LinuxQuestions.org
Visit Jeremy's Blog.
Home Forums Tutorials Articles Register
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Newbie
Reload this Page Is it safe to do torrent distros?
User Name
Password
Linux - Newbie This Linux forum is for members that are new to Linux.
Just starting out and have a question? If it is not in the man pages or the how-to's this is the place!

Notices


Reply
Page 1 of 2 1 2
  Search this Thread
Old 01-29-2012, 05:07 PM   #1
dsplayer14
Member
 
Registered: Nov 2011
Distribution: Arch Linux and Slackware 13.37
Posts: 127

Rep: Reputation: 1
Is it safe to do torrent distros?

I really want to torrent distros since my connection is slow, but, I always thought it was safer to download the distro from a server, so, is it safe or safer to torrent? Besides the speed, whats the difference between torrenting them and downloading them?
 
Old 01-29-2012, 05:10 PM   #2
klearview
Member
 
Registered: Aug 2006
Location: London
Distribution: Debian, Kubuntu
Posts: 572

Rep: Reputation: 75
Use MD5 or SHA checksums that are provided on distros' sites to ensure that ISOs you got from torrent are genuine.
 
Old 01-29-2012, 05:12 PM   #3
dsplayer14
Member
 
Registered: Nov 2011
Distribution: Arch Linux and Slackware 13.37
Posts: 127

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 1
Quote:
Originally Posted by klearview View Post
Use MD5 or SHA checksums that are provided on distros' sites to ensure that ISOs you got from torrent are genuine.
Yeah, I was also wondering how I use MD5 checksums. Is it possible to check them in Windows?
 
Old 01-29-2012, 05:18 PM   #4
klearview
Member
 
Registered: Aug 2006
Location: London
Distribution: Debian, Kubuntu
Posts: 572

Rep: Reputation: 75
Most likely but I wouldn't know. In Linux it's:
Quote:
md5sum <filename>
 
Old 01-29-2012, 05:23 PM   #5
Dman58
Member
 
Registered: Nov 2010
Location: The Danger Zone
Distribution: Slackware & everything else in a VM
Posts: 294

Rep: Reputation: 31
In my experience torrent distro downloads are just as good as a ftp download. I've downloaded several distros and even versions of Windows via torrenting. Give it a try. If anything just install a different distro if things don't work so well.
 
Old 01-29-2012, 07:33 PM   #6
thund3rstruck
Member
 
Registered: Nov 2005
Location: East Coast, USA
Distribution: Fedora 18, Slackware64 13.37, Windows 7/8
Posts: 386

Rep: Reputation: 43
Quote:
Originally Posted by dsplayer14 View Post
I really want to torrent distros since my connection is slow, but, I always thought it was safer to download the distro from a server, so, is it safe or safer to torrent? Besides the speed, whats the difference between torrenting them and downloading them?
Free and Open Source Windows MD5 Checker
MD5 Summer


While you should do your diligence, torrents are no less secure than any other distribution mechanism. I use torrents pretty much exclusively for any download larger than 1GB.
Last edited by thund3rstruck; 01-29-2012 at 07:36 PM.
 
Old 01-29-2012, 09:21 PM   #7
frankbell
LQ Guru
Contributing Member
 
Registered: Jan 2006
Location: Virginia, USA
Distribution: Slackware, Ubuntu MATE, Mageia, and whatever VMs I happen to be playing with
Posts: 19,323
Blog Entries: 28

Rep: Reputation: 6142Reputation: 6142Reputation: 6142Reputation: 6142Reputation: 6142Reputation: 6142Reputation: 6142Reputation: 6142Reputation: 6142Reputation: 6142Reputation: 6142
I've downloaded a number of distros with torrents. No problems. Sometimes it takes longer than a direct http download but time I've got.

Also, the first time I downloaded a distro seven years ago, I did it using Windows and the MD5 sum worked just fine.
Last edited by frankbell; 01-29-2012 at 09:22 PM.
 
Old 01-29-2012, 09:29 PM   #8
John VV
LQ Muse
 
Registered: Aug 2005
Location: A2 area Mi.
Posts: 17,624

Rep: Reputation: 2651Reputation: 2651Reputation: 2651Reputation: 2651Reputation: 2651Reputation: 2651Reputation: 2651Reputation: 2651Reputation: 2651Reputation: 2651Reputation: 2651
in almost all cases the torrent is as safe or SAFER
in a http or ftp on firefox if bits are dropped you have NO way to know until the check sum is ran

a good torrent client like vuse or bittorrent ( any mainstream) will check to make sure that ALL the bits ate there and in the right spot .
 
Old 01-29-2012, 10:19 PM   #9
Satyaveer Arya
Senior Member
 
Registered: May 2010
Location: Palm Island
Distribution: RHEL, CentOS, Debian, Oracle Solaris 10
Posts: 1,420

Rep: Reputation: 305Reputation: 305Reputation: 305Reputation: 305
Number of times I've downloaded distros from torrent and till now I found no problem.

So it's safe to torrent linux distros. Most of the Linux downloads are torrents. The problem with getting Linux from servers is it's a large file and if the download gets interrupted you have to start over at zero.
 
Old 01-30-2012, 01:07 AM   #10
Knightron
Senior Member
 
Registered: Jan 2011
Location: Australia
Distribution: openSUSE
Posts: 1,465
Blog Entries: 6

Rep: Reputation: 200Reputation: 200Reputation: 200
I have had success downloading from torrents, except with mandriva, but i should add that for mandriva i also had issues downloading the normal way. I have had success downloading other distros using torrents though.
 
Old 01-30-2012, 01:50 AM   #11
ukiuki
Senior Member
 
Registered: May 2010
Location: Planet Earth
Distribution: Debian
Posts: 1,030

Rep: Reputation: 385Reputation: 385Reputation: 385Reputation: 385
Normally is possible to download the torrent directly from the distro website, about the problem with download been interrupted via http and have to start over there are softwares that can manage the download for you, like GetRight just to mention one, it isnt free thou but i believe there are some free ones.

Regards
 
Old 01-30-2012, 05:02 PM   #12
jefro
Moderator
 
Registered: Mar 2008
Posts: 21,980

Rep: Reputation: 3625Reputation: 3625Reputation: 3625Reputation: 3625Reputation: 3625Reputation: 3625Reputation: 3625Reputation: 3625Reputation: 3625Reputation: 3625Reputation: 3625
The only hole that I know of is the distributed hash but in the end you need to use the disto's shal or md5 to prove not only a true download but a correct one.
 
Old 01-30-2012, 07:08 PM   #13
bradwhitfield
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Jan 2012
Distribution: Arch Linux
Posts: 24

Rep: Reputation: Disabled
If your using a router, forward the ports of your torrent program to increase the chances of a good download.
 
Old 02-03-2012, 04:18 PM   #14
TB0ne
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Jul 2003
Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Distribution: SuSE, RedHat, Slack,CentOS
Posts: 26,635

Rep: Reputation: 7965Reputation: 7965Reputation: 7965Reputation: 7965Reputation: 7965Reputation: 7965Reputation: 7965Reputation: 7965Reputation: 7965Reputation: 7965Reputation: 7965
Quote:
Originally Posted by Satyaveer Arya View Post
Number of times I've downloaded distros from torrent and till now I found no problem.
So it's safe to torrent linux distros. Most of the Linux downloads are torrents.
No, most Linux ISO's are just that...ISO's that you get from their websites. They *ARE* usually torrented, sometimes by the publishers...sometimes not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Satyaveer Arya
The problem with getting Linux from servers is it's a large file and if the download gets interrupted you have to start over at zero.
No, sorry. As with any large file, if you use a download manager and the download is interrupted, you pick back up where you left off
 
1 members found this post helpful.
Old 02-03-2012, 04:23 PM   #15
suicidaleggroll
LQ Guru
Contributing Member
 
Registered: Nov 2010
Location: Colorado
Distribution: OpenSUSE, CentOS
Posts: 5,573

Rep: Reputation: 2142Reputation: 2142Reputation: 2142Reputation: 2142Reputation: 2142Reputation: 2142Reputation: 2142Reputation: 2142Reputation: 2142Reputation: 2142Reputation: 2142
I always use torrent when I download Linux ISOs
 
  


Reply
Page 1 of 2 1 2



Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
KTorrent stalled on foo.torrent but bittorrent under XP does fine on foo.torrent. stf92 Linux - Newbie 2 12-19-2010 03:18 AM
LXer: Torrent Search - Torrent searching application for the Gnome desktop environment LXer Syndicated Linux News 0 08-18-2010 08:20 AM
safe torrent and antivirus programs driftboy Linux - General 1 09-28-2008 03:32 PM
Distros, distros, distros...slight rant.. Jamesb427 Linux - Distributions 1 05-31-2007 03:10 PM
Safe way to use two distros in one hd? mvendramini Linux - General 6 04-19-2003 03:22 PM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Newbie

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:55 PM.

Contact Us - Advertising Info - Rules - Privacy - LQ Merchandise - Donations - Contributing Member - LQ Sitemap -
Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration