With more and more members trying out TorrentSwift as their seedbox provider (now that Dave is endorsing their offerings http://www.torrent-invites.com/seedb...d-seedbox.html), I thought I would put together a beginners tutorial. Most of this information is based on questions I have received from new TorrentSwift users over the last little while.

Jan 2010 Update - there have been quite a few reports in the forums with people having issues with TorrentSwift support. I have not used them since late 2008 (when I moved on to OVH) so I cannot comment other than to say they were very good when I made use of them. Please note this tutorial applies to any TorrentFlux based seedbox if you choose not to use TorretnSwift.

1) Will TorrentSwift work with my PC?
TorrentSwift provides you with seedbox services through a Web interface and there is no real interaction with your desktop (other than transferring files). It does not matter what desktop OS or BitTorrent Client you are using - if you can browse the Web you should be able to use TorrentSwift.

2) I heard TorrentSwift uses TorrentFlux which is only for Linux, can I still use it?
Please see point 1). Yes, TorrentSwift uses TorrentFlux as the Web Interface to the BitTorrent clients. This is running on their server and it has nothing to do with your workstation. If you can browse the web you can use TorrentFlux on TorrentSwift.

3) Is it complicated to set up a seedbox?
TorrentSwift seedbox offerings are all preconfigured. All you need to do is login and start using it (no configuration required). There are some tweaks that you can do to improve performance if you want (see below). Other seedbox offering are just the base server and require you to configure all the software - this is not what TorrentSwift is offering (and would not be recommend to a beginner).

4) There are bandwidth caps on the TorrentSwift plans - why would I ever want a seedbox with bandwidth caps?
There are many seedbox plans available that do not have bandwidth caps. There are none available for $10USD. If you want/need to upload TBs of content per month you are looking at the wrong provider. Here is a link from FileShareFreek.com with some other options: Review and Comparison of TorrentFlux Hosting Services | THE source for BitTorrent & P2P Tips, Tricks and Info. | FileShareFreak

If you want to do affordable, focused seeding on some trackers that are very hard to seed with your regular connection you may have found the perfect match. Please keep in mind that if you are working with hard to seed trackers you will be hard pressed to seed more than a few hundred GBs per month if you focus on popular new release content (packs can be different but they require a lot of disk space - more $$$).
Bottom line - $10USD to seed 150GB of content to hard to seed trackers is a steal compared to paying for upload credit. And you can hang with the cool kids when you tell them you have a seed box.

5) Woo Hoo – can’t wait to fire up my 50 torrents and let them fly...
Hang on cowboy - every active torrent takes up a certain amount of server resources (memory and CPU). The different BitTorrent clients have different levels of efficiency and the bottom line appears that none of the TorrentFlux clients are all that efficient. My observation is that resellers try to keep the number of active torrents on a physical server < 30. Many actually cap the number of active torrents a user can have (as low as 2). TorrentSwift does not do active torrent capping but if you go hog wild with your torrents you will simply de-stabilize the server and that will not be good for anyone. You should keep your active torrents < 4 whenever possible (and hope everyone else does as well).

6) So how do I actually seed from the seedbox?
Now we are getting down to business! Here are the steps I use:

a) Download .torrent file from my tracker to my desktop (just as I would normally). I add a prefix to the file to let me know what tracker it is from (such as ScT. – yes, I have ScT - eat your heart out!!).
b) Login to TorrentSwift and browse to this .torrent file from the MetaFile upload dialog box on TorrentSwift and select upload (will see “Processing” on TorrentSwift)
c) The torrent will now have been added to torrent listing. Select Play button to start torrent processing.
d) Go to Control tab of pop-up window to select any setting changes you would like to make (upload speed, BitTorrent client, etc)
e) Press “Run Transfer” to start the torrent. Once it is started you can track the progress in the status tab (updates every 5 seconds). Always check the status to ensure the torrent has started properly. If there is an issue you can go back to the control tab to stop it and restart.

Here is a link from seed-hosting.com that provides a graphical representation of the steps: Seed-Hosting: Quickstart Guide to TorrentFlux - 1. Adding / Managing Torrents

Here is a link from filesharefreak.com that also eaplains it well: Quickstart Guide to TorrentFlux - 1. Adding / Managing Torrents | THE source for BitTorrent & P2P Tips, Tricks and Info. | FileShareFreak

7) How do I do this cross-seeding I have heard about?
Ahhh, yes Grasshopper – cross seeding is very powerful technique indeed! It allows you to seed content that you have already downloaded from one tracker to others so that you get pure upload credit (how sweet it is!!). The key is to make sure that it is actually the same content (same uploader and file structure). After a while you will be accustomed to which of your trackers tend to get the same content and which will be cross-seedable. Here are the steps:

a) do all actions from step 6 to download the content to seedbox
b) while content is downloading, get the .torrent files from the other trackers that you want to cross seed to and upload them to TorrentSwift and go into the control panel to get them ready to go (they will each have their own tracker prefix such as ScT. to tell them apart if you followed my recommendation)
c) as soon as the download finishes, start the transfers for the other torrents
e) as you check the status you will see them checking the content and then starting the upload

8) What are the recommended transfer settings?
All I can tell you are the setting that I have used and that they seem to work OK for me. I use:

Max Upload = 8000
Max Download = 1500 (keeps me in swarm longer…)
Max Upload Conn = 20
Max Conn = 50
Completion Activity = Keep Seeding
Percentage Seeding Stop = 2500 (I have never hit this…)

And I use Bit Tornado as my client (have had issues with Transmission which I would prefer as it is smaller footprint)

9) Do I have to change the settings every time I start a transfer?
You can create a custom transfer profile by using the Profile | Transfer Profile Management option. I have not found a way for this custom profile to become the default but setting one up saves a little time.

10) What happens when I run out of bandwidth for the month?
When I hit my 150GB limit nothing happened, my torrents just kept working. When I hit 155GB total transfer I sent support a note letting them know that I would not be renewing (had just received my invoice for the next month) and asked why my torrents were still working. They said they do not shut off automatically and they leave accounts active so people can upgrade to higher plan if desired. If they see bandwidth going over allotted amount without an upgrade request they will cancel your login rights (makes it tough to ftp those files to your PC...). They also mentioned that if I return I should send them a note so I get a returning customer discount.

11) Just how fast can I expect a $10USD seedbox to be?
Very fast. I have been amazed at the speeds I have received from my seedbox. Here is a sample: http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo153/hakeem0023/seedbox03.jpg

I have seen combined torrent speeds over 8000kBps (not bad for 10USD…)

12) What if I want to do something not covered in this tutorial?
Well, you could find out how to do it and post your own tutorial!! You could also head over to IRC and ask a few questions of the many knowledgeable members there. I'm usually lurking there and would be hapy to help.

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Nice explanation for those new to seedboxes and/or torrenswift. =) This surely also deserves some reputation. ^^
I think a lot of people will profit from this or at least a bit that they don't know yet. ^^

*Greetings, Elonoir*

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Excellent post!

Thanks for that your a star mate.

Well I'm sold Hakeem.. I'm going to get one. Thanks for all your hard work!

Thank you so much! just got TorrentSwift 10 Bucks :]

thanks for the info. Will look into this more.

nice....its not only for beginer..
but dont know all the thing ;)

I'm interested in trying out the $10 option but I have 1 query. I noticed they sent you an invoice for the next months payment, is there an option to just try it out for 1 month without the hassle of emailing them to cancel my membership once it runs out for that month. Cheers.

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thx for this great post m8 :)