BitTorrent

How BitTorrent Works

Before we jump into using BitTorrent, it is important to have a basic understanding of how it works. BitTorrent is a peer to peer network where individuals share files between themselves. The file they are sharing is not stored on a website somewhere, it is on their computer and being downloaded by other people who do not have the file. To provide a quick example; when you download a file from the internet, you are basically asking a webpage to give you an entire file. This is something we do every day, and it tends to work perfectly. You click on a file to download, whatever it may be, and then a few minutes later, it is on your computer. But if that file goes away, for whatever reason, no one is able to get it since it was only located in that one place. Lots of people have the file, but they aren’t sharing it with anyone else. That is where BitTorrent comes in.

The BitTorrent system works by taking a file and breaking it up into a bunch of different parts. When you request the file, your computer will go to all the other people who are both downloading and sharing the file and go and get the parts that you don’t have. Much like trading baseball cards with your friends as a kid, you would go to all your friends and find out what cards they had you needed and vice versa. Then the computer ‘trades’ the parts you don’t have for parts you do have. Eventually after the computer has finished ‘trading’ you will end up with the complete file. I recommend watching the video on your right which can put my analogy into motion.

BitTorrent: Pros & Cons

So now that you understand how BitTorrent works, it’s time you understand the Pros and Cons so you can efficiently use this technology to download your files.

+ Cost: BitTorrent is free to use, as are all of the major sites that Torrent files are hosted on.

+ Selection: BitTorrent has been around for over 10 years and is still the leading way to share and download files. Most files are available instantly after they have been released to the public, if not sooner.

= Speed: Due to the distributed nature of the network, your download speeds can fluctuate greatly. The number of people actively sharing the file can also affect your download speed. On one end, you could max out your internet connection while downloading a file, and on the other end, you could wait days to finish the last few megabytes of a file.

= Insecurity: People caught downloading copy-written material have sometimes been fined. But there are ways around this.

- Seeding: What makes BitTorrent great is also what makes it terrible. It is assumed that after you download your file, no matter the size, you will then return the favor by Seeding that same file. Meaning, if you downloaded a movie that was 700mb, it is assumed that you will then allow other people trying to get the file to get at least 700mb worth of that file from you, if not a lot more. If you are seeding lots of files, this will affect your download speed, along with anything else you are trying to do on the internet.

- File Sizes: Hot on the heels of having to seed files, people are much less likely to seed larger files because it tends to take substantially longer to upload than it does to download. Downloading a 20GB file isn’t a huge deal, but having to upload 20GB or more? When more people are downloading than seeding, you have what is called ‘Leeching.’ People will download the file and not upload it when they are done. So instead of having lots of people sharing the file, you have a few people trying to meet the demand they can’t meet. Ultimately, when no one has a complete version of the file to Seed, no one will be able to complete their download.

Conclusion: BitTorrent has paved the road file sharing for a decade, but I’m afraid to say that it has reached it’s prime. This is not to say that it isn’t a good, free, method of getting files. But in comparison to Unison, it’s a dying breed. Files are becoming larger and larger in size, but broadband upload speeds across the US have stayed the same. This results in a losing combination for BitTorrent in the long run. For now though, BitTorrent is excellently suited for downloading TV shows and lower resolution movies. And in the end, this is not a “one or the other” debate, you should use both BitTorrent and Usenet to compliment one another. More often than not, I’ve found that odd files I’m looking for are only available on one protocol or the other!

Setting Up BitTorrent

In order to start using BitTorrent we will first need to download a BitTorrent client and then find a torrent file so the program can start to download it. After you have completed this section, you will be able to download any BitTorrent file!

1. Download Transmission

2. Double-click ‘Transmission-X.XX.dmg’ file (where X.XX is the most recent version number).

3. Drag the ‘Transmission’ application to your Applications folder.

4. Open ‘Transmission’ application by double-clicking on it (in your Applications folder).

5. Upon opening it for the first time you will be warned about file sharing, and then asked if you want to donate. Click through all of these pop-ups. Then you should be presented with the window you see below, congrats, you are basically done with setting up BitTorrent!

 

At this point, you are ready to download files, but it is wise to change a few of the settings first. I am only making recommendations as to what you should change. Once you are familiar with the other settings please feel free to change them at will!

6. Select ‘Transmission > Preferences’ and a window containing lots of options will pop up. Then select the “Transfers” icon at the top of the window, you will be presented with the following options:

7. We are going to want to change a few of these options so that our completed and incomplete downloads are in an organized place. Additionally, we are going to set up a folder that Transmission will ‘watch’ for any incoming torrent files.

Default Location: This is where you want the completed files to go. This could be on your normal hard drive or on an external disk, either way we want to set this location. My suggestion is to create a folder called “BitTorrent” wherever you want your files to go. And then in that folder create two more folders called “Complete” and “Incomplete.” For the default location, be sure to select the “Complete” folder.

Keep incomplete files in: Check this option. Then, select the “Incomplete” folder that we created in the above paragraph.

Display a window when opening a torrent file: Uncheck this option. The normal behavior of the application is to ask you if you want to open and add a new file to the list, every single time. Unchecking this will prevent that and make using Transmission a lot easier.

Display a window when opening a magnet link: Same as above, but with Magnet links.

Auto add: Check this option. Since you download torrent files from the internet, I would recommend as setting this to wherever your default browser downloads its files. For most of us this would be the “Downloads” folder, that is located in your Home folder.

8. The next thing that we want to do is make sure that we give back to the BitTorrent community, but not too much! Staying on the “Transfers” tab in the Preferences, click the ‘Management’ button, next to ‘Adding’ and you will be presented with the following options:

9. We are going to want to change a few of these options so that we limit the amount of seeding we do so that our connection is always quick.

Stop seeding at ratio: Check this option. The minimum you should seed is 2.0 in my opinion. If you are feeling more generous, feel free to up the ratio.

Stop seeding when inactive for: Check this option. Input ’9999′. This works out to be a little less than a week. This way, if no one has tried to get the file for over a week, you can consider it dead… automatically.

10. Close the Preferences window. You are now done with the basic settings.

11. Opening a BitTorrent file (.torrent) is as easy as selecting “Open Torrent File…” from the File menu and navigating to it on your computer. Alternately, if you downloaded it from the internet to your ‘Watched Folder’ it should automatically add itself. If you have correctly checked/unchecked the boxes that we discussed above, you should not be prompted with any windows and see that your file(s) has been added to your download Queue. Once it is done downloading it will seed a ratio of 2:1 and then stop. That is all it takes to download a BitTorrent file!

Obtaining BitTorrent Files

There are hundreds if not thousands of sites that exclusively host and distribute Torrent files. I have listed a few of the largest and most reliable sites below. While these are reputable sites, they sometimes have advertising which tries to trick you to click on their links instead of the correct download buttons. Always be smart about downloading torrents, and if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. I would recommend trying to download a TV episode of a show you know has recently aired for the best results.

Speckly: This website is a simple and sleek site that searches the top 10 Torrent Sites.

The Pirate Bay: One of the largest BitTorrent sites. If it’s anywhere, it’s here.

ISO Hunt: Another massive BitTorrent site.