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Converting my whole utorrent set up to run through my new external HD?


suvster

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Hey people :)

Basically ive just bought an external HD and i would like to know how to have my utorrent prog work through that now instead of my PC's standard HD so i will be able to continue seeding my older torrents, have any new torrents go to that folder on the new HD etc. You know, just have the whole thing work through the new external HD now without losing any of my previous torrents that i seed etc so i can continue from where i left off.

I have already copied the 'downloads' folder onto the external HD and then sniffed around but was a bit afraid to mess with things regarding the utorrent settings and have not deleted the original 'downloads' folder yet just in case i somehow ruin my set up so i thought id come on here and ask some people who are bound to know for sure. Before posting i did use the searchbox to look for an answer but the only two things i found were a little different in one way or another and with the closest answer i found i didnt understand it that well tbh as im a bit PC dumb regarding some of the more technical talk.

Please keep in mind im not heavily computer savy. I only know a little about alot imo LOL. If there is a very basic way of achieving the outcome im looking for im all for it. If however its a bit technical and takes some doing i would really appreciate a step by step post that i can follow with confidence as i generally dont understand PC tech talk most of the time lol.

Im running the latest version of utorrent btw if that helps.

Thanks in advance to any kind soul that takes the time to help me out :D

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You have 2 solutions to resume some torrents moved onto your new externat HD.

1/ Stop each torrent job moved, right click > Advanced > Set Dwl Location. Force a recheck. Restart the torrent job.

2/ A nicer solution if you have a ton of heavy torrents to resume: use BEncode Editor. http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=31306

Edit resume.dat in folder %appdata%\utorrent and use function 'find/replace' to change the path (drive letter in generally) of torrents moved. Save it. Restart uT.

NB: keep one copy of resume.dat before editing it. ;)

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Ok thanks moogly :). Im pretty sure i read your post regarding something very simular actually but something you mentioned in your set up threw me off somewhere along the line.

I think i will go for option 1/ as looking through the topic from the link you posted in option 2/ i get abit confused pretty quickly tbh so i wont even attempt that. Also i dont have a ton of torrents on there as i have quite a few backed up on data discs.

With option 1/, for this to work i guess i have to delete the original 'downloads' folder from my PC's standard HD first yeah?

Also, am i right in thinking neither of these options will put new files in the new 'downloads' folder on my external HD though? Im assuming that is changed by setting the options 'put new downloads in' and 'moved completd downlads to' to the new 'downloads' folder link. Am i right there?

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Oh ok. Much appreciated jewelishheaven ;). Well i wanna delete the stuff off my PC's standard HD anyhow as its almost maxed out with about 2GB to spare lol..but i'll do the repathing first just in case i screw something up along the line.

Regarding the Preferences > Directories bit..do i have to change both of those settings i mentioned in my response to moogly to the new 'downloads' folder. Does anything else have to be changed in the directory to get things working right with this new set up? Also should i just move the torrent download links (the original link you DL to link you to file in the first place) to my external HD too or doesnt it really matter? If i do move them there will that effect anything?

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It is NOT RECOMMENDED to store your torrents (the option store torrent files in...) on an external hard drive. Keeping them where they are is preferrable, or make your uT self-encapsulated http://utorrent.com/faq/installation/#faq5 is preferred. You can even change your torrent folder somewhere logical on your internal... the problem lies in if you forget to plug in your external before you start uT. If it expects them to be on the external... and there is no external, you have to go through some error-correcting procedures. If this makes it easier go ahead, just don't forget to plug it in first :) I guess one way to combat that would be to have all shortcuts go to your utorrent.exe ON the external, thus, if it won't open, you obviously forgot to plug it in.

If I might chime in regarding moogly's point #1, if you see, i have Ultima's awesome tool linked in my sig, and I don't do that lightly. Most of the verbosity in the thread is for educational informational reasons. Like moogly said, if you have a backup you have nothing to worry about if you edit it. For the record BOTH places paths are stored can be used with the Find/Replace All functions, both for data, and torrent locations.

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Thank you ;). I will definitely keep them on my standard HD then as its the safer and easier option.

You may chime, you may lol...but eventhough i believe its a safe option because of the fact that you make a back up just in case any problems arise i am part of the way through the option/1 solution anyway so i might as well just carry on with that as its a simple and fairly quick process for an amatuer like me lol.

Regarding my 2nd paragraph of my previous post..if you or anyone else could answer those questions for me i would really appreciate it as those few question marks are basically the only things i need to get my head around now to carry on as before. Thanks :D

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Hm I thought I answered it, but I see it was because I was unclear what you're asking

Also should i just move the torrent download links (the original link you DL to link you to file in the first place) to my external HD too or doesnt it really matter? If i do move them there will that effect anything?

Which links are you referring to? I took it to mean the .TORRENT files themselves. Is that an incorrect assumption?

The other question, you must set the Ctrl-P > Directories option for your external drive's path for all new torrents to have it automatically. You can set temporary and complete paths there, but I'd only set the complete path there, because you'd only be using the pipe one way, well two way if you seed alot from the external, and the constant in/out of using it as the temp folder may impact other devices if they're on the same controller. As the added bonus, looking at your internal drive temp folder you can see what's already complete, that is if you don't have/see the tooltips showing done or use the download bars.

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Thanks for replying again jewelisheaven :D. Sorry about my slow reply though. I went off to play football and only just got back. Now i feel like an old man...meh :)

Yeah, you're right, i did mean the actual .TORRENT files but i just could'nt figure how to word it right at the time tbh. Sorry about that. I will definitely leave those files where they are then.

With the Ctrl-P > Directories settings i think i get what you mean. So the option saying 'put new downloads in' is just a temp folder and therefore there's no need to change that setting, especially if im gonna free up most of my PC's standard HD as it may slow down the general running of other things. I just need to change the setting/path of the 'move completed downloads to' to the newly copied 'downloads' folder and everything will be put in there automatically from now on. Is that all spot on?

Also with that particular 'Move completed downloads to' setting do i need to check/uncheck the options called 'Append the torrents label' and 'Only move from the default download directory' ?...Again i dont wanna mess with anything im not sure about. Sorry to be a pain in the butt

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Well if you weren't already using those additional settings, you could learn about it some and decide for yourself. Open the user manual while in uT, by pressing F1, and there's a section there just for the Preferences dialog ;) Labels are an additional way to have uT organize your data for you more-or-less.

Yup the move when completed should be changed to your external so you don't have to do it manually for everything from now on. Yes, as you delete/move stuff off your internal you'll have more space and only take up as much from downloading as you keep incomplete/partial downloads. It's not simply "slow down the general running of others things" per-se, On many computers with onboard USB or Firewire chips, the controller (the part that tells it what to do and how to do it) can get overloaded easier when you're actually doing all the bittorrent up/downloading for incomplete data because of all the back and forth. If it's not hurting you now, you can leave the "put new downloads" as is.

Not a pain, and hoorah on the football, not enough people have the time or energy to stay active. :D

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Damn..of course! I somehow forgot about the manual as i went straight to Help > uTorrent FAQ and was forwarded straight to this site from there. I kinda forgot all about the manual after that...you'll have to excuse me for that lol. I have it up on the Directories page now. Thanks for the reminder there. Cant believe that slipped my mind tbh.

Ive just set everything up in the 'Directories' part thanks to you and a read of that part of the manual. All previous files have been manually set to the new 'downloads' folder and had the 'force re-check' done on them so i think im all good now. I will now delete my old 'downloads' folder off of my internal HD and hopefully everything should now run as smoothly as it did before.

Thanks for all the helpful info jewelisheaven ;). You have made this process alot quicker and easier for me and not made me feel bad about burning up some of your time to help me. Your one of the good guys :D

Football twice a week now the weather's getting nicer! Only a kick about with the lads but its all good fun and exercise. About 3hrs of it tonight. I also enjoy basketball and play guitar in a band...all very energetic stuff there. I do make up for it by sitting on my butt a fair amount of the day though LOL :D

EDIT ON 10TH MAY

Since setting up my new external HD to carry on from where i left off with my utorrent set up i have noticed that some of the completed files i previously downloaded, then moved to the external HD and done a 'force re-check' on so i can seed again have been slightly incomplete after the move. They were coming up as 99.8% which didnt bother me because it had only taken me a minute to complete them again. Just now i completed a new DL. It was a big file at 5.17GB and it automatically moved it from the temp folder on my internal HD to the extrnal HD. I then setup the new download destination and forced a re-check and it came up at 83.6%!!! Im gutted as the fact that there are only a couple of seeds means i now have to waste an estimated 9 -10hrs extra for no good reason. From now on i think i will set up the 'put new downloads in' temp folder on my external HD as well as i dont want this to happen again during a transfer.

Can anyone give a reason why this kinda loss might be happening?

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