BitComet Crashed , When Restarted all data gone

[newguy202]

I use to download torrents or files from torrent collection in torrent share section in BitComet . yesterday I was getting too many files from that section and system was exhasted. my file I collected from that section needed to be changed from BC link to proper torrent link , so I waited. Suddenly BitComet crashed ,when I restart it after starting Windows , My Downloaded and Downloading files (torrents) are nomore in list. I could only see files in Torrent archive in Torrent share section . When I searched for backup files (Downloads.xml and //.bak) in BitComet folder , both are very small in size compared to backup files I saved several months back ,now if I would have saved backup file recently ,it will have very large size. I want to restore full downloads ,although data is there torrent files are still in torrent subfolder . So please tell me a way to restore full list file which can restore BitComet to its earlier state.

[Vasy]

Hi!

If what you say is true, then the fastest way to get your list back is to restart everything again from the torrent archive from bitcomet or from file:///C:/Program%20Files/BitComet/archive/ (IF you are using WINDOWS XP), make sure it is set to download to the exact same folder, a pop-up warning confirms that you're right, click "Yes" to start the task with a hash check. The slowest way is to go to each tracker site and get the .torrent files again.

Also if the Torrent collection list is getting too big for your PC go to Options / Task=>BT Task and set the max number of torrents to display in torrent share list to a lower amount, also you may check "clear others torrent share list when program exit" if you don't want to keep the torrent collection list.

Have a nice day.

[kluelos]

When I searched for backup files (Downloads.xml and //.bak) in BitComet folder , both are very small in size compared to backup files I saved several months back ,now if I would have saved backup file recently ,it will have very large size.

This statement makes me wonder what you are actually looking at.

downloads.xml will always be a very tiny file, since it's just a formatted text list of your current download tasks. Even if you have a lot of tasks, this is just a text list of them. If it was as large as even 1 MB, I would wonder what's going wrong to make it so huge. If you've got a very large backup of it, I have to wonder what is going on.

[greywizard]

If you've got a very large backup of it, I have to wonder what is going on.

Exactly.

Besides this doesn't tell us much:

... both are very small in size compared to backup files I saved several months back

What exactly is small to you? For a list of 230 tasks I got a downloads.xml of only 330KB! I suggest you reload the .bak file first since you have nothing to loose anyway at this point.

And if you are that much conspicuous, you can check it first in Notepad (or whatever editor or browser) to see if it contains references to any of your lost tasks.

[newguy202]

I did some work to recover download.xml file by using recover software , I get three files.

files are round about two and half megabyte . I deleted the original download.xml (new) file and renamed recovered file to download.xml , when I start Bitcomet ,nothing changed . after that I tried two other files but no avail , I also changed *.bak file with recovered ones. these files are close to date and time when original ones get deleted . I also opened these files in notepad and they contain torrents information.

Here is my suggestion to BitComet software that torrent download lists or their backup may be saved on their website and updated when a new downlaod is added so if a user lost torrent list by any accident ,he can recover it by downloading list from official website.

Any member please forward my suggestion to the Admins.

[greywizard]

Nobody suggested that you should use recovery software to recover previously deleted/overwritten versions of downloads.xml but instead to use the .bak file (by deleting its .bak extension and thus transforming it in the downloads.xml). Should it have been a version from before the crash then you would have seen all of your previous tasks.

Files recovered by means of recovery software are likely to be corrupted since part of the file may have been overwritten (depending on the recovery software and its settings you can or cannot end up with that).

The .bak file is a backup copy of the downloads.xml file which the program makes every time it writes in the downloads.xml file. So, if you have overwritten it with one of the recovered files (without making a copy of it) than you just have lost the last chance of easy recovery of the task list.

If that is the case, you'll have to load every .torrent file manually as Vasy explained to you.

Here is my suggestion to BitComet software that torrent download lists or their backup may be saved on their website and updated when a new downlaod is added so if a user lost torrent list by any accident ,he can recover it by downloading list from official website.

I doubt this would be feasible solution, if not because anything else, just because the obvious privacy issues that it would raise and which would certainly upset a great lot of users. We already have enough software applications that invades our privacy unnecessarily.

Besides there is already a very easy built-in way to back up your task list in Bitcomet: just choose File - Import and Export and save the backup to the location of your choice.

[newguy202]

Nobody suggested that you should use recovery software to recover previously deleted/overwritten versions of downloads.xml but instead to use the .bak file (by deleting its .bak extension and thus transforming it in the downloads.xml). Should it have been a version from before the crash then you would have seen all of your previous tasks.

You have not carefully read my first post, I clearly say that Both *.xml and *.bak file were of same size (1.something kb) and list was blank. Now if someone tell me that what is considered corrupt information in restored files ,I can edit them using notepad. Or tell me some other ways. Another thing I want to know is that which files are stored in Archive subfolder in BitComet Folder since file name are not understandable.

About the backup suggestion on BitComet Server, My understanding is that our every download goes through BitComet Server and information may be stored there in form of cache or cookies . It may be possible to convert this information in form of backup file , which can only be accessed by registered users of BitComet.

[kluelos]

My understanding is that our every download goes through BitComet Server and information may be stored there in form of cache or cookies

This is not true, and your understanding is wrong.

Your downloads do NOT pass through an external server. If they did, this would require truly phenomenal bandwidth to accommodate -- more than is technologically possible as yet.

Many novices seem to make this same error, assuming that all of their traffic passes through the tracker. Computation of the bandwidth requirement should disabuse anyone of that notion.

Bittorrent is quite well documented on the Internet, and is easily understood by anyone who wishes to do so.

Your data cannot be recovered from any external source. If you don't have it, nobody does.