Hardlink, copy or move: keeping torrents seeding
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The action decides what happens to the original file. On a seedbox the right default is hardlink: the organised copy appears in your library, the original stays where rtorrent expects it, and no extra space is used. This page explains every option so you can change it knowingly.
The actions
| Action | Torrent keeps seeding | Disk space | Use when |
|---|---|---|---|
| hardlink (default) | yes | none extra | always, on a seedbox |
| copy | yes | doubles | you want an independent file you can edit |
| symlink | yes | none | rarely — media servers prefer real files |
| keeplink | yes | none | move the file but leave a link for rtorrent |
| move | no | none | only after you have finished seeding |
| duplicate / reflink | yes | none | hardlink with a copy fallback |
Why hardlinks cost nothing
A hardlink is a second name for the same data on the same filesystem. Your whole downloads folder is one filesystem, so a file in downloads/manual and its organised name in downloads/tv share the bytes; quota counts them once. Delete either name and the other keeps working; the data goes when the last name does. Radarr and Sonarr use exactly this.
What move does
Move takes the file away from rtorrent. The torrent reports missing data and stops; re-checking it fails. Choose move only for torrents you have stopped seeding, and consider clean leftovers after move to tidy the empty folder. The Apply dialog warns before a move.
Undoing
Every run is in History. Revert removes the hardlinks or copies, or moves files back, and prunes empty folders — see Undoing a rename with History.
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Put this into practice
EvoSeedbox ships with one-click app installs and up to 10 Gbps per box.
