What is a seedbox?
A seedbox is a dedicated server at a high speed datacenter with a public IP address for the downloading and seeding of bittorrent files. Persons who have access to a seedbox can download these files to their personal computers at any time and from any place that has an internet connection.
Our seedboxes run on the Linux operating system which helps to make them fast, inexpensive and secure. However, you do not need to know anything about Linux to use them. Unlike many hosting companies that just give you a server and expect you to know how to administrate it, Seedbox Hosting seedboxes are easy to use right over the web. Just like Gmail or Hotmail, our seedboxes work right over the web, giving you full control of the power of a seedbox right from your web browser.
Who uses seedboxes and why?
More and more people are using seedboxes every day. Since seedboxes upload files at high speeds, most private bittorrent tracker sites use them as a favor to their members by ensuring high download speeds. When a file is first introduced to a network of potential downloaders, a new version of the Ubuntu ISO for instance, it is often a seedbox that provides the high-speed bandwidth for the initial swarm to grab and seed the file. However, anyone can use a seedbox. If you are a member of a site that places value on a good upload to download ratio, a seedbox will help put you on the right side of that equation.
What setup will I need to do once I get my seedbox?
Every seedboxhosting.com seedbox is set up for each customer free of charge and comes ready to go. Absolutely no setup needed.
What kind of speeds can I expect with my seedbox?
We focus on providing competitively priced servers that are able to seed at decent speeds. Sometimes our connections can provide sustained 1500 - 3000kB/s speeds. At times speeds can be higher. However in practice, most of the time people only end up using an average of 300kB/s to 1000kB/s. We are on an incredibly fast network but our seedbox speeds are limited primarily because of disk I/O. We partition out disk drives between virtual private servers and these frequently become saturated to the point that the network is much faster than the disk I/O. If you are looking for the fastest speed on the block you will probably want to set up your own dedicated server and install and maintain the server yourself. What our customers love about our product is being able to load up torrents and forget about it - knowing their ratio is taken care of.
Another reason for perceived slow speeds is that we only allow private trackers. There is forced sharing ratio on most private trackers that makes people eager to seed. It is often hard to get huge upload speeds because of the large number of seeders. People like our seedboxes however because it is so easy to seed many torrents for long periods of time at decent speeds without any risk of going over any bandwidth limits. There are no limits with Seedbox Hosting.
Why don’t you limit the number of simultaneous torrents customers can run?
Our accounts come with 250mb of memory, which works fine for about 40 - 50 connections and up to about 30 or so torrents seeding. This will not work, however, if all the torrents are all uploading at the same time. You need to limit those torrents constantly uploading or downloading to about 5 or 10. There are many, many settings available. By fine tuning your server, you can move a lot of data, but if you just open up everything without limits, your server will quickly run out of memory and start to suck. This is a powerful tool and needs a bit of skill to run well. That being said, you are smart enough and will rapidly become an expert.
Update: We now have a bigger seedbox available with double the memory and double the disk space for downloading and seeding more torrents at the same time
What version of Torrentflux are you running? And what versions of the backend bittorrent clients are available to me?
Our seedboxes come with a default installation of the latest released Torrentflux-b4rt (1.0-beta2). This includes these versions of the back end bittorrent clients: BitTornado 0.3.18 + Transmission-1.22 + BitTorrent 5.0.7
Can I connect to my server via FTP or SFTP?
By popular request all our seedboxes now come with FTP as well as SFTP and RSYNC access. You can upload and download using any of these methods.
How can I connect via SFTP?
You can use any SFTP client such as FileZilla or WinSCP.
Information on connecting with FileZilla is here: http://wiki.filezilla-project.org/Using
Information on connecting with WinSCP is here: http://winscp.net/eng/docs/faq#connecting_to_the_server
I am a Linux or Mac user and would like to use Rsync. Do you have any examples of how to do this?
rsync -avP admin@your_seebox_name.s33db0x.com: ./
That will put everything from the home directory on the seedbox to the current working directory on your local machine.
Because the home directory for the ‘admin’ user on these servers is /home/torrentflux/incoming the above command is the same thing as this:
rsync -avP admin@your_seedbox_name.s33db0x.com:/home/torrentflux/incoming ./
This is also helpful:
rsync -avP admin@your_seedbox_name.s33db0x.com:Ubuntu* ./
That will copy all files or directories starting with “/home/torrentflux/incoming/Ubuntu” down to your local computer.
To copy files from your local directory to the seedbox, just reverse it so it looks like this:
rsync -avP local_directory admin@your_seedbox_name.s33db0x.com:
Can I create new torrents on the seedbox?
Yes, you can create torrents using Torrentflux on the seedbox. However, our seedboxes are tuned for seeding rather than creating torrents. Most of our customers create torrents on their local computer and upload to the seedboxes for seeding. This is how we are able to offer great speeds at low prices.
We do offer our Big Seedbox server now which has 2 virtual cpus, twice the ram and twice the hard disk space. In perfect conditions, these have tested at about 40% faster for creating a torrent. But again, you still can’t do multiple torrents at the same time or even access the web interface while creating a torrent. If you are very serious about creating lots of torrents on a server, you might consider your own dedicated physical server.
Our main focus is allowing people to seed torrents at great speeds for a competitive price.
Is Wget installed on the seedboxes?
Yes, Wget is installed on all our seedboxes.
Will I be able to unrar files on my seedbox?
Yes, each seedbox comes with software preinstalled that will allow you to unrar your files.
I have more questions. Where can I get them answered?
There is a link to the Torrentflux manual on the home page of each seedbox. It is also here:
http://tfbmanual.munk.me.uk/ref/user.html
The Torrentflux forums are another great place for learning about Torrentflux.
http://tf-b4rt.berlios.de/forum/
If you can’t find your answer in either of those places, or you just want to talk to a friendly person, email us here:
info [at] seedboxhosting [dot] com
33 responses so far ↓
1 JAG // Oct 16, 2007 at 5:43 am
I know little about windows and nothing about lynux but would like to try a seedbox can you help ?
2 andrej // Nov 16, 2007 at 7:23 am
what are the speeds hard disk space !!! and stuff like that
3 Jeremy // Nov 16, 2007 at 2:55 pm
So… is it possible to upgrade the storage space? Is there a bandwidth limit? Is there a waiting list… Can I install apache and run a website? (Not torrent related)
4 Mujeeb Siddiqui // Nov 17, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Currently i am using jmhseedbox surfing the web
i find your address.
Please enroll my name in your waiting list for
weekly or monthly paln
Thanks & Regards
5 Kev // Dec 6, 2007 at 7:24 am
Just curious on what the stable upload speed will be?
6 admin // Dec 6, 2007 at 11:01 am
Jag: Sure we can help you out. Email us or signup on the signup page.
andrej: Speeds depend on how you tune your seedbox, how many connections you allow, stuff like that. We are on a shared 1Gb connection. We often see users getting 1500 to 3000 kbps.
Jeremy: It is not currently possible to upgrade storage space, although we hope to make this available in the future.
Mujeeb Siddiqui: You are on the waiting list.
Kev: We are on a shared 1Gb connection. We see users commonly getting 1500 - 3000kbps
7 Kev // Dec 6, 2007 at 11:30 am
As you have recently replied I would just like to ask if there is a ~30 wait still or not? on the home page it shows the wait info crossed out and I took that as there are 30 places availible still or still some availible at the least.
8 admin // Dec 6, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Kev: We have quite a few less than 30 left now. If you want one you should think about doing it in the next day or so.
9 Kev // Dec 7, 2007 at 7:01 am
I have signed up and did not recieve an email about my signup. I signed up yesturday
10 Kev // Dec 7, 2007 at 7:02 am
Since I signed up other than not recieving a email about signup I was not able to log into the account page either.
11 admin // Dec 7, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Hi Kev, you need to activate your account via the activation code that the website sends to you. If you don’t see it, it may have ended up in the spam box. We can also activate you manually, just send us an email.
12 d_bo // Dec 8, 2007 at 6:39 pm
i myself hold an account with these guys. its worth the 37 bucks a month. its best probably to only run 4-5 torrents at the same time (assuming they’ll almost always have leechers on them like mine) and set each connection and upload slot limit to 10 for each torrent. unfortunately, with the limited number of connections we can have because of the ram, often times you dont even see your max upload speeds. since not everyone in your limited connection pool can take all of your high upstream speeds.
i for one, cant wait till we can upgrade to 512mb memory, so we can run upwards of 200 connections. so we can actually put to use the speeds we have access to. hopefully that upgrade option will come very soon.
13 Deadgrateful // Dec 9, 2007 at 4:52 pm
I second the ram upgrade option.
14 sharegorg // Dec 13, 2007 at 6:56 pm
I third the ram upgrade option…the sooner the better. Thanx guys for all your hard work.
15 livndeadgrl // Dec 28, 2007 at 4:22 pm
hello, im interested in a seedbox, but my question is if there is a bandwidth limit, thats the only question i have that i have not found the answer too, since im on the waiting list id like to be fully informed for when i get the email, thanks
16 admin // Dec 30, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Nope, there is no bandwidth limit (there will never be an charge for extra bandwidth).
17 Duy // Jan 22, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Are you guys offering seedboxes for only linux operating systems or do you have options for windows also?
18 Fede // Jan 27, 2008 at 9:22 am
How much is themontly fee?
19 jamesdm // Feb 14, 2008 at 9:13 am
What is the cost per month? and how i can do the payment?
Thanks.
20 Steven // Feb 15, 2008 at 9:22 am
yes, more RAM would be very very great! I love this service because of it being private and inexpensive, but customization would put the cherry on top.
21 Shannon // Mar 6, 2008 at 5:04 pm
I was put on the waiting list last night, I was wondering how long the waiting list is currently?
Thanks
22 jon // Apr 12, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Hi there i have signed up to this site but i have a question as im new to this seedbox stuff i am currently using windows xp software and my current bit client is UTorrent 1.7.7 when or if im excepted for a seedbox what will i have to change this really is all new to me but i am a bit hacked of with the slow upload and download speeds i get of my normal 20meg broadband connection so really would like one of these boxes thanks upfront for any info you can give me
23 FlyasS // Apr 23, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I know nothing about linux, how wil the connection be like a remote desktop connection or what?
email me back i’m bying tomorrow…
24 admin // Apr 24, 2008 at 10:52 am
Hey everyone, thanks for your interest. I will answer some of these questions here quickly (before integrating them into the FAQ).
Cost? $37 per month for 50Gb disk space and 150Mb ram
Cost for bigger seedbox? $67 per month for 100Gb disk space and 300Mb ram and an extra Virtual CPU
Payments? Made using Paypal and are billed on the same day each month. You can cancel anytime (no contract).
Linux/Windows? Our seedboxes run linux but you do not need to know anything about linux to use them. These seedboxes come ready to go with an easy web based interface. If you can use Gmail, Yahoo mail or Hotmail, then you can use our seedboxes right over the web.
Home torrent client? You don’t have to change anything about your home computers client if you use uTorrent or anything else. You can continue using it the same way. We provide a choice of 3 clients running the latest versions that are not banned by private trackers. You run these on your seedbox using the web based interface to experience fast, always connected leaching and seeding.
How long is the waiting list? Waiting list is no more at the moment. We received funding and many new servers, so for the time being, you can get a seedbox right away without having to be on the waiting list any more.
25 jasonxod // Jun 1, 2008 at 5:54 pm
when are more seedboxes going to be available???
26 admin // Jun 1, 2008 at 9:14 pm
jasonxod,
We are working hard testing our latest servers now, we hope to make them available in a few days.
//Seedbox Hosting Team//
27 Ali // Jun 2, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I ve found this
“Termination. This Agreement may be terminated: (i) by you or SEEDBOXHOSTING during any Renewal Term, without cause, by giving the other party 30 days prior written notice;…..”
That means i have to pay at least 2 month. For example if i buy 1 and then decided i m not happy with it in the first day, there will be left 29 days for next renewal which is shorter than 30 days and which means i have to pay for next month as well..
I have been tramped by this from another company. So everyone must read T.O.S carefully :((
28 admin // Jun 3, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Hi Ali,
You are never forced into paying two months when you only want one. In fact our policy is to return 100% of your money if you are not satisfied for any reason.
We have updated the TOS to reflect this as well as the fact that we have month to month billing not 30 day billing. (30 day billing means you have to pay 12.17 times per year.) We let you control the billing with your Paypal account which charges on the same day each month.
Some people only want one month and subscribe and cancel right away, knowing they can use their box for the whole month. Others have been with us a long time but appreciate that they are in control of the subscription with their Paypal account.
Let us know if you have any more questions.
//Seedbox Hosting Team//
29 Ali // Jun 8, 2008 at 3:33 am
Excellent assistance. Thanks for clarification. As soon as i get rid of other service, i will start yours.
Thanks for support & service once again
30 Reuben // Jun 9, 2008 at 10:54 pm
I have read the above Info it is very good to see the fast responce, I am looking for a Company that has Seed boxes you by far are the cheapest but are the most highly rated by members of my private tracker, I was woundering if in the upcoming months will you be increasing your serer base load, and allowing for more then 100gig space, as I want to help my site with a new seedbox to them for all their great work.
31 Matt // Jun 14, 2008 at 1:54 pm
How do i access the FTP it says that there is one..
32 admin // Jun 21, 2008 at 7:36 am
Reuben: yes, we are considering this.
Matt: your user name and password are the same as the login to torrentflux. let us know if you need the welcome email resent to you as it has this information. also, you will get much faster support by emailing us at info at seedboxhosting dot com.
33 rubydragon // Jul 12, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Hi there,
I just signed up and what you offer is pretty interesting. This would be my 1st seedbox but since there is no contract, there’s no point in not getting one to see what it is and how well it works =) With that said, I found out you guys are sold out for the small seedboxes. It says that there are no days of waiting though.. So when do you expect to have one for me?
Thanks
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