Bit Torrent Q&A, troubleshooting and support

[TheWebbuilder]

To save some grief, and make things easier on the rest of us Bit Torrent newbies.

Since I was a major force in the off-topic-ness of the Downloads thread, I felt that I should be the one to make this.

Have at it.
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[Midnight]

You could probably start with a tutorial...I suppose.
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[TheWebbuilder]

I guess I could, but from what I gather, each downloader is slightly unique with its method of operation. But, I suppose that I can start with the basic Bit Torrent download and others can add instructions for their downloaders. (Besides, I'm sure that my understanding of the BT concept is flawed in places, but I'll try.)

O.K., to download torrents, you need a Bit Torrent downloader. The basic one is available from www.bittorrent.com (who'd have thunk it? ). Once you have Bit Torrent installed, just hop over to the site with the torrent you want, and click on the download link. A file download box will appear asking you where you want to save the torrent script, make sure you know where you're putting the script.

Once the script downloads, open your downloader, click on file, and click on 'Open Torrent File', a new box will pop up and ask where the torrent file is. Navigate to the file, select it, click open, and Bit Torrent will start up and begin downloading. (I'm told that some versions of Bit Torrent won't require you to manually open the script, but mine has never done that)

Now, you wait until Bit Torrent finishes downloading. The best part is that you can stop the download, disconnect from the Internet and then resume downloading from where you left off when you reconnect without losing any of your progress.

Also, you'll see the file you're downloading on your hard drive almost as soon as the download starts, but you won't be able to actually use it until the download finishes, so don't bother trying.

Now, what's 'seeding' and why is it so important? Seeding is vital, because that's how you downloaded the file. When you have a download listed on Bit Torrent, you are essentially sharing the file with anyone that has Bit Torrent. As you download Bit Torrent will copy and upload pieces of the file you have to other people who are downloading the file with Bit Torrent (this is a real bandwidth saver), and this is known as 'seeding'. When you 'seed' a file, you are letting Bit Torrent continue to run after your download finishes so that it can share the with other downloaders. Of course, the more people downloading and seeding on the Internet, the faster you'll be able to download your copy of the file; on the downside, if no one is downloading or seeding the file, you won't get anywhere with your download.

End rambling tutorial. I hope that it made sense.

Any who can add instructions for any other downloader, feel free to do so. I'll be trying out ABC here in a day or two, and I'll get a how-to for that up then.
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[Ryouko]

Kicking to the right forum.
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"Cats are interesting. They're kind of like girls. When they come talk to you, it's great. When you go talk to them, it doesn't go so well." - Miyamoto

[Ryouko]

Kicking to the right forum.
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"Cats are interesting. They're kind of like girls. When they come talk to you, it's great. When you go talk to them, it doesn't go so well." - Miyamoto

[Midnight]

So that explains the fleeting post...damn you making me think I was losing my mind.

I'm tempted to try ABC myself, but I think I'll wait until you come back with more details.
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Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

The Kingdom of Loathing: An Adventurer is You! // I ♣ Seals

Avatar by Spork. I very much appreciate it! <3

[TheWebbuilder]

Even when I try to fix a screw up, I screw up. -Bangs head against wall-

I figured that if I put it in 'General Chit-chat', no one would see it when they came to fuss about BT. Then there would be the usual 'There's a thread on this over here', so I was trying to make things easier for all.

Sorry. >_< My apologies.

I'll get to ABC tomorrow since I have the day off from work. That is, if finals don't upset that...
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[SR]

[TheWebbuilder]

O.K., if you're look for a magic bullet in the Bit Torrent world- ABC ain't it.

About the only advantage ABC has over the basic downloader, that I see, is that it allows you more control over the torrent, what you upload and such. I didn't have any increase in download speed; I just wound up with my usual 50 MB in six hours (remember, I'm on dial-up here). But, like I said, it gives you greater control over the torrent, so go for it.

To start torrenting, follow the same steps for the basic downloader, go to the website and save off the torrent file someplace on your hard drive. Then open ABC click 'File', 'Add Torrent', and navigate to the log and open it. Strangely enough, my copy of ABC remembered the log (unlike Bit Tornado -shudder-) and started it up automatically when I closed and reopened it.

Now, a question for all of you BT experts out there. I was downloading Ep. 31, and when the file finished downloading it kicked over and started downloading a second copy of Ep. 31 instead of seeding the file like it was supposed to. What's up with that?
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[SR]

[Josh]

Mine is going slow it said right now that it would take two days should I delete the other torrents.
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[TheWebbuilder]

I assume that you're running on Dial-up?

The most I've ever gotten on Dial-up is a whopping six kbps so its not just you. I haven't noticed any real increase in download speed when I've got multiple torrents running or just one downloading it seems to stay fairly even (however, having multiple torrent can kill your browsing speed >_< ). But I assume that pausing (the button looks just like the pause button on a VCR, just make sure that you're pausing one and not all) the other torrents would speed it up somewhat.

And if you're torrenting one of the HQ eps from the Stream thread, then yes. It will take two days (48 hours) to download on Dial-up; at least, that's what it took me to download 29, 30 and 31. The easiest way to do it is to just let BitTorrent run nightly until you have whaterver it is that you're downloading.

But that's just my observation. It looks like SR can tell you more about it than I can, so you should wait for her input before you do anything.

EDIT: Misspelled 'SR', is that bad or what?
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[SR]

[Josh]

Nope, not dial-up.
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[Josh]

Its wire-less.
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[RikkusRukkus]

[Josh]

The source is a charter internet box.
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[RikkusRukkus]

What are your results here?. Also, how many seeds are there? How many leechers? You've got to give more information.
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[Poochy.EXE]

[SR]

[Flame Buster]

whenever I click on a torrent link, it says file could not be found, wassup with that?
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