Changing Rasberry Pi Torrent Download To External Hard Drive UPDATED

Changing Rasberry Pi Torrent Download To External Hard Drive

It's ideal to have a dedicated machine for your BitTorrent client, and so you tin seed 24/vii. But information technology'south energy-intensive to exit a full rig powered up and online that often. Enter the Raspberry Pi.

Most desktop PCs describe a fair amount of free energy—our modest home function server, for instance, consumes nearly $200 worth of electricity per twelvemonth. The Raspberry Pi, on the other paw, is built around a mobile processor and sips energy similar a hummingbird. The core Raspberry Pi lath uses less than $3 of free energy per year and even calculation in a few external hard drives, you'll still keep your yearly operating costs at less than a burger and chips.

Plus, when information technology comes to downloading torrents, an always-on auto is king. With torrents, the more you lot monitor the cloud and seed into it the meliorate your ratio on your tracker (fifty-fifty if you're leeching from public trackers, an always-on auto ensures you'll be at that place when those rare files make an appearance).

If that sounds practiced, read on every bit nosotros show y'all how to turn your Pi into a totally remote-controlled downloading machine.

What You Need

For this tutorial, we assume that you have a Raspberry Pi unit with Raspbian installed, are able to access the device either directly via an fastened monitor and keyboard or remotely via SSH and VNC, and that you accept an external USB drive (or drives) attached to it. If you need to go up to speed in these areas, we strongly suggest reading the following guides in the lodge we have them listed here:

1. Everything You Need to Know About Getting Started with the Raspberry Pi
2. How to Configure Your Raspberry Pi for Remote Beat, Desktop, and File Transfer
3. How to Turn a Raspberry Pi into a Low-Ability Network Storage Device

Everything in the beginning tutorial is necessary. the 2nd tutorial is optional (just remote access is incredibly handy to have for this projection, every bit a download box is a perfect candidate for a headless build), and the near important part of the 3rd tutorial is simply setting up the hard drive and configuring it to machine-mount on boot (as described in the 3rd guide).

RELATED: How To Anonymize and Encrypt Your BitTorrent Traffic

In addition, if y'all're non overly familiar with the ins and outs of setting up a BitTorrent client for anonymous downloading, you should read up on it. You absolutely need some sort of anonymizing proxy or VPN organisation in place in order to use BitTorrent safely. The proxy mentioned in that guide is cheap and piece of cake, simply a good VPN is usually faster and more versatile, so check out this guide if y'all want a VPN instead.

Once you've reviewed all the material and accept the Pi configured, it'south time to become down to the business of turning your Pi into a silent and ultra-low-power downloading beast.

Footstep Ane: Install Deluge on Raspbian

There are several BitTorrent clients for Linux worth considering, but we recommend Deluge. information technology'south merely the right rest of features and footprint then that you lot won't find yourself wishing a month from at present that you had installed something more than powerful.

Yous can go nigh configuring Deluge multiple ways, but non all configurations are suitable for this headless Pi download box. While most people use their torrent client on the desktop like whatever other app, this doesn't piece of work very well for our purposes, considering it means every time you wanted to collaborate with your torrents, you would accept to log in to the box over remote desktop and mess effectually with the desktop client. Information technology wastes your time and it wastes resources on the Pi.

You lot could run the Deluge WebUI, which allows you to access the Deluge client from a browser on another machine. This still isn't our preferred option, though information technology does open up you up the potential of using a smartphone app to view and command Deluge (more on this afterwards).

Nosotros recommend configuring Drench on the remote machine to take ThinClient connections. In this manner, we can use the actual Deluge desktop client on some other computer (be it a Windows, Linux, or OS X box) to control the Raspberry Pi Drench installation. You become all the benefits of the desktop client on your actual desktop, while the all the action happens on the remote box.

If you can't determine between those 2 options, you can actually use both in tandem, though it will accept a little longer to gear up. Just follow the instructions in both sections below to do so.

Option I: Set up Drench for ThinClient Admission

Earlier yous do anything, accept a moment to update and upgrade your repositories. Open a Terminal and run the following 2 commands, one afterwards the other:

            sudo apt-go update            sudo apt-get upgrade          

Once that'southward washed, it'due south time to begin installing the necessary components for the ThinClient setup. Enter the following commands:

            sudo apt-become install deluged            sudo apt-become install deluge-console          

This will download the Deluge daemon and panel installation packages and run them. When prompted to continue, type Y. Afterward Drench has finished installing, yous need to run the Deluge daemon. Enter the post-obit commands:

            deluged            sudo pkill deluged          

This starts the Deluge daemon (which creates a configuration file) and and then shuts down the daemon. We're going to edit that configuration file and and then start it support. Type in the post-obit commands to first brand a backup of the original configuration file and then open information technology for editing:

            cp ~/.config/deluge/auth ~/.config/deluge/auth.old            nano ~/.config/deluge/auth          

Once inside the nano text editor, you'll demand to add a line to the bottom of the configuration file with the post-obit convention:

            user:countersign:level          

Where user is the username you desire for Drench, password is the password y'all desire, and thelevel is 10 (the full-admission/administrative level for the daemon). So for our purposes, we used pi:raspberry:10. When you're done editing, hitting Ctrl+X on your keyboard and salvage your changes when prompted. And then, start up the daemon and panel again:

            deluged            deluge-console          

If starting the console gives you an mistake code instead of nice cleanly formatted console interface, type "exit" and then make sure you've started upwards the daemon.

In one case inside the console, you'll need to make a quick configuration change. Enter the following:

            config -s allow_remote True            config allow_remote            leave          

The commands and corresponding output volition wait similar the screenshot beneath.

This enables remote connections to your Deluge daemon and double checks that the config variable has been set. Now it's time to kill the daemon and restart it ane more fourth dimension so that the config changes accept result:

            sudo pkill deluged            deluged          

At this point, your Deluge daemon is ready for remote access. Head to your normal PC (not the Raspberry Pi) and install the Deluge desktop program. You'll notice the installer for your operating organization on the Deluge Downloads folio. Once you've installed Deluge on your PC, run information technology for the first time; we need to make some quick changes.

Once launched, navigate to Preferences > Interface. Within the interface submenu, you lot'll see a checkbox for "Archetype Mode". By default it is checked. Uncheck it.

Click OK then restart the Deluge desktop client. This time, when Deluge starts, it volition present you with the Connectedness Manager. Click the "Add" push button and then input the IP address of the Raspberry Pi on your network, likewise equally the username and password you set up during the earlier configuration. Leave the port at the default 58846. Click Add.

Back in the Connection Manager, you'll see the entry for the Raspberry Pi; if all goes well, the indicator light will turn greenish similar so:

Click Connect, and you'll be kicked into the interface, connected to the remote automobile:

It'due south a fresh install, nary a .torrent in site, but our connection between the remote machine and the desktop client is a success!

Go ahead and configure the WebUI now (if you wish to do so), or skip downward to the side by side step of this tutorial.

Choice Two: Set up Deluge for WebUI Access

Configuring the WebUI is significantly faster, and allows for using some mobile apps to access Deluge. Only equally nosotros mentioned earlier, you'll have access to fewer features than with the total ThinClient experience. For example, ThinClient can associate .torrent files with the Deluge ThinClient for automatic transfer to the Pi, but you lot tin't do this with the WebUI.

First, have a moment to update and upgrade your repositories. Open a Last and run the post-obit two commands, one after the other:

            sudo apt-get update            sudo apt-get upgrade          

And so, to install the WebUI, run the following commands. Note: If you already installed the Deluge daemon in the ThinClient section of the tutorial, skip the get-go command here.

            sudo apt-become install deluged            sudo apt-become install python-mako            sudo apt-get install drench-web            deluge-web          

This sequence installs the Deluge daemon (if you didn't already install information technology in the terminal department), Mako (a template gallery for Python that the WebUI needs), the WebUI itself, and and then starts the WebUI plan.

The default port for the WebUI is 8112. If you wish to change information technology, run the following commands:

            sudo pkill deluge-spider web            nano ~/.config/deluge/web.conf          

This stops the WebUI and opens up the configuration file for it. Use nano to edit the line: "port": 8112, and replace the 8112 with any port number above 1000 (as 1-chiliad are reserved by the system).

Once you have the WebUI upward and running, it's fourth dimension to connect to it using a web browser. You tin can apply a browser on the Pi if you e'er need to, only it's not the most pleasant user experience and all-time left for emergencies. Open up a browser on your regular desktop machine and bespeak it at the IP address of your Pi with the port you just chose (e.g. http://192.168.ane.13:8112 ).

You'll be greeted with a countersign prompt (the default countersign is "drench") and be immediately encouraged to change it after you enter information technology for the first time. After that, you'll exist able to interact with Deluge via the lightweight interface.

It's not quite the same every bit the ThinClient, but it'due south robust plenty for light use and has the added benefit of serving as the signal of connection for lots of torrent-control mobile apps.

Footstep Two: Configure Your Proxy or VPN

You might be tempted to start downloading torrents now, simply wait! Don't do that yet. Information technology's absolutely reckless to utilise a BitTorrent Client without start shuttling your connection through a proxy server or VPN.

RELATED: How to Choose the Best VPN Service for Your Needs

If you didn't read over How To Anonymize and Encrypt Your BitTorrent Traffic yet, at present is the time to do so. Read over the start section (for a better understanding of why it is important to protect your BitTorrent connexion), and then sign up for a proxy service or, amend still, a good VPN before continuing on.

If you're using a VPN, it'southward pretty simple: Only choose a VPN that offers a Linux client. And so, download and install the Linux client on your Pi, kickoff it up, and connect to your desired server. (Yous may fifty-fifty want to prepare information technology to launch when the Raspberry Pi boots, and so it's e'er connected to the VPN.)

If y'all're using a proxy, y'all tin can plug its information into Deluge under Preferences > Proxy. You need to fill out the Peer, Web Seed, Tracker, and DHT sections like so, placing your proxy username and password in the appropriate slots. Your proxy service's Blazon, Host, and Port may differ, so be sure to check its documentation.

In social club for the proxy settings to take upshot, you need to restart the Drench daemon. From the concluding enter the post-obit commands:

            sudo pkill deluged            deluged          

Afterward that, you lot should be all set.

The best way to exam that you're actively using the proxy or VPN is to download a torrent file designed expressly to study back its IP address. You can detect many of these torrents online, including this i from BTGuard and this one from TorGuard. Load either or both torrents into Drench and wait a moment.

After the torrents have had a chance to connect to their respective trackers, select the torrents in the Drench client and cheque the "Tracker Status" entry as seen in a higher place. Both volition study the IP address they detect from your customer. If that IP accost matches your public IP address, and so the proxy or VPN is non configured properly and yous should return to the previous department to check your configuration. If it is configured properly, you'll come across the proxy or VPN's IP address and not your ain.

Step Three: Configure Your Download Location

Next, you'll need to configure Deluge to use your external hard drive. If you followed forth with the hard drive mounting instructions in this previously mentioned guide, you lot're gear up with a hard drive prepare to auto-mount on kicking.

From at that place, all you need to exercise is modify the default locations in Deluge. Navigate to Deluge's Preferences and caput to the Downloads tab. By default, Deluge directs everything to /home/pi. That little SD carte du jour is going to fill up up real fast, however, so we need to alter it.

Beginning, we're going to create some new folders in /media/USBHDD1/shares, which is the share folder we already prepare in the Low-Ability Network Storage tutorial. That manner, we tin can easily access our downloaded torrents over the network and take a network-accessible watch folder for motorcar-loading torrent files. Use the following commands to create the folder set (adjusting the pathnames accordingly for your location if y'all're non using the same Pi setup from the previous tutorial like we are):

            sudo mkdir /media/USBHDD1/shares/torrents/downloading  sudo mkdir /media/USBHDD1/shares/torrents/completed  sudo mkdir /media/USBHDD1/shares/torrents/watch  sudo mkdir /media/USBHDD1/shares/torrents/torrent-backups          

Then, turn right around and plug those four new directories into Deluge.

Click OK to set the directories. There'south no need to restart every bit yous did with the proxy setup.

Step Four: Exam Your Connexion

Now information technology's time to download a large enough torrent that we can really see if the system is running smoothly. For our test we grabbed the .torrent file for the current Linux Mint distribution–it weighs in at solid 1.7GB, perfect for monitoring the connection speeds.

One time you've confirmed that your connection is stable and the Linux torrent is bustling forth nicely, it's time to motion onto the next step: automating the client startup.

Footstep Five: Configure Deluge to Run on Startup

Before we exit the Drench setup, there is ane concluding particular to nourish to. We need to gear up up the Deluge daemon and WebUI to run automatically when our Raspberry Pi boots up. To do so merely and without the fuss of editing more complicated init files and settings, we'll simple comment the rc.local file. Run the following control in a Terminal to do so.

sudo nano /etc/rc.local

With the rc.local file loaded, add the following lines to the end of the file. Note: you exercise non need to add together the the second command ending in "drench-web" if you are not using the WebGUI. This may also be a good place to add together your VPN plan, if you're using one.

# Start Drench on boot:  sudo -u pi /usr/bin/python /usr/bin/deluged  sudo -u pi /usr/bin/python /usr/bin/deluge-web

Your rc.local file should expect something like this when you're done (possibly with the addition of that VPN):

Press Ctrl+Ten to exit and salvage your work.

At this signal, we would recommend restarting your Raspberry Pi, and so fire off a "sudo reboot" at the command line. In one case the Pi has finished rebooting, caput to your other PC and try to connect to the Deluge ThinClient and/or WebUI to make sure they both work.

There are two major errors you may encounter here. First, a failure to connect at all ways that the initialization scripts didn't work. Open up up the terminal on your Pi and manually start the daemon and WebUI using the commands we learned earlier in the tutorial.  Check to run into that it works at present. If it does, go back up and prepare your rc.local script.

Second, if you can open up the client, but information technology shows permission errors for your existing torrents (like the Linux torrent nosotros used to test things earlier), that indicates that your external difficult drive was non mounted, or mounted incorrectly. Review the sections on installing an external drive and setting information technology to automobile-mount on boot in our Low-Power Network Storage tutorial.

Enhancing Your Torrenting Feel

Now that you take your torrent box configured and ready to rock, there are a few additional tools and modifications you can await into to really enhance your user experience. None of these tips and tricks are necessary, but they practise make your Raspberry Pi turned Torrent Box easier to use.

Add Mobile Admission: Consider downloading a mobile control app similar Transdroid and Transdrone for Android. Unfortunately, nosotros don't accept whatsoever solid suggestions for iOS users, as Apple tree has taken a really aggressive stance towards torrent-related apps in the App Store (and has banned whatever apps that slipped through the submission process).

Deluge doesn't currently have a mobile-optimized template for the WebUI, but it's more functional on tablets like the iPad and Kindle Fire.

Ready a Shared Drop Folder: Although nosotros mentioned it briefly earlier in the tutorial, ensure that the /torrents/watch/ folder you created is accessible on your network. It's really convenient to be able to dump a pile of .torrent files into the binder and have Deluge load them up automatically.

Install Browser Plugins: There are several Drench-centered plugins for Chrome and Firefox that improve the user experience, including:

• Chrome:
  • DelugeSiphon: Enables .torrent calculation from the WebUI
  • Drench Remote: Simple view of electric current torrents and their progress
• Firefox:
  • BitTorrent WebUI+: Enables .torrent adding from the WebUI
  • WebUI Quick Add Torrent: Greasemonkey Script that adds clickable icon on webpages for easy torrent adding

Activate Drench Plugins: There are a host of dandy plugins already included in Deluge, and even more third-party plugins. Some of the included plugins you may desire to take advantage of include:

• Notification: You receive email alerts from Drench on torrent completion and other events
• Scheduler: Limit bandwidth based on time of day

You can find these in Preferences > Plugins. Bank check the ones you lot want and a new entry will announced in the preferences bill of fare (e.thou. Preferences > Notifications).

For more data about third-party plugins and how to install them, check out the Plugins folio in the Deluge Wiki.

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Subsequently configuring, testing, and tweaking enhancements and plugins, you have a more than capable torrent box that costs mere pennies a mean solar day to operate. Detect a repose and out-of-the-way spot to plug it in, load it up with torrents, and get out it to do the heavy lifting of downloading and seeding for you.

RELATED: What Is a SeedBox, and Why Would Y'all Want One?

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