| Torrent is a peer-to-peer network environment used for transferring large files. It is one of the most common network environments for distribution of data.
A torrent means a torrent metadata file or all files described by it and contains metadata about all the downloadable files. Meta-data files aren't stored on the torrent tracker site, but are spread among many torrent host sites. Each torrent file guides to a trackers site, which centrally coordinates the PEER-TO-PEER transfer of data among users and memorizes all the downloaders and seeders of the certain file. One tracker can manage simultaneous downloads of several files. Clicking on a link pointing to the torrent meta-file, a user receives from the trackers server a list of peers currently transferring pieces of the files, with whom it is possible to establish direct connections to exchange chunks of the file.
A file available for downloading via Torrent is known as a seed. A person who possesses the fully downloaded file and uploads or ‘seeds' it is known as a Seeder. The more seeders, the better.
A leecher is a peer who downloads, or leeches, the file from the presently available seeds. As new leechers connect to the web and request the same file, their computer receives a different portion of the data from the seeder. Once several seeders have at their disposal multiple bits of the seed, they can become a source for that portion of the file. Thus, the task spreads among the seeder and many leechers, which relieves the original user.
After the file is completely downloaded by a given leecher, the leacher is able to convert into an additional seed, helping the remaining peers to obtain the full file.
The nature of Torrent allows to spread data very quickly. For a secure and quick download, pick the torrents with more seeders than leechers, and visit the comments section, if available. It will keep you from downloading low quality or infected files. It should be mentioned, however, that torrent servers are less prone to viruses than P2P programs.
It is important 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 tracker sites keep track of the amount of data each user uploads and downloads, and a bad ratio can be penalized with a low download speed. Moreover, leaving the swarm downloading a file is a violation of the idea of cooperation, which is the essential principle of Torrent. |
