Quote:
Originally Posted by timl
Hi, I am hoping to use my Pi as a torrent client. I was originally planning to use an external USB HDD to store the torrent files. Then I got to thinking that these drives are more designed for storage/backup. Are they suitable for torrenting?
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They use the same HDDs in external HDDs as are sold as internal HDDs. Typically they are WD 'Green Power' drives, or the equivalent from seagate (and rarely others).
Apart from 'USB 1.0/1.1/2.0 are slow' there shouldnt be any more issues with torrenting to or from an external HDD than the same drive fitted internally (though if the drive was being used heavily, heat could be a issue, but with farily low I/Os like you would get torrenting, heat shouldnt be an issue either).
I wouldnt get a SSD in an external USB enclosure for your use....speed will be limited be USB 2.0 and the drive wont be any faster than a 'standard' spinning HDD. SSDs are also pretty expensive for any given size. 64GB SSDs are now affordable but you can get a 64GB USB 2.0 flash drive for less than a bare 64GB SSD. No need to pay for or play around with an external enclosure, power brick, etc..
Depending on how you intend to use torrents, you migth be better off with an external HDD (large size, huge space, cheapest) flash drive (small size, smallish space, cheapish) or even internal SD/MMC (tiny/motherboard mounted, smallish space, slightly more expensive than flash memory). It would depend on how many (if any) torrents you want to seed (how much space you will use), how many different torrents you want to d/l (how often the sapce will be overwritten with small drives) and probably other things I'm not thinking of now.
If you have any worries about data intergerity, you can always just check the torrent data with most clients.