large files download very slowly

[swamphog]

Can anyone tell me why I have such slow download rates when downloading very large files? (4GB) All other files with similar seeding rates will give me rates of 250 to 1500, but these large files go <60. I've increased my seeding rate to max, but without result.

[sharayde]

Hi,

Click the link above that says 'READ THIS before posting'

It tells you all the information needed so that issues like this can be investigated.

[swamphog]

Yes, I did "read this." The notice is not pertinent in this case, as most of my download speeds are well within the fantastic range. My question deals specifically with very large files in an otherwise optimum operating environment.

[kluelos]

Bittorrent downloads don't come from a big server with a fat pipe, from which you can "drink" as fast as you can accept data.

The come from you. Or people like you. People with computers like yours and internet connections like yours, located all over the world, uploading at the same rate you upload.

This group of people who are transferring that particular torrent -- the swarm -- is the single biggest variable affecting your speed. It's overwhelmingly bigger than all of the other factors combined. How many of them there are, what their aggregate connectivity with you is, what roles they are filling in the swarm, these things primarily dictate how fast your download is going to be.

If you have a torrent with a smallish swarm (and swarm size does seem to go down as the torrent size goes up), then you're going to get a slower download, simply because there are fewer people to swap pieces with you -- enough fewer that, as far as this torrent goes, you have bandwidth going to waste.

There is nothing that you can do about this. You can't force more people to be interested, or to choose this particular torrent to swap.

You can only make sure that nothing about your system and configuration is interfering. If you can download the Open Office torrent or one of the Linux distros at something approaching your maximum download bandwidth, then you know you've done all that you can do.

[The UnUsual Suspect]

The notice is not pertinent in this case

Either your wrong, or you know more about this then we do, because it is absolutely pertinent to your case. You obviously don't understand how bittorrent works or you never would have set your max upload to unlimited, and since you didn't provide the info we require, we can't calculate the proper settings for your connection.

Also, I can confirm that Large torrent tasks download at least as fast as small tasks, being all things equal. In fact, the size of the task or the files makes no difference at all in the speed of the task.