Torrent v/s Magnet links... Whats the deal anyways?
6:59 PM Edit This 0 Comments »so now many people started to ask. "WHAT THE HECK IS MAGNET ??" so i decided to write one brief explanation to give those ignorant souls out there a much needed head start in this matter and to tell them about this not so newly developed but slowly adopted technology.
So whats the big deal ?
Instead of downloading the .torrent file from a webserver, you download it directly from a seed/leecher. The biggest advantage is that you might be able to download the content of the torrent, even if the tracker is down or closed for registration.
Magnet Links :
Advantages :
1. They do not need a central authority to issue.
2. They has open nature and platform independence, the same magnet link can be used as long as the system has the appropriate application.
3. They are more user based, easy to use. All the system need is an application that support magnet links.
4. Since it is user based, it is so easy to share resources.
5. Most Magnet links application has a search function.
6. Cant fake it.cant make it corrupted.
7. No virus can be added.so no pollution.
8. No downloading of any files from anywhere just passing of HASH so no Footprint and so no one can trace back.
9. fully compatible with torrent clients.actually the whole process works above torrent protocol.just the passing of information is done by just sending the HASH to the client rather than downloading the .torrent file.
10. Early P2P networks used this already. though they are almost extinct now but as they used it it proved that how much this system is useful and powerful.and it is currently working in torrent network.
11. Even the "DARKNET" or so called "FREENET" is using this system to delivery content and information.
Earlier Disadvantages :
1. Slower speed.
- currently it is taken care of fully.
2. Less control on speed and on the contend that is being downloaded.
- this is not a problem anymore.the system is very streamlined now.and fully controllable without any difficulty.
Current Disadvantages :
1. cant save them to start later while the client is already full, memory is thrashing, disk is getting overloaded.
2. cant backup the hashes like torrent files either from torrent's save folder or any other backup folder.
3. cant start downloading after formatting windows and re-installing the client.as you have to provide the hash again.and finding specific hash is very difficult.and if u cant find then you have to download from the start.
Torrent :
Advantages :
1. Faster connection.
2. Easier to search through the web.
Disadvantages :
1. Trackers are needed when downloading a contend. If the tracker is down and there are no existing connection, the download may never be finished.
2. Most torrent client do not have search function. Torrents ususally would be find from the internet.
3. If a torrent was stored on web for long time, the tracker may be expeired already. It is almost impossible to find existing seed or leechers.
Now for more G33KY persons :
Magnet links consist of a series of one or more parameters, the order of which is not significant, formatted in the same way as the query string on the end of many HTTP URLs. The most common parameter is "xt", meaning "exact topic", which is generally a URN formed from the content hash of a particular file, e.g.. magnet:?xt=urn:sha1:YNCKHTQCWBTRNJIV4WNAE52SJUQCZO5C
referring to the Base32 encoded SHA-1 hash of the file in question.
Other parameters defined by the draft standard are:
"dn" ("display name"): a filename to display to the user, for convenience
"kt" ("keyword topic"): a more general search, specifying search terms rather than a particular file
"mt" ("manifest topic"): a URI pointing to a "manifest", e.g. a list of further items application-specific experimental parameters, which must begin "x." The standard also suggests that multiple parameters of the same type can be used by appending ".1", ".2" etc. to the parameter name, e.g.
magnet:?xt.1=urn:sha1:YNCKHTQCWBTRNJIV4WNAE52SJUQCZO5C&xt.2=urn:sha1:TXGCZQTH26NL6OUQAJJPFALHG2LTGBC7
Traditionally, .torrent files are downloaded from torrent sites. A torrent client then calculates a torrent hash (a kind of fingerprint) based on the files it relates to, and seeks the addresses of peers from a tracker (or the DHT network) before connecting to those peers and downloading the desired content.
Sites can save on bandwidth by calculating torrent hashes themselves and allowing them to be downloaded instead of .torrent files. Given the torrent hash – passed as a parameter within a Magnet link – clients immediately seek the addresses of peers and connect to them to download first the torrent file, and then the desired content.
It is worth noting that BitTorrent can not ditch the .torrent format entirely and rely solely on Magnet links. The .torrent files hold crucial information that is needed to start the downloading process, and this information has to be available in the swarm.
i hope this small introduction to magnet URI system is enough for you guys to know about this wonderful new technology. however there is always the Wikipedia :) isnt it?
bye
bye
© Ramen Mukherjee
0 comments:
Post a Comment