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Moving in from another seedbox

Moving servers usually means downloading everything again and starting your torrents from zero. It does not have to. Cresdock's Migration Tool connects to your old server, copies across the files you pick, and re-adds your torrents so most of them keep seeding — no re-downloading, no typing paths, no command line.

Reading time: ~6 minutes · Applies to: all Cresdock workspaces

The short version. Install the Migration Tool from your App Store, give it a login for your old server, tick what you want, and leave it running. Your old server is only ever read — nothing there is changed or deleted, so if the move goes badly you still have a working seedbox to go back to.

What this actually does

Your old seedbox holds two different things, and they move differently.

The files — your films, shows, music, whatever you have been collecting — are just data. Copying them across is slow but simple.

The torrents are the awkward part. A torrent client keeps a private record of where each download lives on disk and how much of it is finished. Move the files without that record and the client on the new server sees nothing: it starts every torrent again from zero, and you lose your ratio and your seeding time while it does. The Migration Tool copies that record too and rewrites it to point at the new location, which is why your torrents come back seeding in minutes rather than days.

It is a temporary app, on purpose. Install it for the move, remove it when you are done. It is not something to leave running — and removing it also removes the login you gave it for your old server.

It knows the common setups without being told: Swizzin, QuickBox, and plain servers running rtorrent/ruTorrent, qBittorrent, Transmission or Deluge.

What you need before you start

You need	Why
A login for your old server	SSH/SFTP is best. FTP works. If all you have is a web page listing your files, there is a fallback — see below.
Enough free space here	The tool checks this before it asks you anything else, so you find out up front rather than halfway through.
A torrent client already installed here	Install qBittorrent (or whichever you prefer) from the App Store first. The tool loads your torrents into it, so it needs somewhere to put them.
Time	A move is limited by how fast the two servers can talk to each other. Hundreds of gigabytes can take hours. You do not have to sit and watch it.

1. Install the Migration Tool

Open App Store in your panel and install Migration Tool. Two things are deliberately different about it:

It is on every plan. Being on a smaller plan should never mean you cannot move in.
It does not use one of your app slots. You install it, use it, and remove it, so it would be unfair for it to cost you a permanent slot.

Your disk quota still applies, though — that is the one limit a migration can genuinely run into, since you are copying data in.

2. Connect to your old server

Open the tool and enter the address of your old server and a login. You can use a password or an SSH key. The port is filled in for you (22 for SSH, 21 for FTP) unless you type your own.

Where that password goes. It stays inside the Migration Tool's own app on your workspace. It never reaches the Cresdock panel, its database, or anyone else. It is never written into a log — so a connection error tells you it failed without repeating back what you typed. See Your old server and your password for the whole story.

If you are going to run more than one move, you can tick Save this server. It is only offered after a connection has actually worked, and what is stored is encrypted.

3. Let it look around

Once connected, the tool surveys the old server and works out, without asking you:

which seedbox software it runs;
which torrent clients are actually in use, rather than merely installed;
how many torrents there are and how much data they add up to;
whether your seeding can be preserved for each one.

This is the part you would otherwise be doing by hand with a terminal and a lot of guessing.

4. Choose what comes across

You get a short list of yes/no questions, each with a sensible default and a plain statement of what happens either way. You tick the files and torrents you want. You are never asked to type a path or name a client.

A move is a good moment to leave things behind. You are choosing what to carry, not copying a whole server. Anything you do not tick simply is not copied — and it stays untouched on the old server either way.

5. Let it run

Files copy first, then the torrent state. The progress screen shows what is moving and how fast.

You can close the page. The transfer keeps going, and reopening the tool takes you back to the running job rather than starting a new one.

The Migration Tool runs at a deliberately lower priority than your other apps, and at half your usual speed limit. That is so an hours-long copy in the background does not make your media server stutter while you are watching something. It also means the move is not the fastest thing your connection could do — that trade is intentional.

6. Finish up

Open your torrent client and check your torrents are there and seeding.
Check your files are where you expect, using File Browser or whichever file app you use.
Remove the Migration Tool from your dashboard. The saved login for your old server goes with it.
Only once you are happy, cancel the old server.

Do not cancel the old box the same day. Give yourself a few days of overlap. It costs one more month at most, and it is the difference between "I need to re-check something" and "it is gone".

Which clients keep seeding

Not every torrent client can hand its records over the same way, so the tool does the best available thing for each.

Client	What happens	Back to seeding
qBittorrent	Its records are rewritten to point at the new location	Minutes
Transmission	Its records are rewritten to point at the new location	Minutes
rTorrent / ruTorrent	Its session state is rewritten	Minutes
Deluge	Torrents are re-added and the data is re-checked	Longer — it has to verify every file

Deluge is slower for a reason worth knowing: it stores its records in a format that is unsafe to read from someone else's server, because reading it can run code. Rather than take that risk with your workspace, the tool re-adds those torrents against the copied files and lets the client verify them. Slower to start, and it cannot be turned against you.

The same applies if you are switching clients — say rtorrent on the old box to qBittorrent here. The records do not translate between different clients, so the data is verified rather than trusted. It still beats downloading it all again.

If all you have is a web listing

Some providers only give you a web page listing your files, with nothing else exposed. The tool can work with that, and it tells you what you lose before you commit:

Files only. Your torrent clients' records are not on that web page, so they cannot be copied. Your files come across; re-adding the torrents is left to you.
Interrupted downloads resume rather than starting over.
A page it cannot read is reported as unreadable — not shown as an empty folder. An empty folder looks like a real answer, and that is exactly how a move quietly loses files.

If you can get SSH or FTP access instead, it is worth asking your old provider for it.

Your old server and your password

You are handing over a login. Here is precisely what happens to it.

Your old server is only ever read from. Nothing there is deleted or changed. A failed move costs you time and nothing else.
The login stays in the Migration Tool's own app on your own workspace. It does not reach the Cresdock panel, its database, or any report or diagnostics we might collect.
It is never written to a log, and never passed in a way other programs on the server could read.
Removing the app removes it. That is the simplest guarantee available, and it is why the tool is meant to be temporary.
An SSH key gets more care, not less. It is written where only this app can reach it — deliberately not in the folder your file manager and web terminal can see — and it is overwritten and deleted when the job ends.
The old server's identity is remembered the first time and the tool refuses loudly if it changes later. Asking you to check a fingerprint by eye would be theatre; noticing a change is the check that actually catches something.

If your SSH key has a passphrase, the tool has to store an unlocked copy for the length of the job — there is no way around that for an unattended transfer. It exists only inside that app and only while the job runs. It is the strongest single reason to remove the tool once your move is finished.

When something goes wrong

What you see	What it usually means
It will not connect	Check the address, port and login by signing in to the old server yourself first. If your old provider blocks SSH from other servers, the web-listing route is the fallback.
It says there is not enough space	Tick fewer files, or ask your provider about more disk. The check runs before the transfer for exactly this reason.
The transfer stops partway	Reopen the tool — it returns to the running job. Files already copied are not copied again.
Downloads paused mid-move	You have hit your disk quota. The Migration Tool is treated like any other download here, so it stops rather than filling the disk. Free some space and it continues.
Torrents are re-checking	Expected for Deluge, and for any move between different clients. Let it finish.
Some torrents did not come across	Torrents whose files you did not tick have nothing to seed. Check what you selected.

Still stuck? Use Report a problem on your dashboard. It reaches whoever runs your server, with the details they need attached. If you run the server yourself, the Migration Tool keeps a history of past runs you can look back at.

Where to go next

Once your files are in and your torrents are seeding again, the rest of your workspace works the way any new one does:

The user guide — installing apps, streaming, file management, protecting your account.
The app catalogue — what else you can add now that you have moved in.
The deploy guide — if you are running the server yourself rather than renting a workspace.