Download Percent reduced drastically on rebooting the PC

[arjun1986]

Hi

I am using BitTorrent 7.8 (built 29626 32bit) on a Win7 laptop.

I was downloading a file which at that point was completed 39% when for an unrelated reason I had to reboot my computer.

Normally on startup the download would pick up from where it stopped. But since last 2 times, the percent download would reduce drastically- this time it restarted the download at 8% when before the reboot it was 39%.

What is happening? Can anyone advise?

[Harold Feit]

Is a re-check of the files happening after the reboot?

[arjun1986]

yes..it does take some time to 'check' after the restart and then the downloaded % come on the screen- which is way lower than what it was earlier.

There is one more point- when I click on the statistics to check data uploaded/downloaded today (and this was the only file I was downloading today)- the amount of data corresponds to the % of data downloaded before the reboot.

I don't know what's happening??

[Harold Feit]

It's that BitTorrent isn't getting a graceful shutdown to commit all the file.

[arjun1986]

I never used to give it a "graceful" shutdown before!

I would just click Start and choose reboot. Never individually closed the software but nothing like this ever happened before.

So what should I do henceforth?

[spamcatcher]

You say the percentage dropped, but did the actual content disappear as well? You would check that through the "files" tab on the interface. If its simply a matter of bad percentage bookkeeping, and you're not loosing data, then the problem could be fixed by closing and reopening Bittorrent program.

I would just go by the % in the files tab instead of the "Status" bar.

[arjun1986]

Hi Spamcatcher,

I just checked the files tab and compared it with the % in the status bar. It appears that I lost the data around 5GB of it and have to download it all over again.

I don't know what did this? and how would I address it? As Harold suggested I would try closing the software manually before actually rebooting or switching off my laptop in future. Will this resolve the issue- IDK!! as it never used to be the case earlier!

[spamcatcher]

My guess is (and it is a guess) is that your DL is being DL'd into a Temp file. So when you reboot, the temp file is deleting itself.

Maybe try and schedule your downloads so that they are uninterrupted from now on? Or rather than reboot, go on Stand-By if you have to leave your computer unattended.

On a large DL, thru the files tab you can manage the DL if its multi-file by prioritizing certain files and leaving others on "skip". That way in the event of a mishap, you'll only loose unfinished files. Once a Temp file is complete, it becomes permanent.

[arjun1986]

Hi Spamcatcher,

Ok, I will try that. How about I uninstall BitTorrent and use utorrent instead in future- will it have a more sophisticated/ automated approach towards how to deal with such cases?

[spamcatcher]

Most people think that uTorrent and Bit Torrent are the same software in a different wrapper. And Vuze and Torch are closely related as well.

All the DLs that I've done, even the non-torrent ones, all work the same way. They download to a Temp file and disappear when a reboot occurs.

Back in the days of Dial-Up, large files were IMPOSSIBLE to dl because dial-up ISPs would time-out the connection every hour and you would loose whatever you had downloaded up to that point. The same reason...the Temp file was interrupted, and deleted.

You might go on a Windows forum and find out if there's a way to download into a non-Temp folder.

I leave mine on 24/7 so I don't know much about interrupted DLs.

[Harold Feit]

My guess is (and it is a guess) is that your DL is being DL'd into a Temp file.

Nope. Disk cache, then straight to disk. Any suggestions based on this assumption are flawed.

[spamcatcher]

HI arjun1986

I tried downloading a 700mb movie torrent and rebooting without a shutdown and not only did I not lose any data or %age, I gained data and %age during the reboot!

Well...that bothered me. So I just turned my computer off and unplugged it from the wall. Waited a minute, plugged it in and started it and let it come back up, and no loss. A slight gain actually.

I was monitorring through the "Files" tab and everything was normal. I don't have the vaguest idea why your DL got deleted.

[arjun1986]

Hi Spamcatcher,

I think I would make sure I don't turn off/reboot my laptop until the download it complete. As I said it never used to be the case earlier but since its what is happening with me now- I will just be mindful henceforth.

Thanks.