BitTorrent: Step by step procedure on how to use it!

ctrl_alt_del · 16-04-2005, 06:07 PM

Bram Cohen, the creator of BitTorrent ( henceforth reffered to as BT ) has managed to make one of the most successful p2p software. It allows users to upload and download enormous amounts of data in a jiffy. Analysts at CacheLogic, an Internet-traffic analysis firm in Cambridge, England, report that BitTorrent traffic accounts for more than one-third of all data sent across the Internet. More of it here: http://www.bittorrent.com

So here is a short tutorial for all those who havent tried this excellent piece of program.

To start the ball rolling you need to get one of the BT clients. There are many like the Original BT client, BitComet, Azureus, BitTornado and many more. As I use BitComet or BC the most, I will use it in this tutorial. However the process is completely the same for any other client too!

Step 1: First we will get the BitComet client. It's free available for download at:
www.bitcomet.com
http://www.download.com/BitComet/300...ml?tag=lst-0-1
Go through the installation steps and you are almost there.

Step 2: Now we have to start downloading. But to do that first, we will need to download a small Torrent file. Such files are hosted on Torrent sites such as www.torrentspy.com and www.torrentsearch.com

Step 3: Browse through the various sections and sub-sections of the torrents directory at torrentspy. You will see that each torrent listed has a couple of bars in green, orange or red. The torrents with most green bars are the fastest ones while the red ones are...slow. Now select a torrent and click on it. It will take you to a page that has the details about the file and comments from users who have already downloaded the file. That makes sure that you dont end up downloading crap or virus. Now click on the download torrent tab.

Step 4: A small file will be downloaded. Either double click on it or it will automatically launch your BC client. A small window will allow you to give a path to where you want the file to be saved. If you dont specify oe, all the files will be saved in the folder in which BC has been installed.

Step 5: BT demands a little paitence at first. You will see that you have an upload rate and a download rate. Thats because as you are downloading parts of the file, you are also simultaneoulsy sharing those parts of the files to other people who dont have it yet. In this way, the more you share, the faster your download rates get. The downward pointing green arrow shows that you are downloading data now

Step 6: Once the arrow turns to an upward pointing orange arrow, your data is completely downloaded and now you can use the file. I would suggest you keep your torents open for some hours to let others too get the file completely.

Well this is the basic information. have any queries? head over to:
http://www.bittorrent.com/FAQ.html
or just ask here.
Enjoy!

ujjwal · 16-04-2005, 06:46 PM

Good post mate, just one thing ... BitComet, while otherwise an excellent client, is blacklisted at some trackers, so you may get blocked if you use it. BitSpirit is another very good and fast client which can be used instead.

http://www.bytelinker.com/intl/bs.htm

Linux users, try ctorrent ... its quite a good console torrent client.

ctrl_alt_del · 16-04-2005, 07:11 PM

Yes, thats true. My advice will be to use both BC and Azureus in tandem.

As for BC, I have only faced it once where the tracker rejected my client, so I guess I will keep using it till the whole BT community turns against it.

Ethan_Hunt · 16-04-2005, 09:16 PM

Good One Cody....Keep it up

Btw where's Raven's BT Tutorial....I suppose it had been posted out here before.....did it get deleted or sometin.Anyways the most 2 torrent sites that i use is
www.bi-torrent.com (Now Renamed to www.novatina.com ) ,Its supposed to be a Mirror site to the Popular Suprnova site

also www.desitorrents.com is a good site for those desi fans and last but not the least of course www.isohunt.com

I currently use the good ol Shadows Experimental client of BT.Since some newer torrents demand the Latest version of BT clients i'm willing to shift to another client now.I had also experienced a major probs with the Exeem Lite Client as its installation file that i had downloaded seemed to be corrupt or sometin,after runnin the stupid thing my whole winodws crashed and was forced to re-install

Btw here are just a few more additional clients to your collection cody:

ABC (Another BitTorrent Clien): http://pingpong-abc.sourceforge.net/
Azureus: http://azureus.sourceforge.net/
Bit Tornado: http://bittornado.com/
Shareza (Supports Multiple P2P Networks including Bt): http://www.shareaza.com/
Torrent Storm: http://www.torrentstorm.com/

Some Torrent Creators:
Torrent Aid: http://www.torrentaid.com/
Make Torrent 2: http://krypt.dyndns.org:81/torrent/maketorrent/

And Here's a Tip For Boosting Its Download Speeds:
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/b...rrentports.htm

And for the Grand Finaleeee here's a Overall Site For Defenitive Bt:
http://wiki.etree.org/index.php?page=BitTorrent

bharathbala2003 · 16-04-2005, 09:29 PM

thnx for the links @allwyn..
but id recomend only BIT COMET or BIT TORNODO or Azureus.. cos shareza is too slow for me

and BC is now gettin better

except that if the file i download says it 1.16 GB i end up downloadin more

cos right now i finished 1.5 and i still got 900 MB to go!!

i dunno y that happens still.. u n cody said sum refresh rate probs... but i dint understan a thing

ctrl_alt_del · 16-04-2005, 09:37 PM

Heh Heh...Bala and his BT woes!

Btw, I didn't know that Raven had posted a torrent tut. Damn, I should have searched before posting. Anyways, thanks for the links allwyn, especially novatina...after supernova started selling their *******ised child eXeem, I stopped going there.

Last heard, the eXeem Lite version was being blocked from accessing the eXeem network. I briefly dabbled with eXeem and downloaded a few things. But the very idea of using a client riddled with ads from Cydor made me uncomfortable.

As I said, as long as BC performs, I am happy! 45gigs of data downloaded and only once the client has been blocked. What more do I need?

valtea · 16-04-2005, 10:54 PM

is resume possible?

ctrl_alt_del · 17-04-2005, 12:06 AM

Yes, resuming is supported in BT.

demoninside · 17-04-2005, 07:16 AM

ok, good one,

No one uses Bitlord,

nd can some one tell me wht effect it will make if i ristrict upload to some lower limit.......

bharathbala2003 · 17-04-2005, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctrl_alt_del

Heh Heh...Bala and his BT woes!

wat to do m8.. bad luck!!

see i am still

over y that file says it has downloaded 1.3 gb and still got 900 mb.. but the total size is only 1.16 GB..

Ethan_Hunt · 17-04-2005, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctrl_alt_del

Btw, I didn't know that Raven had posted a torrent tut. Damn, I should have searched before posting.

ummm.....Well Actually i ran a search myself and found out that His tuts was hidden in this thread http://www.thinkdigit.com/forum/view...ht=bit+torrent .Anyways i hope Mods merge his Post with this thread and make this one an Official Bt Tuts Thread

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctrl_alt_del

Anyways, thanks for the links allwyn, especially novatina...after supernova started selling their *******ised child eXeem, I stopped going there.Last heard, the eXeem Lite version was being blocked from accessing the eXeem network. I briefly dabbled with eXeem and downloaded a few things. But the very idea of using a client riddled with ads from Cydor made me uncomfortable.

Ahhh....Come on Man why the formality....u know i just contribute a lil

Also Novatina Just Gained a bit popularity after Suprnova was ripped off

but Exeem really sucked bigtime.I had out of total curiosity downloaded that thing and it just wouldnt install at any cost and Hanged up my Sys and when restarted I was asked to enter my Win 98 cd Key (As if i had made a fresh installation)....Sheezzzz Again a Major Bummer

Quote:

Originally Posted by bharathbala2003

wat to do m8.. bad luck!! see i am still over y that file says it has downloaded 1.3 gb and still got 900 mb.. but the total size is only 1.16 GB..

Bala i guess BT will never stop Harassin u until this download fully completes and you get to know what the exact problem is.I as such have never experienced any such File Size mismatching.i Suggest you better wait and check out what the actual Size of the File is after its completely downloaded.

bharathbala2003 · 17-04-2005, 10:59 AM

well i checked on a previous file i downloaded.. the torrent said it was 21 mb and after i downloaded the folder shows only 21 mb.. but the BC showed i downloaded 35 mb!

Ethan_Hunt · 17-04-2005, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bharathbala2003

well i checked on a previous file i downloaded.. the torrent said it was 21 mb and after i downloaded the folder shows only 21 mb.. but the BC showed i downloaded 35 mb!

Did it take the full download time as the 35MB download file that it showed???

Also which version of BC are you using and are you on Win Xp SP2???

bharathbala2003 · 17-04-2005, 12:10 PM

yes it was a mpeg file and the duration of that file was the same.. but then BC showed as it has downloaded 35 mb.. but the folder has only 21 mb.. am using BC 0.56 and yes am on WIN XP SP2

ctrl_alt_del · 17-04-2005, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by demoninside

nd can some one tell me wht effect it will make if i ristrict upload to some lower limit.......

BT, like most p2p networks, thrives on sharing. The more you share, the better the netwrok performs.

BT clients give you the choice to restrict your uploads, mainly for those who hve an upload cap too. If you choose to restrict uploads, you will be considerd a leecher on the BT network and consecutively, your download rates will slow down a lot.

Also one can moniter how much a particular user is taking from you and how much is he giving to you. So in case I see that you are just leeching from me, then I can simply ban your IP for 5 mins, 24 hrs, or a week, thus effectively slowing you down.

There is another thing in the BT community that is called "1:1" ratio. That is, if you download a 35Mb file, you are supposed to upload atleast 35Mb. In this way your download to upload ratio will be 1:1. Some trackers moniter that and may ban you if they see that your downloads are great as in comparison to what you have been uploading.

Remember, seeders are the one that make BT so successful, and it pays to be one too!

Ethan_Hunt · 17-04-2005, 12:43 PM

@bala try downloading the latest V0.57 of BC from here
http://download.bitcomet.com/deve/

Or check out some help for the downloading woes at thier forum
http://www.p2pforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=10913

bharathbala2003 · 17-04-2005, 03:07 PM

ok i have downloaded it.. but haven installed.. will my downloads b resumed at the same place.. i mean am not gonna download 1.33 gb of that data again..

ctrl_alt_del · 17-04-2005, 03:10 PM

Oh its all right, you wont have to restart anything!

johny_4board · 18-04-2005, 01:54 PM

thanks a lot bro

is there any bt speed hack possible like lunatic is for flashget

johny

bharathbala2003 · 18-04-2005, 09:32 PM

well

i dunno y is it happenin to me again and again

i installed the latest version m8.. to check it i started downloadin a file of 39 mb.. i have downloaded 31 mb and it shows 25 mb to go!! :roll: i dunno wat on earth is happenin.. plz help me out..

krisjr · 19-04-2005, 12:43 PM

after going thru all tat man,isint kaza better.barring the ads and all.well i dont hav to worry abt cutting somebody off etc,cuz hell,in india we dont get speeds of rocket.aneways allwyn and cuttack bhai,wat speeds u generally get in bittorrent.it sure sounds bit complicated AFAIK

krisjr · 19-04-2005, 12:45 PM

hey johnny:wat excatly is lunatic u said...

ctrl_alt_del · 19-04-2005, 02:54 PM

lol! Kaaza could have been a hell lot better if the ads were not there. Besides, BT may sound complicated but once you start using it, it's a piece of cake. As for download speeds, I get around 30k in BT.

@johnny: I have been using BitComet and have a configuration file for it that made my speeds jump from a mere 10-12k before to 30k now. If you use BC, I can forward you that. As for other clients, if you browse through there forums, you will surely come across users who have posted their settings that allow for maximum download speeds. It's then just a matter of following them.

Ethan_Hunt · 19-04-2005, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krisjr

after going thru all tat man,isint kaza better.barring the ads and all.well i dont hav to worry abt cutting somebody off etc,cuz hell,in india we dont get speeds of rocket.aneways allwyn and cuttack bhai,wat speeds u generally get in bittorrent.it sure sounds bit complicated AFAIK

Lol Krisjr......Well i am a personal Fan of Kazaa As well but BT is Just a Look at the future of sharing technology.In Kazaa The Games had to be Zipped or Archived to be transferred but in BT no worries mate the Whole folder just needs to be converted into a Torrent and then a Uploaded on a Site for sharing....Bas As simple as that

Also BT Is Lot More Virus free compared to Kazaa i say...as whenever i try and download a a software file over kazaa i always have a fear that a Trojan is hidden in that zip or exe file but have never yet experienced any virus threats for BT downloads.I Like Kazaa for Downloading Music Videos and Single Music Files but BT Gives me one of the Best DVD-Rip Movies,Games,Softwares and Heck All-In-One Music Albums at a click

The Procedure is Quite easy once you get the hang of it,Trust Me its dam Easy once u start using it.

@bala.....For The Love of Pete (whoever that is) just try a new client for a change and get rid of the Size Mismatch Problem thingyy

ROLFMAO At the Cuttak Bhai thing.....Cody man u sure have diff Name Now.....Cuttak Bhai.....Hey Sounds Great Cody,what do you say shall we make it official

bharathbala2003 · 19-04-2005, 08:41 PM

ok m8 i think ill switch over.. really jus take a look below.. ull no how frustrating it is..

ctrl_alt_del · 19-04-2005, 10:49 PM

@Bala: Yeah man, guess you should try some other client, like say Azureus. It's really popular and I am sure you will get good speeds. It has a lot of features also and you will soon get the hang of it. I am trying to put together a tut on Azureus, to update this thread. Lets see how that turns out to be.

@Allwyn: lol! I guess I will stick with cody...I know krisjr from personal pms, so I guess he just decided to add the local flavor.

Ethan_Hunt · 20-04-2005, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctrl_alt_del

@Allwyn: lol! I guess I will stick with cody...I know krisjr from personal pms, so I guess he just decided to add the local flavor.

No Sweat Pal....Even i know him via PM and guess what he used to call me.....MI2

This guy sure knows how to provide Dashing Nicks....Ehhhh

drvarunmehta · 30-04-2005, 08:22 PM

@bala : there is always data wastage while using torrents because the same data is taken from multiple people, some of it is replicated and therefore wasted. but the case you have reported seems to be an extreme. i use azureus and while downloading 175 MB files, end up downloading atleast 40 MB extra. when my connection is fast, there is less data wastage and when it is slow, there is a lot of extra data downloaded.

could someone post a tutorial on how to configure azureus optimally