Should I use an Android PC as a torrent box?

[Harsky]

I originally had plans to use my relatives 2004 era PC as a torrent box to download stuff while I'm away at work but I wasn't too keen on spending money on a new HDD for it when the PSU and fan sounds way too loud. My other thought is to buy an Android media center box and install a torrent app but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with using a torrent client on an Android device?

 

[MTSoph14]

All I can say is that the uTorrent app for Android isn't that great, but it gets the job done

 

[Kalker3]

I use uTorrent on my Nexus 4 and it runs really well.
I can also use uTorrent remote to control my PC's uTorrent.

 

[Ericthegreat]

If you have the PC already free, I would use that, then you also get regular utorrent.

 

[gifi4]

I've used numerous torrent apps on my Android devices.
tTorrent
aTorrent
uTorrent

Each offer things that the others don't.
Using a PC, the torrent clients tend to have all features bundled into them, however on Android I find that you need to use a combination of different apps.
Some of them cap the speed, others don't allow more than a certain amount of active torrents (Seeding+Downloading combined). Some seem to disagree with the OS' memory system (They get taken out of the RAM if the screen is locked or the app is in background.
All these tests were run with weak as well as powerful devices.

To sum up, the PC is a much better option even if you have to obtain a new HDD.

 

[PityOnU]

I use tTorrent Pro on my phone. It was somewhere between $2-5, and has left me pleasantly surprised. It's stable and has all the features I need (comparable to uTorrent PC client).

Using an Android PC as a torrent box makes a hell of a lot of sense, just from a power draw/noise perspective. I'm not certain how such machines deal with external storage, though, so you'd probably have to look into that. Ditto with a web interface (never required/used that feature for torrenting before, but maybe you do).

In summary, your idea is great, but do some research first.

 

[Flame]

Get a new HDD, install a light weight Linux distro. and use Transmission and get peerblocks list to block bad I.P.s with the Transmission client.

 

[Harsky]

Get a new HDD, install a light weight Linux distro. and use Transmission and get peerblocks list to block bad I.P.s with the Transmission client.

I am a Linux n00b but I would be willing to learn if it means I don't have to install Windows 7 on an aging PC hardware. Then again, is there such a thing as Windows 7 lite or can I hack an ISO myself to make it lightweight?

 

[Arras]

I am a Linux n00b but I would be willing to learn if it means I don't have to install Windows 7 on an aging PC hardware. Then again, is there such a thing as Windows 7 lite or can I hack an ISO myself to make it lightweight?

I don't know TBH, but if you're just going to torrent setting up command line Linux with filesharing enabled and a web interface-based torrent downloader is probably your best bet. Something like Arch Linux + Samba + Deluge would probably work wonders, but it will require knowledge to set up.

 

[Fishaman P]

I am a Linux n00b but I would be willing to learn if it means I don't have to install Windows 7 on an aging PC hardware. Then again, is there such a thing as Windows 7 lite or can I hack an ISO myself to make it lightweight?

You can slim Windows 7 down; the question is how much. For example, do you know whether or not removing IPv6 will affect you?

As for the Android side... meh. aTorrent > uTorrent (at least the free versions), but don't compare to a slim Linux distro running Transmission.

 

[Flame]

I am a Linux n00b but I would be willing to learn if it means I don't have to install Windows 7 on an aging PC hardware. Then again, is there such a thing as Windows 7 lite or can I hack an ISO myself to make it lightweight?

you dont need to learn anything if you install something like Xbuntu... its all GUI.

 

[Solid One]

If Ubuntu is an option, you can use a torrent server. Both Transmission and Deluge (most popular torrent apps on Linux) have a torrent server counterpart. I have a HTPC with XBMCbuntu and I'm using transmission-daemon to download all my torrents. You can check download progress on any machine connected to its same network.

But if Android is your only option, I don't know if there's a torrent Android server for it. Here's one possible option, although it probably isn't android native: http://sourceforge.net/p/optware-android/wiki/Home/

 

[kiel379]

I have a android mini pc. The tronsmart mk908ii. It's a great little machine and I use it for torrent all the time. Mostly music though because with XBMC add ons streaming anything you can think of is easy as pie. Plugged into the back of a tv it's tidy, quiet, fun to mess around on and thanks to some streaming apps I never have to torrent video files coz their all on demand.

 

[Jayro]

I have found that tTorrent Pro (paid) works the best on my phone... uTorrent flat-out refuses to start torrents sometimes without any cause as to why... there's plenty of GB's free, and there are plenty of seeds. So I start the same torrent in tTorrent Pro, and BAM! Instantly starts downloading fast.

 

[Pleng]

If you have the PC already free, I would use that, then you also get regular utorrent.

I personally use my PC for torrents, as it's switched on all the time anyway, so have never tried any Android clients, however if you're basing your advice on costs it may not be entirely good advice - Android boxes are crazy cheap and draw an awful lot less power than any PC he may have spare, therefore the cost of the box would probably be offset fairly quickly by the amount he saves on electricity.