Working and Usage of Torrents

Hello guys, I am back with another article and today’s topic is Torrenting. But before proceeding further I am going to explain to you what is a torrent, why to use it, seeders, leechers, pears, and up to what extent it is safe.

History

Way back in the Summer of 1999, Napster was initially the first online peer-to-peer network file sharing platform. In the initial phase it started off with an audio or mp3 sharing platform but soon due to copyright infringement, in 2001, it was shut down and the company was ceased but it’s still running up as in 2008 Roxio purchased Napster brand and its logo. In 2001, another torrent client BitTorrent developed by Bram Cohen came up and 4 years later in 2005 uTorrent (most popular) came.

What is a torrent?

Torrent is a peer-to-peer file-sharing system. A torrent file consists of metadata which basically consists of all the addresses of parts of a particular file. Torrenting works on the distribution systems and not on centralization. It means that a file is not stored on a particular server or centralized server but on different systems. Whenever a user creates a torrent, it is just a link between creator and client. The creator is termed Pear. The client downloads file from the creator system and now he has two options:

• He will stop the torrent. In this case, the client is known as Leecher. Basically, he not contributing to improving the health of the torrent.
• He will continue to seed the torrent. Such a client is known as Seeder. He will download the file as well as work as a server for others. When any other user tries to download the same file using the torrent, he will get sources from both the pear and the seeder.

Is torrenting safe?

Absolutely, torrenting is completely safe until you are not doing anything illegal like spreading pirated content. Using torrents is not illegal but using them for the wrong reasons is illegal. So, if you are planning of using torrents make sure you are not downloading any illegal or pirated content. There are many companies that use torrents to distribute their software. The main benefit of using torrents is that if anyhow the centralized server fails, the downloads fail but in torrenting, the file is distributed among several machines so recovery of the file becomes easy.

Concept of magnet links

You must have heard of the term ‘Magnet link’. It’s basically a hyperlink with a hash table attached to it. This type of link, when pasted in the torrent client searches for all the domains or servers that are seeding the file. While the trackers in a torrent file try to communicate with the seeders, the magnet link makes a connection with the seeder much faster and starts downloading the file.

The main advantage of using a magnet link is that while downloading a torrent it is possible you will end up downloading loads of adware or useless software as these download links are linked with ads which trick you to download any random software first to proceed further which is absolutely nuisance. Torrents are downloaded directly. So, magnet links save your system from malware and adware.

Ways to download files from a torrent

• Using a torrent client: This is the most basic way of downloading a file from a torrent. Popular torrent clients available are uTorrent, BitTorrent, BitTorrent, Tiaxti etc. You just need to find the right torrent from trusted websites and then add that torrent to the client by tapping on it. Then after downloading it’s your choice whether you want to seed it or not. If not then just stop it as seeding will consume enough bandwidth.

• Using an online hosted torrent service: I am sure the majority of users are unaware of the fact that files from a torrent can be downloaded without the use of any software even an app! Just follow these steps:

  • Copy the magnet link of the torrent file or just download the torrent file and upload the file to the torrent hosting services.
  • One disadvantage of this method is that these services are paid and trial or free version has limitations of 1-2GB. It means the only torrents with 1-2 GB size can be downloaded using their service on a trial basis.
  • Some of the services are zbigz.com, bitport.io, put.io, etc.

This was all about torrenting and its usage. If are liking my way of writing and want future articles just subscribe to my blog (it’s free!) and leave a comment if are still confused about anything and suggest me more topics on which I can write.

Happy Reading Folks!