[nagromme]

I'm downloading the Community Map Pack for UT 2004, and BitTorrent may be a dog-slow way to do it, but happily it's able to resume after my modem disconnects. Handy for 200 MB on dialup! For that, I'll accept slow.

But I'm new to BitTorrent, and it has no documentation to speak of, just a very brief FAQ online. My question:

Which of the three file sizes shown is the correct one to judge how far I've gotten during the day?

* On the left side in the Torrents window it says 22 MB of 194.

* On the right side of the Torrents window it says 44 MB downloaded.

* The actual Finder file size is 56 MB.

If I've only got 44 MB by now, BitTorrent is slower than normal downloading. If I've only got 22, then it's REALLY slow. These three sizes have all been increasing during the day, but have stayed at about the same proportion--never agreeing.

Which number is the real progress, and why are they different?

TIA

[dtriska]

What BitTorrent client are you using?

[arekkusu]

curl can resume, will download at full speed, and ships with the OS.

[nagromme]

I'm using the official client--due to the trust factor. An app that uploads from my machine took me some time to accept

Thanks for the curl tip, too. I'm not a command-line fan, but a free solution is a free solution! I'll keep it in mind as something to research for the next big d/l. BitTorrent gives me about 3k/s down. vs. 4 or 5 normally. (But it sends 4+ up.)

(Most downloads can be resumed by Safari or Explorer--but none of the mirrors for this UT file would allow that. A lot of these game-file services take you to an ad page first, and a direct link to the file gives a "not found"--so curl wouldn't help. BUT there happens to be an official BitTorrent download for this file.)

[Thain Esh Kelch]

Just a quick note, would'nt it be more cheap for you just to order the InsideMacGames DVD with the UT04 demo on it? I mean, since you are on dial-up.. Then you get a DVD load of other demo's with it too several times a year..

I dont know if you can order a single DVD though..

IMG DVD subscription

[nagromme]

No, because BitTorrent is free (And I already have both the demo and the retail UT2004. This is a new free pack of maps and add-ons just released by Atari. More to come from them on Thursday as well.)

[Turias]

Your client is probably doing the following:

As it downloads the file(s), it allocated more space on your drive as it was needed. So, even though the file size is 56MB, you only have 22MB of "real" data. Then, as you approach 56MB of real data, the client will allocate more disk space before it is actually written. BitTorrent downloads files in specificly marked "sections", so it probably allocates X sections at a time as it goes.

My client allocates the entire thing at once, so the file size would be 200MB for me even if I had only been downloading for a few seconds.


As far as your speed is concerned, it might help to lower the max upload speed. You might not be able to do it in that client, so I would download Azureus. It's open source and contains no spyware and is incredible at customizing and handling your bittorrent downloads. Go grab it, give it a try, and try limiting your upload speed to 2k/s.

[nagromme]

I'll try that--the official client CAN limit upload rates (and number of uploads) if you click the pill to expose the hidden toolbar. I didn't set a limit because I got the impression that the more you send up, the more comes back down--but I'll give it a shot. Thanks.

Meanwhile, does anyone else use the official client and know what the difference is between the MB size in the left column vs. the right column in the Torrents window?

The left now shows about 100 MB, the right shows 135 MB. (And the file size is 165 MB--but I understand why that is inflated.) Do I really have 100 so far, or 135?

[Turias]

Oh, I see now. I think the right column is total data downloaded. But, due to seeds going down, hash checks failing and what-not, the amount of correct data downloaded is less, as shown in the left column.

[nagromme]

I see. That will be confirmed when the download won't stop until the smaller number hits the target! I'm amazed how much loss there is, then--it makes BitTorrent take 50% longer (without limiting uploads) to download a file than I normally expect). But if no other option can resume some of these official download offerings, then count me in!