Download only some files

idumy

I just realized now that qbittorent allow me to only download some files from a torrent (not all) this is great for downloading compilations when i already have most of them. but my questions is, can i then become a seeder? since i can seed the file i downloaded? or do i better of download it all so i can seed for other for fixing my ratio?

ianfontinell

@idumy in torrenting, a seeder is someone who has all files. When you finish downloading all files you stop being a leecher and become a seeder. If you only download some files, you stay as a leecher.

This means two important things:
1 - you can still seed the files you have selected, and it will contribute to increase your ratio as usual.

2 - since you still count as a leecher, the torrent will stay consuming 1 download slot. This matters a lot because you can download a certain number of torrents simultaneously.

For example, I can download 15 concurrent torrents. If I have 15 torrents in my client, where I have only selected a few files, even though qbittorrent tells they are finished and seeding, for the tracker i have never finished downloading them, so now I will be unable to download anything else until I pause those partial torrents.

idumy

@ianfontinell said:
If you only download some files, you stay as a leecher.
you can still seed the files you have selected, and it will contribute to increase your ratio as usual

So i am a leecher but yet i also seed my already downloaded file?, hence i got the upload points? So if i only see "point-wise" it is better to only download the file i needed since i can seed and get my ratio back up anyway? does this against rules?

2 - since you still count as a leecher, the torrent will stay consuming 1 download slot.

this one im not really understand, could you please explain a little more?
so a user have max concurrent download? where can i see this? is it the "Baseline Daily Download Limit" on the ratio page? also if that the case, didnt i can just cancel my torrent when i need to download other, then i continue seed this "some files" if i dont have anything to download?

thank you for the explanation, english is not my 1st language, so pardon me if i need more explanations

ianfontinell

@idumy if you want to spare your ratio it is best to only download what you need, it is not against the rule at all, only downside is what I described about the concurrent downloads. Currently this information is not in any FAQ or user stats page, maybe it will be added in the new layout that will be released later this year.

As of today, the only way of knowing how many download slots you have is by hitting the limit, then the tracker will give an error message with the number of downloads you're allowed.

What you suggested about pausing/resuming is also true, the only problem is that when you pause a torrent it can take several minutes for the download slot to become free, it is not real time. If you don't mind it, that's totally fine to do it.

idumy

@ianfontinell ah thank you for the explanation!

whateverdude

I've long suspected that unless you flip from leecher to seeder your upload of partially completed torrents doesn't count towards your ratio. It sounds like you're saying that's not the case, but my ratio begs to differ.
I actually messaged about this a long time ago (2021) and eaglevision messaged me back saying that sysop were looking into this particular issue. Have not really seen any change tbh, and my ratio which once was very high still continues to suffer. Uploading doesn't seem to work in the way it once did prior to 2020, but thankfully I've still managed to hang in there ratio wise.