| Torrent is a P2P network environment used for downloading and uploading many files. It is one of the most common protocols for transferring data.
A torrent refers to a torrent meta-data file or several files described by it and contains metadata about all the downloadable files. Meta-data files aren't kept on the torrent tracker, but are spread among a number of torrent tracker sites. Each torrent file guides to a trackers site, which centrally coordinates the P2P transfer of data among users and keeps record of all the downloaders and sharers of the corresponding file. One tracker server is able to supervise concurrent downloads of a few files. Following the link pointing to the torrent meta-data file, a user gets from the trackers server a list of peers presently transferring pieces of the files, with whom it is possible to establish a direct connection to exchange chunks of the file.
A file ready for downloading via Torrent is a seed. A person who has at their disposal the completed file and uploads or ‘seeds' it 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 network and request the same file, their PC obtains a different portion of the data from the seeder. As soon as several seeders have at their disposal multiple bits of the seed, Torrent allows everyone to become a source for that portion of the file. So, the task spreads among the seeder and many peers, which easens the load of the initial user.
After the file is downloaded by a given peer, the leacher is able to become an additional seed, helping the remaining leechers to obtain the entire file.
The nature of Torrent allows to download data very quickly. For a secure and quick download, pick the torrents with more seeders than leechers, and read comments, if there are any. It will preclude you from downloading low quality or infected data. It should be mentioned, however, that torrent trackers are less prone to viruses than PEER-TO-PEER programs.
Make sure that you 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 keep track of the amount of data "donated" and downloaded by each user, and a poor ratio can be penalized with a bad download speed. Furthermore, disconnecting right after is a violation of the idea of cooperation, which is the basic principle of Torrent. |
