BT speed-up

[McWalt]

I have got 6 large files in BT++ v.054. There are about 2 gb, 3 of them are 50% done.
Here is my problem: I am afraid I won't get finished before the sources disappear. TorrentSpy tells me there are still 20 seeders on each file (about 80 incomplete), but my D/L rate decreased to 0.x since last week.
Why that?
Here are more information:
I also use e-mule with many files and my router often crashes because of the mule. Does BT need a longer time to speed up? If so I will close the mule until BT is done.

Please help me, I need those files, some are also available on IRC and some others come up on eMule, but BT is still the first source for recent files.

[Induna]

I'd say you're downloading too many at a time. The most I ever do is two at a time, (unless they're reall small torrents, say under 100mb).

Have you tried closing some of them down? You might see an improvment with the speed of the ones still open.

And what bandwith do you have?

[McWalt]

bandwidth: max. 100 k/bs
why too many? there could be around 15 k/bs per file, if they were actually downloading.
Or does BT need bandwidth for the connections to users?
Some technical explanation pls, I will pause some D/Ls then.

[Induna]

I don't know the technical aspect of it but on the practical side, whenever I've finished a torrent and closed it down, the other one suddenly steps up a gear, even though my bandwidth ain't maxed out when I have both open. I'm on a 1meg connection. Most torrents never max out anyway. I've only ever had one go over 100kb/s. Most are usually are around 30-60kb/s for me.

[McWalt]

ah, interesting.
So my first step should be to pause the newest D/Ls (there isn't much finished anyway) and hope to complete the older ones.
What about the mule? Close it? Those D/L-sources are safe anyway.

Any next step suggestions?

[Induna]

I'd say yes. There's no harm in trying. Remember any other p2p app will use precious bandwidth.

Close the newer torrents and see if the older ones speed up. If they do then let them finish, then start up the new ones again.

[Induna]

Another thing to be aware of is who is seeding the complete torrent. OK, so torrent spy might say there's 20 seeders but you don't know what their connection speed is or what upload rate they have. They could be capping their upload rate, or downloading something else so their upload rate goes down, which is why you're getting a slow speed.

[WoGiTaLiA]

Its probably the mule, it is a complete bandwith hog. If you want to keep it running set your upload limit to 40% max, as otherwise it will not let you do anything with any speed, mule also kills kazaa, slsk and internet explorer, so try closing it, and also try limiting your number of downloads.

[phalkon30]

The faster you upload a file, the faster your download is generallly. So the pause idea sounds good.

One other thing to keep in mind, I read somewhere that the newer the torrent, the faster it will go. BT will actually give you better speeds the more people are downloading that file. So old torrents will either never finish, or take a really long time.

[Induna]

Exactly, whenever a new torrent goes up, that's the best time to get on that elevator.

OK it's a crap analogy but that's what downloading a torrent is like. Jumping on the tracker, downloading off those above you and uploading to those below you.


A torrent usually dies after a couple of weeks because most people have grabbed it and moved on. There may be a generous soul who will seed it again but that can be quite rare. There will always be a few people left 'holding the baby'. ie: an incomplete file. That's happened to me a few times in the past. I've learnt now to get the torrent as soon as it goes up.

Also, if it's a large file, like 2gig you really should concentrate on that download and leave everything else. It'll take a couple of days to get, but at least you'll get the full file. If you get stuck on 92% because you've been downloading for ages at a slow rate as you was doing other stuff, you'll get hella angry.

[McWalt]

thanx a lot for feedback.

I closed the damn mule, paused the newer D/Ls. My share-rate must be very good, because I always upload 3-6 kb/s on each of my files.
I think it might work now, although I see only a little improvement. I will keep BT running 24/7 now, cause the router won't be killed now. I hope, the files keep running...

What about the BT++ client? Is it perhaps slower than burst or experimental-BT?
I had positive (and negative) experiences with all of them, but I am not really sure which is the best or if there is a difference at all.

[Induna]

I've always stuck with the original client. It's always worked for me so there's no point in changing it. To be honest I don't think it make sa great deal of difference.

With the BT++ you get a few extra features but ultimately it still does the same job.

If I'm downloading a torrent, only one torrent my upload max's out at 30kb/s. If I download two then my upload is split into 15kb/s for each one.

[phalkon30]

I use shareaza for BT, it worked good enough for me

[Tremaine]

its usally better to download one file at a time, if you download more than one your bandwidth is shared between all of them and what ever other programs you a re running. It generally runs faster with only bittorrent open. I usally download 4 at the most, but usally 2 downloads and then run them half an hour after the download finishes.

[hackiavelli]

Originally posted by Induna
Exactly, whenever a new torrent goes up, that's the best time to get on that elevator.

Actually the best time to get a torrent is when the ratio of seeders to leechers is 1:3 (assuming there's more than 5 seeders). Jumping on a torrent early when there are very few seeds (or only one) just tends to slow down distribution. Everyone is fighting for the same bytes. Next time you're on a slow torrent quit for a few hours and join back in. Your download speed will spike way up until you've caught up with everyone else. BT doesn't seem to function well with limited resources.