a script file for installing them and then stopping it, replacing the settings file and then starting it so it then starts the way I want it. Samba settings are in smb.conf so that can also be set up

Let me know if you need more information, I have to just run the script

./RPI1.sh

And all is set.
Click to expand...

^^ So, when I say I am a noob, I mean I am really a dud! Like I understand some of what you have posted but not enough to pull it off! :(

Like I don't even know what vsftpd is! Nor nginx! I really don't remember how I got it to work the first 2 times. All I remember is that it took me forever... And only Transmission was working. I used to shutdown the Pi and pull out the mounted drive to copy the downloaded data. :O

Thanks anyway! I am sure it would be helpful to someone who is not as bad a noob as I am!

@6pack Do these work without connecting to a TV? I want a headless solution... Not enough space for a monitor/tv.
 
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using a tab and ttorent for more than 1.5 years and it does works without a hitch till now. using the built in 32gig memory and its runs 24x7 and i'll put it on charge everyday for 2-2.5 hours and battery lasts for next 24 hours.
 
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You need to get ASUS routers, that should have you sorted out, they have it all easy, just attach a hard drive/pen drive and then you can download/install the ASUS Download manager and that's it, nothing else to be done
 
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@Neo-N, it should work, not sure though. Google did not help much. These boxes work wireless and should be able to run headless. Don't know if they fall asleep like android phones do after sometime. I think best solution for you would be to get a router with support for external portable hdd and torrent downloads.
 
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@ruiner21 gave away a Moto Electrify M to me! :D

I am gonna start using it as a download rig and report here how it goes! Thanks again @ruiner21 You rock! :)[DOUBLEPOST=1468046014][/DOUBLEPOST]Downloaded 3 movies last night. No heating or any other issues.

Have switched off the cell radio (Airplane mode) and just kept WiFi on. 80% of apps have been disabled. Shall report on long term usage later...
 
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Have used this device for downloading about 12GB in torrents. Its on 24x7 though its not downloading 24x7. No heating issues yet.

I think only downside might be that it might chew the micro SD sooner. I can live with that! Micro SDs are really cheap these days! :p

Also, the SD card I used in my Pi is still going strong even after 2 years of near continuous power on time.

For transfer from the moto to my tab, I use ShareIT! Works like a charm!
 
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