ImageShack Torrent Hack : Get Download Resuming In a Roundabout Way
A bit of background : when ImageShack added their new torrent download service (beta) a few months ago I didn’t pay it much attention. However, the wealth of available torrents was just too tempting (and my connection just too crappy to download them myself), so I I figured I’d give the ImageShack service a try, legal risks be damned (I’m not from USA anyway 
).
The Problem
After a few minutes fighting the buggy interface that kept telling me I’m not logged in (though I obviously was) I managed to get ImageShack to download a 3.5 GB torrent for me. However, it turned out the HTTP download links it generates for the downloaded files
- Can only be accessed by logged-in users.
- Don’t support download resuming.
Given my unreliable connection, downloading several gigabytes in one go is simply impossible. So I had to find a way to get download resuming working, which I’ve described below.
The Roundabout Solution
Download the files to another server (that supports download resuming), then download them to the PC using any download manager. You will need a server with shell access, a fast network connection and admins that don’t mind/notice huge and possibly illegal downloads.
Assuming you have somehow found such a wonder, the rest is easy. First, you need to get the session cookies your browser sends to ImageShack when you are logged in. Use your favorite network sniffer or the Live HTTP headers addon to get them. The cookie looks like this :
myid=11540240; myimages=3fg2e7471aef5fea5zfd982597262a5c; isUSER=someone; PHPSESSID=2348ab036488733311154564d82feabe; imgshck=aea228794abba9c9fe9ac9bab29f9138; un_cookie=1; latest=img66; countrytabs=0; __qca=1648678751-39134354-9534555; __qcb=887515614
Next, find the URL for the file you want to download. In Firefox you would right-click on a file and select “Copy Link Location”. The URL might look similar to this :
http://img125.imageshack.us/tor/browse/?id=5681&rel=Totally_Legit_Download_Isqd%2Fits_linux_I_swear.iso
Now just ssh to your server and use wget to download the file :
wget --header "Cookie: myid=11540240; myimages=3fg2e7471aef5fea5zfd982597262a5c; isUSER=someone; PHPSESSID=2348ab036488733311154564d82feabe; imgshck=aea228794abba9c9fe9ac9bab29f9138; un_cookie=1; latest=img66; countrytabs=0; __qca=1648678751-39134354-9534555; __qcb=887515614" "http://img125.imageshack.us/tor/browse/?id=5681&rel=Totally_Legit_Download_Isqd%2Fits_linux_I_swear.iso"
Finally, move the resulting file to somewhere inside the webroot and download it with FDM or whatever 
The best thing ever
You can also just Flashgot (Firefox extension) the link to Flashget (awesome free d/load manager) then even if you logout it’ll continue to download.
Resuming also works in Flashget. If for some reason the d/load stops midway or you’re unable to resume the download then just reactivate the download in imageshack ISdrive and then the download in flashget will resume perfectly.
Hmm, are you sure about that? I’ve tried a similar approach with ReGet and it din’t work; I guess I’ll have to try Flashgot now.
100% sure. downloading right now. been doing this for weeks now. also works with multiple streams. I see you’re using Linux. Flashget works with wine as well if you want to try. I’ll keep in touch. I download dvdrips mostly but yesterday downloaded a 1.8 gig file and last week a 3.3 gig file. my connection is also unstable and maxes out at about 150 KB/s.
I’m testing this now. Seems to be going okay for the time being – manually pausing and resuming worked fine.
I mainly use WinXP on my own PC, but I used the Linux server in this case because (being a webserver) it has a fast and stable connection. My home connection is still lousy.
Thanks for the tip by the way
how’s it going ws?
It’s going well, I’m using this method now. The only problem is that if I leave a download in a paused state for too long it will show a “File size has changed!” error when trying to restart it. Anyway, that’s not a major issue
That happened to me a couple times, but not often. Do you use the free IS Torrent Drive. If so, do you you know how to start a torrent quickly without getting that “shared process pool message” for hours on end?”.
I’ve got 3 accounts which i alternate with, 30gigs bandwidth a month.
If you don’t know how. In firefox you can just hold down the Ctrl key and press the start button about 20 times. Each new window will open in a new tab in the background. If the torrent doesn’t start you can just right click on the current tab. choose “close other tabs” and repeat the process until the torrent starts. Takes a few seconds to a minute max.
I mean the error appears in FlashGet, not IS.
Yeah i know, I was just letting you know how to bypass that “shared process pool message” if you use the free IS.
Re: the Flashget error. I use the Flashget Classic version 1.73 and I hardly ever get errors. I had a couple of those errors a long time ago but nothing recently and I download large files from IS almost every day. Music/Audio production DVD’s, also Movies etc. all the time.
Anyway, as I said – not a major issue, more of annoyance.
If you get that “file size already changed” error at 99%, it’s possible that the file is fully downloaded. You can try removing the jci extension and the file may be fine. if it’s an archive or iso, you can test it with winrar to check if it’s ok.
I’m aware of that.
aah, ok. I wasn’t aware you’re such a dick, lol
Come on, I’m only mildly sociopathic