Geek Central HOW-TO: Peer to Peer Sharing

A few of my friends have been looking into an alternative to share files amongst the masses, and asked for my help. File sharing is a very simple way to share your project with the masses, whether it be a indie film you made or a demo you recorded. Now, Peer-To-peer or P2P Sharing has some negative rep for illegal activities, but so does Las Vegas and it's still on the map. Remember, P2P is LEGAL and downloading stolen, illegal or pirated properties is NOT. For more information on this use google or look here. Aside from that, the only other threat is malicious software in the download and viruses. With this guide to safe P2P sharing, I will show you some tools to help prevent this. As I go, feel free to click on the links for further information on the topic. I will have a link at the bottom for all the programs and other things you may need.

What Torrents Are and How Torrents Work

Torrents are different from standard downloads in many ways. The main way they differ, without getting overtly technical, is in the way they distribute the contents of the file. All torrents use what is called a BitTorrent Protocol to do what they do.

Typical Download Scenario

The contents of the download in a conventional download scenario come from one place, and that is a server. This server gets up to full download speed fast and is able to respond from rises and falls in bandwidth in a very quick time period. The downfall in that situation is the cost. Servers cost big money and so does bandwidth. In addition, a domain may be required to feed all those files. This is where a BitTorrent client comes in handy.

BitTorrent Download Scenario

In a BitTorrent scenario, the contents of the torrent are split into evenly sized pieces, typically under 1 MB. These pieces are spread out around the internet to people when they download the file. Each recipient shares some pieces with the newer recipients and so on. Eventually, there can be tens of thousands of recipients with all the pieces needed to make the file whole again, thus making the whole process cheaper and easier to manage. Each piece has a mathematical equation attached to it; called a "checksum" and in this case is referred to as "SHA1 Hashing Algorithm" which verifies the files' integrity as it downloads.

Terminology 101

There is some different language that needs to be explained for new users to P2P sharing. Here, I will try to define it the best I can using layman's terms. A very complete (but more technical) guide is available here.

Client- This is the application (such as uTorrent or Azureus) that co-ordinates the download.

Tracker- The file you initially download and open into the BitTorrent client is a file that connects to a url that knows the connected peers on the torrent and who has what piece. Think of it as the keys to the car.

DHT- DHT is an abbreviation of Distributed Hash Table. This means that the peers acts as trackers instead of the url.

Peer- A peer is another client also connected to the same torrent. This is determined by the tracker.

Seed- A seed is a peer that has 100% of the file. It is where you get the most data from.

Leech- A peer that has a very poor seeding ratio.

Software You'll Need

BitTorrent Client

The first thing you'll need is an application to read the torrent file. This is called a "client". The most popular client is uTorrent and I highly reccomend it. It utilizes a friendly and easy-to-use user interface, is lightweight and is also freeware, which is an added bonus. Once you install the program, you are pretty much set to share torrents. But not so fast....there is more.


Firewall

The next thing you'll need is a firewall. Sure, you may have a Norton firewall or Windows Defender, but you want a good one. The undisputed King of firewalls is PeerGuardian2 or PG2. This program runs from your system tray (beside the clock, bottom right) and is red when off, black when on. Follow the instruction on their website to set it up. PG2 blocks unwanted IPs and protects you from spyware and adware.

File Extraction

Sometimes you may get files that look like this: foldername.zip or foldername.rar and within it filename.r001, filename.r002 etc. This means the contents that you downloaded are contained in an archive. The quickest and simplest solution is ExtractNow, a powerful yet simple to use archive extraction app. Simply open the app and select the archive you wish to extract, hit "ExtractNow!" and blam! it's done.

More complex is what is called a disc image. These files are typically large, the capacity of a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM. They usually have a file extension of .iso or .bin and you will need a program to use/burn these files. Here, there are a few solutions.

First is InfraRecorder, which is a freeware graphical CD/DVD writing program. You can utilize this optimally when you want to burn the image to a disc itself.

The other option is what is called mounting a disc. Basically, the image is sent to a virtual drive (typically a USB destination) to be emulated by the computer and using the hard disk of the computer. An example of this program is Daemon Tools.

Now, if you do not recognize the file extension (.xxx) just type it into Google and you'll find out what you need to open it.

Getting Content

Now you're ready to get some content. So, from your desktop, activate PeerGuardian2 (it's black when on) and navigate to a hosting site. Try torrentz.com or thepiratebay.org for some ideas. When you find the file you wish to download, click on it and then the "download this file" link. It will download the file, and open uTorrent where it will prompt you for some information. Enter the save file destination (typically My Documents > Downloads) and a label if you wish. Labels are used for sorting. Click on start torrent and you are now getting your data.


Software Sources

Here are all the software sources I mentioned earlier in the article. I do not endorse any of these applications beyond my personal experience with them....bear in mind that each computer is different as is it's operator. You may have to find you're own applications to do the trick.

uTorrent -BitTorrent Client
PeerGuardian2- Firewall and HTML blocker
ExtractNow (at the bottom of the page) - Multiple Archive Extraction App
InfraRecorder - Disc Image Recording Tool
Daemon Tools- Optical Media Emulation Tool

Further Assistance....
For any further assistance, please reply below in the comments section. I will be happy to help if I can. Please include any and all details that apply so I can assist you to the best of my ability.

Please stay tuned as I will share some advanced settings you can do in uTorrent to make it easier to download.