Troubleshoot.TorrentStuck

Stuck Torrents

Perhaps a torrent is stuck, or you want to continue the download download in another client. For a single file torrent, you can directly use the incomplete file, along with the .torrent file, a copy of which is kept in the Torrent folder (the path to this folder is shown in the settings), to continue the download in another client. For a batch (multifile) torrent, you will have to cut the incomplete file, in which Shareaza keeps concatenated the files making up the torrent. The following procedure shows how to use the BitTorrent file chopper to cut the incomplete file, to continue the download in another client.

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Sometimes torrents on Shareaza will stop, sometimes near completion (see also Troubleshoot.MoveError). What are the reasons for this?

1) The torrent has stopped because nobody has pieces you need. Sometimes this happens, unfortunately. In this case, you can leave the torrent where it is, and hope a seed appears so you can finish it.

2) The torrent will slow down as there are fewer people with the pieces you need. In this case, the torrent should finish, but slowly

3) The torrent is downloading, but the pieces are failing verification. This can happen if someone is serving bad pieces, or if the pieces are being corrupted before Shareaza receives them. Some routers may corrupt packets if they are in DMZ mode (so set your router, if you use one, to use port forwarding rather than DMZ).

4) The torrent's tracker has gone offline. Sometimes the tracker may come back online, so be patient. You can also change the tracker url (if you know of an alternate tracker serving the same torrent).

5) Shareaza is just stuck :( . If that happens for no good reason. You can continue the download using an alternative client. Shareaza keeps the incomplete file in its incomplete folder, and it keeps a copy of the .torrent file in the Torrents folder. For single file bitTorrent downloads, most clients should be able to verify the incomplete torrent download file in the incomplete folder. For batch BitTorrent downloads, Shareaza keeps the incomplete file in a pack, so you'll need to chop the incomplete file using the BitTorrent temporary file chopper.

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Process for using the file chopper on Shareaza's incomplete file.

Download and install one of the file choppers. There is one by SpookyET and one by Pilo. SpookyET's requires that you have the .NET framework installed (many computers will have this installed already).

Download Pilo's Chopper: http://www.shareaza.com/download/tools/pilos_bt_splitter_1012.rar

Quit Shareaza, and perhaps make a backup of the incomplete file and sd file. Start the chopper program and point it to the .torrent file (a copy of which shall have been saved in the Torrents directory in Shareaza's directory in Program Files or in your windows user directory). Point the chopper to the incomplete file, and select a directory to contain the extracted files.

Start another favourite torrent program and reverify that the torrent is complete and verified, or continue downloading.

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Problems

The chopper complains that it can't read the torrent file

Solution: This may come about about due to the language of the file names in the torrent. They might not be expressable on your computer's file system. To solve this, edit the torrent file (make a backup first!) using the program MakeTorrent2, renaming the files or paths using characters allowed by the computer (the names chosen are not too important). Then use the chopper with the edited torrent file.

To reseed or finish the torrent, the original .torrent file will have to be used. This can pose problems since many torrent programs (including Shareaza) cannot reseed batch torrents if the files were renamed. But the program Azureus allows the user to point the program to the renamed files on your hard drive, to continue the download or seed.

Help on using Azureus to continue a torrent.