Everyone who uses the internet usually uploads and/or downloads files through file hosting services, email, instant messengers, etc. As internet bandwidth increased overtime, our needs also increased. Now we almost download/upload a minimum of 100 MB of files everyday. But sometimes it gets annoying when you are uploading/downloading a file and your internet goes bad. You have to redo the whole process again. Even those download managers that offer ‘resume’ functionality doesn’t help sometimes. So what if you want to upload/download a huge file with much less hassle. The answer is to use torrents. Torrent is a protocol that is used to share files between two computers. So, there is no intervention of a server to host your file. The downloader will download the file right exactly from the uploader’s computer. Here, I am going to show you how you can share files privately using torrents.

1) Make sure both (downloader and uploader) have a torrent client installed. (eg. uTorrent)

2) Now everything that’s described hereafter will have to be done by the uploader. I suppose you have installed uTorrent so open it and let’s make a torrent of your files.

3) Press CTRL + N or click File >> Create New Torrent.

4) In the window that appears, browse for the file or folder you wish to upload by clicking ‘Add file’ or ‘Add directory’ buttons.

5) Then, in the ‘Trackers’ box, paste the below URL:

http://tpb.tracker.thepiratebay.org/announce

6) Then checkmark the ‘Start seeding’ and ‘Private torrent’ options. Finally, click the ‘Create and save as…’ button and save the file on your desktop.

7) You will find that the file you just created is very small in size (usually 10-20kbs). Just upload this file to the downloader through instant messenger or by email and ask the downloader to run the file.

Once the downloader will run the file their uTorrent client, your original file will start getting uploaded from your computer to their computer.

Advantages of using torrents for private file sharing:

1) There is no third computer/server involved. Even though we are using the tracker service by Pirate Bay, it will just help connect the two computers.

2) The downloads/uploads can be paused and resumed again. And it can be used to transfer GBs of data without worrying about losing the partially downloaded data.

3) As there are only two trustworthy parties involved in the data transfer, there is absolutely less chance of malicious viruses getting downloaded which is not guaranteed when a third computer or a server in involved in the data transfer.

So, next time you want to share a huge file, don’t forget to give torrents a shot! I am sure you will like it.

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