BitTorrent

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The BitTorrent network

BitTorrent is one of several networks Shareaza supports but it is different because you do not connect to it like the Gnutella or the eDonkey network.

How does it work BitTorrent works through two main parts: a "torrent" and a "tracker".

Tracker A tracker is a computer that keeps track of the users on one or more torrents. When you open a torrent file in your Shareaza, it contacts the tracker. Shareaza tells the tracker which torrent it's interested in and what IP address and port it expects to be contacted on. The tracker replies with the IP addresses and port numbers of other users already sharing or downloading the file(s).

Torrent A torrent is a small text file, it contains the location of data files that can be downloaded through the BitTorrent network. Torrent files can be found on numerous Web sites. You either save the torrent link and open it with Shareaza or set Shareaza to start the download automatically.

Benefits An interconnected mesh of downloading occurs instead of one server using all of its resources to upload to everyone who wants the file. This gives the user higher speed because he is downloading at the combined bandwidth of everyone who is uploading a part of the file to him. If you give 100KB/s you will get 100 KB/s.

official website best BitTorrent FAQ

BitTorrent Error Messages

First things first, it’s normal for trackers to become unavailable or take some time to respond, this happens all the time and the best trick is just to wait. Also torrents are temporary, usually they will not work after some time.

But if you get an error message telling you that there is a problem communicating with the tracker, there's no reason to panic. Shareaza will keep on trying to connect and there are no other tricks to fix this. Usually you download many torrents without even noticing the error messages.

Sometimes though a tracker is permanently disabled, or the torrent is obsolete. Look for messages from the tracker, which may appear in the system window (shortcut: [F11]). Other times a tracker may want you to change your port. You can do this using the connection settings, then restarting Shareaza.

Other times, a tracker may want you to use a different client, which is a tracker's perogative. Keep at least another client on hand.

You may get a message from Shareaza about a "BitTorrent encoding error". This means that the torrent contained something Shareaza didn't like, or that your system may have trouble with. Usually Shareaza deals with these problems automatically, but you may notice that the torrented files have odd names when completed.

If you get a message about an encoding error, you may have trouble reseeding the torrent with Shareaza. You can try changing the advanced setting BitTorrent.TorrentIgnoreErrors to TRUE to force Shareaza to seed the torrent.

If while trying to start seeding, you get an error message about Shareaza not being able to find the files to seed, try moving the .torrent file to the parent directory of the file or files you wish to seed.

Also note that .torrent files specify what is contained by the file name, so Shareaza will often fail to seed if you rename or move your files. Recent versions of Shareaza will also check the default downloads directory, but if you move files around, there may be trouble seeding them.

If you get some other error while trying to seed, such as unable to create bittorrent share file, open the incomplete folder, and make sure there hasn't been a file mistakenly left there by Shareaza. If the file it is trying to recreate in order to reseed already exists in the incomplete folder, reseeding will fail. Try deleting from the incomplete folder any extra file to do with the torrent you wish to reseed.

How to Seed with Shareaza

First, start Shareaza, and go to the Library Window, and choose folder view.
There should be a directory called Torrents, which contains a copy of all the .torrent files you have downloaded before. There you probably will be able to find the torrent you want to seed.
Make sure the files contained in the torrent are all inside your library, or else Shareaza will try to redownload the torrent.
Double click on the .torrent file to open it and choose Seed.
Shareaza should proceed to reverify the file and seed it.
Sometimes an error message will pop up when Shareaza cannot find the file to seed. In this case, use the library to move the .torrent file from the Torrents folder to the parent directory of the file you wish to seed.

To stop seeding, go to the downloads window, and clear the reseeding torrent.

Note that for batch BitTorrent downloads, Shareaza will recreate a temporary file in the incomplete folder. This, unfortunately, means that you may want to watch out for disk-space problems, if you trying to reseed large torrents while running low on disk space.

If you have trouble seeding, look in the incomplete folder to make sure there isn't already an incomplete file for the torrent accidentally left there by the program. If there is, delete it, and try reseeding again.

Please refer to the preceding info on error messages for potential problems you may encounter while seeding.

Some helpful hints

You are trying to Start a download, but Shareaza doesn't detect it. Maybe Shareaza isn't associated with .torrent files. Go to

Tools > Shareaza Settings... > General > Web

then check the .torrent association and hit apply. If that doesn't work try: right click the torrent link and choose Save As..., save the torrent file to disk, and then double-click the file to launch Shareaza.

The download is almost finished, but then goes backwards You can safely ignore it. It means that you received a piece of the file that didn't check out as being correct, so it will be downloaded again. (Some pieces fails the built-in hash checking, but Shareaza will verify the file before it's moved to your complete files folder.).

"Unable to communicate with tracker" or "Tracker Down" You can ignore this, usually it happens when the tracker is overloaded or otherwise unstable. Trackers are usually heavily loaded with traffic, and sometimes the connections fail. Just be patient and let Shareaza work on it. (Try restarting Shareaza or pause and resume the download).

Connection refused or not authorized Indicates that the tracker administrators are not allowing it to be used for this torrent. Some trackers will only track torrents that are also posted in their forums/website, for example. Usually this indicates a stale torrent -- try going to the web site associated with the tracker and see if you can find an updated torrent.

What do "Choked" and "Uninterested" mean? Choked means that the user is already uploading to four (default) other users. Uninterested means that they/you do not currently have parts of the file you/they need.

The Download doesn't start The Torrent link might be too old and the tracker no longer supports it. Try to find a new link.

How to download selected files from torrent, but not all? You can do this only with 2.4.0.4 and later versions. Just go to download properties and set priority for unneeded files to "off". Other priorities in 2.4.0.4 r8216 are not supported yet. There is drop down menu under priorities when you click on a file there, so you can set "off" priority.

BitTorrent utilities

TorrentSpy Windows tool which allows you to query a tracker about a specific torrent, view metadata info, check a file's hashes, etc. You can also create torrent files for upload.

[1] Utility for creating or editing torrent files. Highly recommended!

[2] Modify tracker info in an existing .torrent file. If the tracker changes you don't have to recreate the file.

[3] Very good BitTorrent client, probably the most highly regarded. Also has a good torrent making utility

Official BitTorrent Specifications

BitTorrent.org The BitTorrent developers forum. Includes dev exchange, protocol extension proposals and specs.
Protocol
BitTorrent Specs
Extensions