 ArchivisYour DaddyPremium
join:2001-11-26
Earth
kudos:17
 ·Verizon FiOS
| Bit Torrent FAQ Well, since no one has done it, I figured I would. Maybe oWn3d can setup a Bit Torrent category so I can submit some FAQ entries so its up there for good. I've seen a lot of BT questions. Many of them can be answered by the FAQ, but since there is none, people are forced to ask the same question over and over, so here goes.
WHAT IS BIT TORRENT?
Bit Torrent is an open-source file-sharing application like no other. It integrates itself into your browser and associates itself with files ending in ".torrent". The program was written by Bram Cohen and carries an MIT license.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
The BT software makes it very simplistic for people to use. All you need to do is find a site, that contains the .torrent. Web sites that have this .torrent seed file contain a tracker. The tracker then tracks who all is downloading that file and who all is uploading that file for easy distribution-management amongst other people. It will automatically find new sources to grab parts of the file while downloading. You can literally just set it and forget it.
WHERE CAN I DOWNLOAD BIT TORRENT?
The Original BT Client
Many clients still require you to install this even if you use an alternative client. Check with the client's documentation first if you're not sure.
WHAT ARE SOME ALTERNATIVE BT CLIENTS?
Torrentspy
Burst
BT++
Carrafix(OSX)
Bit Torrent Experimental Client
All of these work in conjunction with the original client. You'll still need to install the original client in order for the other ones to work.
WHERE CAN I FIND SOME BT FILES?
As you've probably guessed by now, there's no search feature within the Bit Torrent client to look for files. You'll need to download a .torrent file from a website that's archiving some Bit Torrent files. Issues with available web-site bandwidth, along with threats from the MPAA, have it made difficult for a BT site to stay alive. You'll have to check to see what site people are currently using. I won't be posting up any links because they'll probably not be up long enough to do anyone any good. Just ask which sites people are currently using to download files.
WHAT IS BT DOING WHEN I DOWNLOAD A FILE?
When you begin downloading a file with BT, it will allocate a part of your hard drive for the file. This means that if you went to see the file's size after it was done allocating, it would be the same size (in bytes) as the file you're downloading. It then hashes the file. Hashing the file, fills the file up with bad data. When you download a file with BT, it downloads the file in pieces. These pieces are distributed in various parts of the file, because you never download from start to end. If you were to pause the download, and then resume, then it would have to check for all the hashes in the file so it would know which data was good (already downloaded) and which was bad (needs to be downloaded). This is why your hard drive will go crazy each time you download a file.
HOW DO I UNINSTALL BIT TORRENT?
*For Windows Users:
Go to Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel. There should exist an entry for BitTorrent. If it's not there, suspect an incorrect install. You can always reinstall the latest version and then uninstall it.
If you know what you are doing, you can manually remove BitTorrent by deleting the directory C:\Program Files\BitTorrent\ (substituting the actual location of your Program Files dir) and removing the following registry keys:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.torrent
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Content Type\application/x-bittorrent
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\bittorrent
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\BitTorrent
*For Mac OS X
Simply drag the application to the trash. If you also wish to delete the preferences, trash the file ~/Library/Preferences/BitTorrent.plist as well.
PROBLEMS IN BT
My download is so slow. What can I do to speed it up?
There are a few things that can cause a slow download. Some computers have problems when you max out your upload. If you notice that your upload is maxed out, and your download is equal or less than your upload, try throttling your upload speed to 75% of your rated upload speed. You'll need one of the alternative clients to throttle your speeds. Also, if you're not uploading anything, then Bit Torrent will automatically throttle your download speed. This is to help prevent the leecher problem. It promotes sharing by allowing the potential for better download speeds for those who share. It's recommended to leave Bit Torrent running for a few hours after you're done downloading a file.
How come nobody can download from me?
Check your firewall and make sure that you're not blocking the specified ports for Bit Torrent. If you're using a NAT firewall, make sure that you enable port forwarding. Some of the older BT clients are only set to use ports 6881-6889. Version 3.2+ is set to use ports 6881-6999. As a regular user, you really only need to enable as many ports as you're going to have as downloads. Many people are fine with using 6881-6889.
RESOURCES FOR OTHER BT QUESTIONS
»www.dessent.net/btfaq/ is a wonderful site regarding technical problems with your BT client. If you can't get your question answered in this FAQ, then check this site out. If you still can't get it answered, then feel free to ask in the forums.
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The Internet Hitman | TIHM chat
[text was edited by author 2003-05-20 09:36:20] |
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| Great work there Arch.  |
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| reply to Archivis
Thank you!  |
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 MikeStammerNo prison can hold mePremium
join:2002-12-26
Aurora, IL | reply to Archivis
said by Archivis:
All of these work in conjunction with the original client. You'll still need to install the original client in order for the other ones to work.
I don't think you need anything else if you use Burst!. It is a complete package. From what I saw on my 2 machines, you don't need anything else.
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Mike Stammer |
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ArchivisYour DaddyPremium
join:2001-11-26
Earth
kudos:17 | I reworded the FAQ. |
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 Stec$Coke AddictPremium
join:2002-05-23
Welland, ON | reply to Archivis
Looks great thanks! But you did forget to add Shareaza to your list of clients. |
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ArchivisYour DaddyPremium
join:2001-11-26
Earth
kudos:17 Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| Shareaza is not a bit torrent client. It is its own client that connects to several file-sharing networks. While it can use .torrent files, I didn't find it all that relevant in this FAQ.
Perhaps someone should write up a shareaza FAQ. If no one does, maybe I'll do it myself when I get bored.
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The Internet Hitman | TIHM chat |
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 dpm1124Premium
join:2001-02-06
Bartlett, IL | reply to Archivis
Very nice work. Thank you for doing the legwork on it. |
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 removedPremium,VIP
join:2002-02-08
Houston, TX
kudos:36 | reply to Archivis
It would be nice if we had some suggestions to the Filesharing FAQ - »File Sharing FAQ |
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approval from:
ellipsis 
| reply to Archivis
A couple of corrections:
You don't need to install the "official" client unless you intend to use it. In other words the "Experimental" client, BT++, and burst! are all based on the official client but they are standalone packages, you only have to install one thing.
Torrentspy is not a bittorrent client, it's a utility useful for checking the status of a torrent but it just launches whatever BitTorrent client you have installed on your system.
Carrafix is not a bittorrent client, and has nothing to do with BitTorrent, but it is useful in the context of BT. It does traffic shaping on Mac OS 10.2, which is useful because native OS X clients lag behind the latest release by a few versions.
Your terminology is a bit flawed. A .torrent file is NOT a seed at all, these are two separate things. The .torrent contains metadata about the file only. A seed is an end-user with a complete copy of the file that connects to the swarm.
This statement : "Also, if you're not uploading anything, then Bit Torrent will automatically throttle your download speed. This is to help prevent the leecher problem" is totally false, or at the very least extremely misleading. If the swarm is overseeded, your upload setting will have little effect on the download rate. Only when a swarm has few seeds (and thus the tit-for-tat between peers represents the majority of traffic) does the upload rate effect download rate, and it's not a direct, linear relationship. The clients tend to pick peers to share with that are reciprocating, so if your upload rate is low you will tend to receive slower, but there is no such "automatic throttling of the download speed."
Brian
BitTorrent FAQ webmaster, »www.dessent.net/btfaq/ |
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Stec$Coke AddictPremium
join:2002-05-23
Welland, ON | WoW that is an impressive faq you got there! Thanks for your input Brian. |
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| reply to Archivis
This sharing stuff is easy to use but it's one complicated piece of software. A newbie like me would not know what to do other then click and download files. My files sometime stopped in the middle of a download, what the hell? Very, very frustrating...
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 nfxThe WirePremium
join:2001-05-21
Vancouver, BC
kudos:1 | said by superht1:
My files sometime stopped in the middle of a download, what the hell? Very, very frustrating...
probably because whoever was uploading the file to you went offline or closed their download window.
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====jöîñ tËåm ÐöVË®¥==== // d i g i t a l l y · i m p o r t e d \\ |
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ArchivisYour DaddyPremium
join:2001-11-26
Earth
kudos:17 | Or the tracker went offline or was having problems. |
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| reply to Archivis
how can you preview the movie that your downloading? |
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 satasi2nd Little AngelPremium,MVM
join:2001-07-04
San Antonio, TX | reply to Archivis
Great FAQ Arch, by the way did you get that file to work? SATASI |
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nulllolPremium
join:2002-04-12
Brooklyn, NY | reply to Archivis
amazing! |
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nfxThe WirePremium
join:2001-05-21
Vancouver, BC
kudos:1 | reply to blazeright
said by blazeright:
how can you preview the movie that your downloading?
i don't believe you can. Not even if you have 50% of the file already and you try to view the avi - won't work, i've tried it.
Most respectable BT sites like suprnova.org will make sure the torrent is what they say it is before they release it on their site, so no worries about getting a "dud" (something common on kazaa as well as other p2p networks).
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====jöîñ tËåm ÐöVË®¥==== // d i g i t a l l y · i m p o r t e d \\ |
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ArchivisYour DaddyPremium
join:2001-11-26
Earth
kudos:17 Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| reply to Archivis
satasi, yes I did, thanks for sending that missing rar file.
as for the question for previewing, the answer is no
The reason for this, is because the file is not downloaded from start to finish. It's downloaded in chunks here and there. The hashes are overwritten with valid file information, so to answer your question, no you can't preview the file.
Tomorrow, I'm going to redo the FAQ to update with all the correct information and submit it to the filesharing FAQ list. (thanks for help mr anonymous)
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The Internet Hitman | TIHM chat |
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removedPremium,VIP
join:2002-02-08
Houston, TX
kudos:36 | Just let me know when you've got it queued. I'll approve it as soon as I get home. |
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