Torrents: a Detailed Description |
| Date Added: August 30, 2009 06:22:27 PM |
| Author: Derek |
| Category: Computers & Internet: Software |
| Torrent is a peer-to-peer protocol used for sharing many files. It is one of the most common network environments for distribution of data of all formats. A torrent refers to a torrent metadata file or several files described by it and contains meta-data about all the downloadable files. Meta-data files are not stored on the torrent tracker site, but are disseminated among a few torrent file servers. Each torrent file leads to a trackers site, which centrally coordinates the PEER-TO-PEER transfer of data among Internet users and keeps track of all the downloaders and seeders of the corresponding file. One tracker server is able to monitor concurrent downloads of a few files. Clicking on a link pointing to the torrent meta-data file, a user receives from the host site a list of peers presently transferring pieces of the files, with whom direct connections to barter bits of the file can be established. A file available for downloading via Torrent is called a seed. A person who has the entirely downloaded file and uploads or seeds it back to the web is called a Seeder. The more seeders, the better. A leecher is someone who downloads, or leeches, the file from other people. As new leechers join the web and request the same file, their PC gets a different bit of the data from the seeder. Once several seeders have at their disposal multiple pieces of the seed, they become a source for that part of the file. Thus, the task gets distributed among the seeder and many leechers, which easens the original user. As soon as the file is downloaded by a given leecher, the peer can convert into an extra seed, helping the remaining leechers to receive the entire file. The nature of Torrent allows to spread files very quickly. For a safe and quick download, choose the torrents with more seeders than leechers, and read comments, if there are any. It will preclude you from downloading low quality or infected files. It should be mentioned, however, that torrent trackers are less prone to viruses than PEER-TO-PEER programs. It is crucial to let your torrent-downloaded file seed so that you get a ratio of at least 1.0. This ratio means that you have seeded a file in exchange for the downloaded one. Some trackers count the quantity of data "donated" and downloaded by each user, and a bad ratio can be penalized with a low download speed. Furthermore, leaving the swarm right after violates the idea of cooperation, which is the essential principle of Torrent. |
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