SanadaShadow Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Okay, so I've known the term for quite a while now, but what is it really? What do the numbers mean? How can you be a seeder? Does seeding continue after you stop seeding, or does it end? It's confusing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zakamutt Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 You upload what you downloaded from the torrent when seeding. Technically this sometimes happens whiledownloading as well depending on settings (and this might make your download faster if you allow it, depending on stuff.) Seeding continues after you stop leeching, the download part. If you want to continue seeding, it is recommended to pause the torrent, copy the game files somewhere else so you can use that copy without problems, then restart the torrent. Seeding is good practice in general, is what might get you in trouble with the law on the unlikely event of some torrent trolls checking shit on the other hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flutterz Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Seeding is sitting in a torrent with the fully downloaded file and having it upload to leechers (people who are downloading). More seeders = more speed for the leechers. If there are no seeders that means there is currently nobody with the full file, so you have nowhere to download the full file from until a seeder appears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nosebleed Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Good seeding practice = upload as much as you download. Leechers also upload while they download, just not as much and obviously not the whole file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanadaShadow Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 I see. So this answers most of my questions, but... How exactly does this concept work? So, if nobody's seeding, then you can't download the file? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chronopolis Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 I see. So this answers most of my questions, but... How exactly does this concept work? So, if nobody's seeding, then you can't download the file? Everybody who has a part of the file someone else needs can be uploading to that person. Seeders and Leecher's just are people who have all the files in the torrent, or don't. So usually if there are no seeder's you cannot obtain a full copy of the file (which depending on the torrent, usually means you can't get what you want.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flutterz Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 The way P2P networks like torrents work is you download small pieces from everyone who is seeding or uploading while still leeching. So if there's only 1 seeder, all the leechers download speeds put together can't be faster than the single seeder's upload speed, until they've downloaded enough to start uploading to each other. So if there are lots of seeders, the leechers will generally have download speeds capped only by their own network. If there are no seeders, you can either wait until one comes back (which they might never do, that is when a torrent is said to be dead) or you can start downloading and hope that the other leechers have all of the pieces of the torrent spread out amongst them, in which case eventually the leechers will become seeders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zakamutt Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Yup. Basically you call the torrent dead when that happens. One of the cool things about fuwan's torrents is that we have seedboxes, dedicated storage-and-torrenting computers (or parts of computer time usually) with high speeds, usually controllable remotely. Sometimes there will only be one pathetically slow seeder (as was the case with the nyaa lamune torrent) but it can get much more well seeded after a few people get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Life Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Pretty much. Someone needs to have the full file. If you are seeding then you are uploading the files you have while the leecher is downloading everything you're uploading. To begin with someone creates the torrent and seeds it to people downloading the file. As soon as they complete the download, they start to upload it to other people and more seeders gather to help maintain/increase the upload speeds. So if noone is seeding the leechers leech parts off other leechers. If someone has the first half and another the second half, it is still possible to complete the torrent. Otherwise if even one part of it is missing the torrent can't complete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenkuru Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Seeding is basically uploading the files after you've downloaded it (although you do seed while downloading, albeit not as much). If you can, do seed after you've downloaded the file, so that others can also enjoy the download at a higher speed. Take note that you're able to download the file because somebody out there is seeding, so do be kind and seed for others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heizei_koukousei Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 I only seed visual novels to support the community. I don't like to share my IP address with the world. I know, I'm one of those guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanadaShadow Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 I would just use a program to change my IP. Right now I'm routing it to 69 Holly Street, which exists. Although it's a street. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Yeah If I'm not mistaken the idea of seeding is that there is no server hosting all the data. The files are hosted directly on someone computer, so that's where you download from. The server creates a peer to peer link beetween the one uploading and the one downloading. So you seed a torrent when you allow someone to download the files associated with a torrent directly from your computer. I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanadaShadow Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 But wouldn't that make you susceptible to hacking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decay Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 No, it doesn't. All exposing your IP address does is basically make people aware of your presence and location. They still need the actual means and motivation to do so. Literally nobody hacks random IPs they find on a torrent because to do so would be hugely time efficient. There are far more efficient ways to do things, like distributing files infected with keyloggers or phishing. The only time an IP might be used in a hack attempt is when the hacker is really freaking serious about it, maybe doing corporate espionage or other high-stakes hacks. If they want your credit card number, they'll just keylog you. This conversation is pretty funny because it's like talking to my grandmother. "This banner said my IP is exposed to the internet!! Can you fix this??" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zakamutt Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Depends. Truth is, just an IP address isn't likely to be that much help (although it's an obvious first step), and they're probably not getting much more. You give that address out every time you connect to a website, to the host of some games (like wc3 rooms), etc. To actually hack, you need to find a vulnerability, which isn't necessarily the easiest thing ever. The real threat probably lies in your web browser most of the time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decay Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 An IP address is basically just... a home's front door? Kind of. Knowing the location of a house's front door is possibly the least useful piece of information for a burglar. They still have to actually break into the house, and they likely won't even use that door. It all boils down to your computer being far more secure than you actually think. 99.99% of all compromised computers or accounts happen when a password is stolen due to user carelessness or when the user downloads an infected file (again, due to carelessness). edit: Or when passwords are hacked from a shittily secured server hosted by some company, in which case it had nothing to do with you in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanadaShadow Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 This conversation is pretty funny because it's like talking to my grandmother. "This banner said my IP is exposed to the internet!! Can you fix this??" Wouldn't be too far off, I'm probably your father's age right now. Depends. Truth is, just an IP address isn't likely to be that much help (although it's an obvious first step), and they're probably not getting much more. You give that address out every time you connect to a website, to the host of some games (like wc3 rooms), etc. To actually hack, you need to find a vulnerability, which isn't necessarily the easiest thing ever. The real threat probably lies in your web browser most of the time So then, how does someone glean that information? An IP address is basically just... a home's front door? Kind of. Knowing the location of a house's front door is possibly the least useful piece of information for a burglar. They still have to actually break into the house, and they likely won't even use that door. It all boils down to your computer being far more secure than you actually think. 99.99% of all compromised computers or accounts happen when a password is stolen due to user carelessness or when the user downloads an infected file (again, due to carelessness). edit: Or when passwords are hacked from a shittily secured server hosted by some company, in which case it had nothing to do with you in the first place. Yes, but basing it on a solid 'if', if a person did try to hack in, how would they go about it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zakamutt Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 I'm not exactly experienced in hacking, but they'd probably try sending requests trying to find out what they can about your setup. They probably need to find some kind of program that accepts their input running on your end, that also has a vulnerability - something about it that the hacker can use to do stuff on your computer. Probably gets complicated these days, might also be harder given that many people are behind routers which often effectively act as a firewall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decay Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 That's pretty much the case. I'm no hacker, so I don't know how they'd do it exactly, but essentially hacking is all about finding out what software someone has installed, and discovering vulnerabilities that will gain them remote access somehow. This could theoretically be a torrent program and that could theoretically make torrents dangerous, as you feared, but none of the popular torrent programs have any known vulnerabilities. Wouldn't be too far off, I'm probably your father's age right now. That would be surprising. (and if your profile is accurate, you're way off ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanadaShadow Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 Please. Don't flatter the router. It may overestimate itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 But still, don't think torrenting is the safest thing ever. P2P software are legal but are used illegaly very often. No need to worry about the way it works, it's fairly reliable. However be sure you know what you download. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narcosis Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 The way P2P works is similiar to the FTP, with the slight exception there's a whole network above built between users who host the downloaded files via trackers. A torrent file can be understood as an invitation to that network - by opening it within an appropriate client, you basically log to that network and retrieve the overall number of people who are currently sharing the file - both seeders (uploaders) and leechers (downloaders). Your bit torrent client then proceeds to connect with everyone who's able to share any kind of bit of the downoaded file with you and starts downloading it, part by part. The more seed/leech ratio, the faster and more reliable downloading will go; if there's a lot more leechers than seeders, you might get very low downloading speeds (because each seeder has to share their connection with more leechers), or don't get any downloads at all - you're put into a queue and have to wait for your turn. In general, seeders always get faster uploading speeds, therefore they are the most reliable source for downloading, but it isn't a given; as the whole network relies on each user, there's a whole ton of different factors that have to be taken into account, including routing issues and their internet connections. Some leechers with very good connections might seed a lot faster than certain seeders - the only issue might be that they don't have the whole file ready to seed yet, only certain parts of it. Longtime seeding is a honorable task, though you might actually just monitor the number of people who download the file; if it isn't anything rare or extremely valuable and there's no one actually downloading it for days, you might as well finish seeding. Various torrents usually die out of few cases - they are either extremely old/outdated and no one cares about them anymore, obscure or very specific; since they are often seeded only temporarily or periodically, they are often very hard to download and might require days of anxious waiting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanadaShadow Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 So, turning it on its head, what's the best way to protect against potential hacks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narcosis Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Don't download the files. Simple as that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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