Torrents Missing

      As a followup to a previous post about torrenting, I have been asked about ‘missing’ torrents. That is to say, torrents that never make any progress in downloading.

Simple answer:       It’s not making progress because it’s not available.

More complex answer

      Torrents are all about sharing. You can only download things that are being shared, at this exact moment, by someone else. If no one is sharing, you can’t download.

      On particularly popular things, this isn’t an issue. 20k+ is not unheard of for a popular file. But for that rare file that only you are looking for? The torrent file (or magnet) may still be around, but without anyone to share it with you, there is no file.

      Also, sometimes people are sharing, but there are timing issues. Perhaps the person only connects during the afternoon, or over the weekend, or some other time frame. If you stay around long enough, you may still get the files. Or you may not, is the nature of the system.

      And this is why sharing the file after you have downloaded is so important to the health of the overall torrent network. If everyone grabbed what they wanted and ran, no one would be able to download anything. But at the same time, for most people leaving a computer on 24/7 to share torrents is not a practical option. As with many things in life, finding that balance is tricky.

Solutions

      If you can’t get that file from a particular torrent, maybe there is another that has seeders. No reason you can’t add four sources to your client and try to get them all. Maybe they all work, maybe just one. Or maybe you buy whatever it is you are trying to download. Always options…