BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol used for distributing large amounts of data. BitTorrent is one of the most common protocols for transferring large files, and by some estimates it accounts for about 35% of all traffic on the entire Internet.
The protocol works initially when a file provider makes his file (or group of files) available to the network. This is called a seed and allows others, named peers, to connect and download the file. Each peer who downloads a part of the data makes it available to other peers to download. After the file is successfully downloaded by a peer, many continue to make the data available, becoming additional seeds. This distributed nature of BitTorrent leads to a viral spreading of a file throughout peers. As more seeds get added, the likelihood of a successful connection increases exponentially. Relative to standard Internet hosting, this provides a significant reduction in the original distributor's hardware and bandwidth resource costs. It also provides redundancy against system problems and reduces dependence on the original distributor.
In simple words, any file to be shared between multiple people need not be available on a single machine / server. Instead as more and more people share it becomes available from all the computer which connects to the file and makes it available to people looking for same file.
Now coming to to steps....
You need a torrent client to handle the torrent file. Download μtorrent using your favorite browser. Install the μtorrent software.
Next you need to download the bittorrent file for the required software, movie or song etc. These torrent files have extension “.torrent” and are shared usually in private forums or torrent groups. Some of these “.torrent” files are also available in free database. Few of the famous such services are Isohunt, The Pirate Bay and Torrentz.
Now for example, I want to download the latest release of Ubuntu OS. So it is how I go. First search for Ubuntu and see the results
Here I have already arranged sorted the “.torrent” file listing as per total number of seeders “S”. Note that higher seeder count corresponds to more people sharing the file and hence faster download speed.
Click to the desired torrent from the screenshot seen above. You can click on comments tab and read the comments of people who have already downloaded the file and them click the large “Download .torrent”.
Save the file in a folder preferably with a name like torrents_download or similar to avoid confusion.
Now open μtorrent from start menu / desktop / quick launch bar. Click “File ==> Open Torrent” and select the downloaded torrent in previous step
Select the location to save the file
Click “OK” and you start downloading.
The biggest advantage of downloading file through torrent is that its easily available, your download speed depends on popularity of file. And best of all when downloading a huge file you don't need to download in one go. Pause it, Quit the programme and continue downloading whenever you feel like.
So what are you waiting for enter the world of bittorrent file sharing.
