RPi 3 As Media Center And Torrent Box

[nipunkx]

Hi All,

I am planning to purchase a RPi 3. I would like to know if I can use RPi 3 to boot into Kodi by means of OpenELEC and watch movies from connected external hard disk and at the same time run a torrent application at back-end which can download torrents and save to the same external hard disk.

Basically what i am trying to achieve is an always 'ON' RPi that can be used as a torrent seed box and a media center to watch the downloaded torrent movies using Kodi.

Also if I can make it download torrents, is there any 4GB file size limit for RPi like that we have with Android smartphones?

Please give your valuable suggestions.

 

[regeHA]

Mine runs in always on Raspbian i.e. audio media server and torrent box.

Don't see why not with Kodi and torrent box... as long as you're able to install both.

 

[nipunkx]

Thanks regeHA for your reply. Have you tried downloading any files greater than 4gb and faced any issues?

 

[sam9s]

wowo I was not aware of any such limitation. I am sure that would not be a filesystem limitation rather a deliberate Android OS limitation (wonder why would they do that), I never had the need to have a file over 4GB on my android. I stream everything. Videos recorded also have never gone over 4GB I guess, as I mostly use my camcorder or DSLR to record long holiday videos. Anyway you can easily bypass it via rooting or simply use an OTG cable and plug in a pendrive with NTFS formatted and have all 4+GB files.

RPi 3 will not have any such limitation since you will be playing at all times from externally added HDD. you can also run torrents from the same RPi, that should not be a problem.

 

[nipunkx]

Thanks a lot Sam for your reply.
Do you think it will be better if I use an external hard disk connected to RPi to download torrent files Or will downloads be faster if I download the torrents to the default SD card of RPI (if i use a 128gb class 10 micro sd)

 

[regeHA]

Thanks regeHA for your reply. Have you tried downloading any files greater than 4gb and faced any issues?

Yeah, I've tried and it worked. A single file of 15 GB d/l without any issues.

 

[nipunkx]

Yeah, I've tried and it worked. A single file of 15 GB d/l without any issues.

Thanks regeHA for your valuable reply.
Where do you download your files? is it to the default SD card or to external hard disk connected to RPi? If external hard disk, have you noticed any download speed decrease when compared to the download speed that you get normally?

 

[regeHA]

Thanks a lot Sam for your reply.
Do you think it will be better if I use an external hard disk connected to RPi to download torrent files Or will downloads be faster if I download the torrents to the default SD card of RPI (if i use a 128gb class 10 micro sd)

Just get a USB 3.0 pen drive. 32 GB or 64 GB will be fine.

I use a 128 GB myself, but local prices are exhorbitant... US prices were really cheap.

Advantage is to remove and plug into system for faster transfers if needed.

 

[regeHA]

Thanks regeHA for your valuable reply.
Where do you download your files? is it to the default SD card or to external hard disk connected to RPi? If external hard disk, have you noticed any download speed decrease when compared to the download speed that you get normally?

Posted above.

No speed issues... but then I've a 100 mbps line and the Pi 2 that I have is limited to 65 mbps... so I've never used it to full capacity. Local transfers too are limited to 65 mbps, again no issue as most of the audio I stream is FLAC and there are no b/w issues with it.

The Pi 2 maxes out at 65 mbps... I've tested extensively and with tranfers to regualar HDD, SSD, pen drives, etc. Of note pen drives in PC drops the speed to roughly 35 mbps.

All devices on same network and with NAS, PC and Pi on a separate dedicated network switch.

 

[nipunkx]

Advantage is to remove and plug into system for faster transfers if needed.

Do you get normal download speed when downloading the torrents to the connected pen drive?

 

[nipunkx]

Opps! didnt see your last reply. Thanks regeHA

 

[regeHA]

Do you get normal download speed when downloading the torrents to the connected pen drive?

Yes, Pi 2 limit of 65 mbps to both USB and SD card. Never tried with HDD.

Same 65 mbps from HDD plugged into Pi for audio, video, photos, etc.

Install WinSCP on your PC to map a local drive and you can transfer at speeds of 60-65 mbps. WinSCP will also eliminate the headache of unplugging the USB and also you can transfer new movies and albums that you've ripped to any external HDD connected to the Pi or a NAS on the home network.

 

[nipunkx]

Thanks regeHA

 

[nipunkx]

Just get a USB 3.0 pen drive. 32 GB or 64 GB will be fine.
I use a 128 GB myself, but local prices are exhorbitant... US prices were really cheap.

RegeHA, Can RPi power up yur 128GB pendrive on its own? Or does the pendrive need to be powered by any external power supply?

 

[regeHA]

RegeHA, Can RPi power up yur 128GB pendrive on its own? Or does the pendrive need to be powered by any external power supply?

No external power supply. Works fine. Its directly plugged into the Pi, not using any external USB hub.

But make sure power supply to the Pi is good. I'm using a smartphone charger from Sony, 2.1A. Never had any issues.

However I'm using a 3TB HDD with FLACs that's externally powered. I'd recommend HDDs with external power supply. Pen drives should have no issues.

 

[sam9s]

Thanks a lot Sam for your reply.
Do you think it will be better if I use an external hard disk connected to RPi to download torrent files Or will downloads be faster if I download the torrents to the default SD card of RPI (if i use a 128gb class 10 micro sd)

That would not make much of a difference, downloading speed is dependent on your broadband speed, it anyhow gonna use SD card as temp download location once downloaded it will copy to your defined location. So using card or HDD will not make a difference.

 

[nipunkx]

it anyhow gonna use SD card as temp download location once downloaded it will copy to your defined location

Sam, does that mean if I am planning to download full hd files (say for example more than 20GB), i needs to have RPi's default SD card size to be 32GB? Wont a 8GB of 16GB sd card work in this case?
Also, will the write speed of the SD card affect the downloading performance?

 

[nipunkx]

But make sure power supply to the Pi is good. I'm using a smartphone charger from Sony, 2.1A. Never had any issues.

RegHA, are you using a RPI 2 or RPI 3 model? Also is the 128GB USB pendrive that you use a USB3.0 one?

 

[regeHA]

RegHA, are you using a RPI 2 or RPI 3 model? Also is the 128GB USB pendrive that you use a USB3.0 one?

Pi 2.

USB 3.0. You'll need it for transfering large files.

 

[Appys]

Dude nipunkx, buy it peacefully, I power my 1tb hdd ntfs seagate, using pi's usb, just set max usb current parameter to 1, As simple as plug and play.. if you are skilled enough in linux install volumio and then kodiv16 on debian via wheezy's repo and then transmission(torrent client) on top of it for torrents running as root..tweak your samba and enjoy.. If not just install a distro like xbian, osmc or openelec and run transmission on top.. Tweak the settings and enjoy.. .. No friggin limits..Set default downloads to hdd using that as a mountpoint.. My sd card is barebones 16gb.. But yeah the pi wont be as juicy as sam's glorious htpc builds, sq isnt that great without a dac, too many applications mean a lot of hanging and maintenance as well unlike good media players or htpc. And just to add wanting it all i.e. Music+kodi+torrenting+nas/samba on os like raspbian with external hdd mounted isnt too easy frankly as far as setup goes.. But then pi is a poor man's htpc