| Torrent is a p2p file sharing protocol used for transferring large amounts of files. It is one of the most widely used protocols for distributing data.
A torrent means a torrent metadata file or several files described by it and contains meta-data about all the downloadable files. Meta-data files aren't kept on the torrent host site, but are disseminated among many torrent tracker sites. Each torrent file guides to a trackers site, which centrally manages the PEER-TO-PEER transfer of files among users and registers all the downloaders and distributors of the certain file. One tracker server is able to monitor simultaneous downloads of multiple files. Following the link pointing to the torrent meta-data file, a user receives from the tracker site a list of peers presently transferring bits of the files, with whom for bartering bits of the file.
A file downloadable via Torrent is called a seed. A person who has the entire file and uploads or seeds it back to the web is known as a Seeder. The more seeders, the better.
A leecher is an individual who downloads, or leeches, the file from the presently available seeds. As new leechers connect to the network and request the same file, their computer obtains a different piece of the data from the seeder. Once multiple peers have at their disposal several pieces of the seed, they can become a source for that portion of the file. Thus, the task gets distributed among the seeder and many peers, which relieves the load of the original user.
After the file is successfully downloaded by a given peer, the peer is able to switch roles and become an extra seed, helping the remaining peers to get the entire file.
The nature of Torrent allows to download files very quickly. For a secure and quick download, choose the torrents with more seeders than leechers, and read comments, if available. It will keep you from downloading low quality or infected data. It should be mentioned, however, that torrent sites are less prone to viruses than PEER-TO-PEER programs.
Don't forget 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 measure the quantity of data each user uploads and downloads, and a low ratio can be penalized with a bad download speed. Furthermore, disconnecting leeching a file is a breach of the idea of cooperation, which is the essential principle of Torrent. |
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