Introduction

I apologize this took so long to write, I got busy with other responsibilities in my life. I am no master whenever it comes to private trackers - I only started two or three months ago - but hopefully this “guide” helps you guys get started.

It’s important to note that this should be supplementary material for your research and shouldn’t be your only source of information. I am trying to point you guys in the right direction, not tell you step by step what you need to do. I will be posting a lot of different guides into this one since they can explain a lot of the technical stuff better than I can. I hope you understand.

Do I need to be on a private tracker?

Contrary to popular belief, private trackers are not for everyone. Some people are better off with other services that cater to their needs. Here are a few popular ones:

Streaming/DDL Sites with Ad blocker
- By far the easiest and cheapest solution. Most of you reading this guide are probably looking for an alternative to this but hear me out. If you are able to install ad blockers/streaming apps on all of the devices you plan on using these websites, it’s far less time consuming compared to going down the rabbit hole of private trackers.
- What ad blockers do you recommend?
- PC > uBlock Origin is hands down the best one. If your browser doesn’t support uBlock for whatever reason, find the next best ad blocker available to you.
- MOBILE > Use an ad blocking DNS profile. I recommend this one as it works for me.
- TV > Google ‘HDO Box’. I don’t know much about it, but apparently it’s an app that lets you stream movies/tv shows for free. Should be available on popular streaming devices. (Thanks u/Kyla_3049 for the suggestion)
- ALL DEVICES > Use Pi-hole to block all ads at the network level.
- NOTE: If the mega thread or freemediaheckyeah doesn’t have the media you are looking for, don’t be afraid to google it. Chances are, it’s hosted on a random website somewhere (however, I don’t recommend doing this when it comes to software/video game piracy. Stick to the reputable websites for that).
Real Debrid/Stremio/Torrentio
- Hands down the best solution for American movies/tv shows. This is the easiest way to have a “Netflix” like experience across all devices, at high quality, no ads, no malware, for a cheap price, and no server required. I tried this solution and it worked great but I ended up switching to private trackers in the end because of this major drawback.
- The Major Downside
- If you choose to go down this path, be warned that 99% of the content on there is for American audiences. You may also struggle to find old/obscure content. However, if this is not you, you should give it a try.
- How do I set this up?
- It’s very simple, just follow this guide. I used this guide a couple of months ago and it worked great for me. However, if it’s too out of date, please let me know and I’ll look for a newer one. Once you set it up, whatever device you install Stremio onto will instantly load all of the available content onto the device. That is my favorite part about this set up. :)
- WARNING for people living in piracy non-friendly countries
- If you are unable to find content you want to watch on Stremio with the setup you have now, you may be tempted to install “Stremio Add-ons”. Add-ons allow content that is not on Real Debrid to populate onto the device similar to adding another public tracker to your torrenting client. Some will directly download from a website and others will TORRENT onto the device. Please be careful if you decide to download add ons and make sure the add on doesn’t torrent (or be prepared with a VPN that is installed onto the device - still risky since you cannot “bind” Stremio to your VPN). A good way to check is to search up the add-on on Reddit to verify that it does not torrent.
Usenet
- The most expensive solution but the best for finding old content. Torrents rely on people seeding them but if no one is seeding (uploading data), you cannot download the media. With Usenet, if the media is uploaded once, everyone has access to it until it is removed. If you are interested in older media, check out the r/usenet wiki to get started. Unfortunately, Usenet is outside the scope of this post and since I have not used it, I will be unable to answer questions you may have. If you need help, try making a post onto their subreddit.
Private Trackers
- The meat and potatoes of this write up. I’d recommend giving the r/trackers wiki a good read before continuing to understand what private trackers are all about. If none of the other options work for you, you should continue reading this write up.

Prerequisites from here on out

Basic computer knowledge
Basic knowledge of computer parts
Ability to problem solve and troubleshoot
Patience
Common sense
Ability to search on Google, Reddit, and other forums
Willingness to learn new things
Comfortable with basic torrenting terminology

Private trackers are best for me. Do I need a server?

Cool, you made it to the next part. When it comes to torrenting in general, you should always try to seed your downloads even if it’s only for a short period of time. When it comes to private trackers, seeding is required. You cannot survive in a private tracker without seeding and private trackers cannot survive if all of their users are leeching. Therefore you need a system you can leave on 24/7 in order to gain “seeding time”, bonus points, and to increase your upload to download ratio (will be explained later on).

Awesome, I just got into a new private tracker. I can just download and seed the entire series of (copyrighted material) for a couple of hours on my computer and it will be fine! I will be good to go to school/work with my computer in the morning!
Uh, no. That’s not how this works. There are a multitude of problems with that. If you do that on ANY private tracker I can guarantee your account will be disabled faster than you are able to watch the first episode. Please do not do this. This is why a server is a must whenever it comes to private trackers. Seeding for as long as you can is a must. It’s also important to have a good buffer/ratio before you download the things you want. I will explain how to safely use private trackers later in the guide.

I need some kind of a server. Do I need a seedbox or a NAS?

What is a seedbox?
Seedboxes are servers you can rent out on the cloud for the sole purpose of torrenting. Some of them are able to host media servers such as Plex or Jellyfin but it’s usually not recommended. I can’t recommend any in particular since I don’t use them but r/seedboxes and google should point you in the right direction. If you are going to use a seedbox, jump to the section “What do I need to install?”.
Why should I use a seedbox?
- Fast internet speed
- Able to port forward if your home internet doesn’t support it (or don’t want to because of security reasons)
- No hardware setup required
- Reliable
- Tiny to no risk of disk failure
Downsides to using a seedbox:
- Limited storage space
- You have to pay a subscription
- You don’t own your hardware
- Terms and conditions could suddenly change
What is a NAS?
NAS stands for network-attached storage. A NAS allows you to wirelessly manage a group of hard drives to store and retrieve data. Think of it as a local Google Drive. Using either RAID or RAIDZ, you can group the disks together to work as one large “disk” or pool. The benefit to using such a system is redundancy. Redundancy keeps your NAS up even if a disk or two has failed. This allows for better uptime but does not substitute for a backup.
Why should I use a NAS?
- Convenient to host large amounts of storage locally
- Able to run several services on a single NAS (media server, machine learning stuff, etc.)
- You own your hardware
Downsides to using a NAS
- Total NAS/disk failure is possible
- Need to have at least 20 MBps of upload speed for a good experience
- Upfront cost can be more expensive
- Not idiot proof - You need to know what you are doing
- The electric bill… :( (Though this applies to any home server, not just NAS)
How do I properly backup my data?
Simplest way to back up your data is to upload your important data onto a cloud provider (or maybe two if you’re paranoid about your account being deleted). Backblaze is the best provider if you just need a backup without constant access. Look into iCloud, Google Drive, Onedrive, etc. if you need constant access to your cloud backups.
RAID Terminology:
- RAID vs RAIDZ > Same system, it just depends on the file system that’s used to store your data
- Fault Tolerance > …

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/1fixl9w/guide_the_world_of_private_trackers_with_other/

[GUIDE] The World of Private Trackers (with other streaming alternatives)