Broken files with EU astraweb servers

I have used bintube usenet access (which i think use astraweb) for a couple of years and for the most time I get full 100 mbit speed and most downloads pass crc check without the need of repairing. Since some time before Christmas I noticed that many of my downloads had to be repaired and some even failed repairing because there were too many broken files. If I download the same files again they are complete. Sometimes I can download 20 GB without a problem and sometimes I get several broken files when downloading 10 GB. First I thought it was my eSATA bracket I have recently installed that was somehow causing interference so I removed the bracket but the problem remained. I tried installing an older version of sabnzb and also tried bintube's newsreader without any luck. Then I tried to change my network cable and ran memory tests on my computer. It didn't help. Then I changed to the US servers and the problem went away. The downside is that the download speed is much worse. Does anyone have a similar experience or know what could be the cause of this problem?

Bintube uses Highwinds servers now not astraweb's

Highwinds has a general competion problem+ DMCA problem( HBO stuff+ console games)


But it will be only fair to mention that AW has a random completion problem within appr. 180-300 day range(its hard to pinpoint it now) ~150 days out of 1200+ days are affected.


I suggest that you get yourself a blocknews account and use it as a backup( sabnzbd would download only missing articles from the backup server)

Whether you change ur main provider from Highwinds to something else is entirely up to you. But i strongly advise you to get a block account from Blocknews.

Now, assuming you use SABnzbd to download from usenet. i would have a following server's setup:

1) Bintube server (or Astarweb\Supernews) - your main source for downloads \ "enable"

2) XSusenet - a free server , 65+KB, 390 days retention , 2 connections \ "enable", "optional", "retention time"=390

3) Blocknews - your block account / "enable", "backup server"

Now if you switch to Astraweb then it would be a good idea to add their US server as a backup as well

Quote:

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Then I changed to the US servers and the problem went away

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Then you could just use US server as a backup .

Set up EU server as the main and US as a backup + add xsusenet(read above) and probably blocknews.

If you notice that block account is used too much anyways then perhaps you could try switching to another main provider and see what happens

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hypatia

Bintube uses Highwinds servers now not astraweb's

Highwinds has a general competion problem+ DMCA problem( HBO stuff+ console games)

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In over 14 months with thundernews I've never experienced incompletes due to DMCA takedowns and my downloads include many hd movies and hd tv series which includes lotsa hbo.

In fact your statement that they also have a general completion problem is so far from reality that I lol'd. I also have a 200GB blocknews account and it hasn't hit 30MB used yet.

So not sure if you're speaking from experience but I'm just trying to give the OP a balanced picture.

im speaking from experience of having HW\GN+AW accounts and from experience of lots of people here and nzbmatrix.

if you download HBO shows within a week or so after they are released then its OK but later on HW removes

usually 1-3 blocks from each file. Sometimes they can be repaired. Sometimes they cant

many console games ,mostly xbox 360, that are uploaded under their full title are taken down completely

perhaps they have fixed their general incompletes, but DMCA takedowns are still a serious issue last time i checked(which was several days ago) At least for ones who are into console games

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hypatia

Bintube uses Highwinds servers now not astraweb's

Highwinds has a general competion problem+ DMCA problem( HBO stuff+ console games)


But it will be only fair to mention that AW has a random completion problem within appr. 180-300 day range(its hard to pinpoint it now) ~150 days out of 1200+ days are affected.


I suggest that you get yourself a blocknews account and use it as a backup( sabnzbd would download only missing articles from the backup server)

Whether you change ur main provider from Highwinds to something else is entirely up to you. But i strongly advise you to get a block account from Blocknews.

Now, assuming you use SABnzbd to download from usenet. i would have a following server's setup:

1) Bintube server (or Astarweb\Supernews) - your main source for downloads \ "enable"

2) XSusenet - a free server , 65+KB, 390 days retention , 2 connections \ "enable", "optional", "retention time"=390

3) Blocknews - your block account / "enable", "backup server"

Now if you switch to Astraweb then it would be a good idea to add their US server as a backup as well

Quote:

---

Then I changed to the US servers and the problem went away

---

Then you could just use US server as a backup .

Set up EU server as the main and US as a backup + add xsusenet(read above) and probably blocknews.

If you notice that block account is used too much anyways then perhaps you could try switching to another main provider and see what happens

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Thanks for the advice. I will use the US server as a backup server and the XSusenet server as both optional and backup server. Hopefully then it will only try to use the XSusenet server when both the primary EU server and the US server fails.