Question regarding a deleted idea.

[djhash]

First, I didn't see an idea bank sub-forum so I hope posting here would be fine.

A longtime ago I posted a feature to idea bank. After sometime, I kinda got side tracked, but I do remember getting a positive comment from another user. When I returned I tried to look it up, but it appeared to have been gone, and I couldn't remember what Gmail account i used. So logged into one of them and searched, couldn't find it. Logged into the other and searched and couldn't find it. So I thought it might have got lost at some point since the UI for the Idea Bank looks new and different.

So I thought no big deal I'll resubmit it and see where it goes from there. Two days later I come back to check on it and it got deleted. So I assume the following, either the feature I am asking for exists and I just can't seem to figure it out. Or the same idea has been suggested and it didn't show up in my search. Lastly, the reason for being deleted could be that I didn't follow certain rules or I simply didn't post it properly.

Anyways; here is what I proposed, and I forgot to add certain info which I appended to the comments, since I couldn't find an edit button.

Give the ability to redownload '.torrent' file using magnet for torrents with missing torrent files.

I've gone through multiple backups and restores through out the years, and ended up with 100+ torrents that are simply missing the torrent files. Some of them don't have the data as they've been lost or simply deleted out-of-utorrent, others still have the data files but the ".torrent" file is only missing. uTorrent doesn't see the .torrent file and places them as "Error: can't open .torrent".

One thing I do to fix this, is by right-clicking, copy magnet URI, paste it into Chrome and voila! the torrent file it created and then starts checking what data files it has and continues to download the missing files.

My suggestion is simply to allow for a feature where uTorrent would simply perform that action on all affected files with a simple single click.

Also, might be a good idea that instead of completing the download after the check it would stop the download and mark the torrent as incomplete.

This also would help people if they lose the folder/drive where the .torrent files reside and will act as sort of a backup system.

--Comment--

I would like to add something which completely slipped my mind.

When I do click on copy the URI and paste it into the browser; utorrent brings up a dialog box saying along the lines of: "You are adding a torrent that exists, would you like add the trackers from it."

When clicking yes, the torrent is still in the Error status. I had to actually delete the torrent file, then paste the URI in the browser which initiates the download and checking.. etc..

Now I'm not looking to create trouble for anyone. I just would like to know if the feature i'm requesting has been implemented or I just couldn't find the duplicate. Or something else!

Any insights would be helpful.

Thank you.

[ciaobaby]

When I do click on copy the URI and paste it into the browser; utorrent brings up a dialog box saying along the lines of: "You are adding a torrent that exists, would you like add the trackers from it."

Sidebar -> Labels -> Hidden.

copy magnet URI, paste it into Chrome and voila!

uTorrent has no information on WHERE you downloaded the .torrent file OR where you clicked on the magnet link.

HOWEVER:

If you look in the directory where your .torrent files are, you WILL find that uTorrent has created a .torrent file from the magnet meta data.

My suggestion is simply to allow for a feature where uTorrent would simply perform that action on all affected files with a simple single click.

You can already do that from the sidebar categories!

[djhash]

Ok. I think you are misunderstanding. Actually it's more likely it's me who isn't properly articulating.

In uTorrent if I delete the ".torrent" file before opening uTorrent. The run uTorrent, the program will mark the torrent "Error: Can't open .torrent"

If I were to download the .torrent file and run it. uTorrent will give me the "torrent exists, do you want to add the list of trackers." clicking ok doesn't fix the "Error: Can't open .torrent", and running "Force Re-Check" doesn't do anything.

So you have a torrent in uTorrent that it can't find the ".torrent" file. Well ofcourse because the file is gone, but the data is still there. So I right click on the file and click on "Copy Magnet URI" then delete the file from the list then paste it into a Browser. Here are a set of images that will show you the process, and it ends up with the torrent being healthy.

This is one of the files with the "Error".

So I right click and copy the magnet URI.

Then I delete the file by simply pressing the delete button (thus keeping the data files) (also avoiding the "existing .torrent dialog box")

I paste it into Chrome

Save dialog shows up

After clicking ok, and confirming that the download location is the same as previously done, it's already seeding. It was quick because it was a small torrent.

[ciaobaby]

In uTorrent if I delete the ".torrent" file before opening uTorrent. The run uTorrent, the program will mark the torrent "Error: Can't open .torrent"

I would suggest that the best solution to that would be to NOT delete .torrent files that you want to keep active.

After all, there is only so far that any piece of software can go to compensate for PEBCAK issues.

[Andreasvb]

You can paste the URI directly in µTorrent: File > Add Torrent from URL (Ctrl+U).

A bit easier for you perhaps.

But I agree, why delete the .torrent-files in the first place?

[djhash]

In uTorrent if I delete the ".torrent" file before opening uTorrent.

Sorry, that was just to elaborate on how we can get to a "Can't open .torrent". And how you could re-create the scenario on your own with maybe a test torrent or a torrent you were going to delete anyways so if the steps didn't work for you it won't be a huge loss.

The thing is losing the .torrent files wasn't intentional. I've gone through multiple backups and restores. In a couple of them it completely slipped my mind to backup the .torrent files in the (Done and New) folders, and only backed up the files in the AppData/Roaming folder.

Also I have setup my torrenting into three drives, one drive is where utorrent places the "Done" and "New" torrent files, the other is the root windows drive (%appdata%), and the third is where the actual torrent data files are located. So if I were to loose the drive containing the "Done" and "New" folders and torrent files I will end up with the "Can't Open .torrent" error.

Sure, users should be backing up their files properly, and when backing up and restoring their utorrent they should follow the known steps of backing up the %appdata% AND the location of their .torrent files and if needed also their torrent DATA files.

But things happen. And people will end up with lists of torrents where the .torrent file is lost, but somehow for many of them uTorrent is capable of providing the magnet URI, so why not let the users restore their .torrent files using that in an automated fashion rather than having to go through a huge task of retrieving each torrent on its own.

[ciaobaby]

so why not let the users restore their .torrent files using that in an automated fashion rather than having to go through a huge task of retrieving each torrent on its own.

The problem with automating a migration is that labels are not stored in the metadata file, but in resume.dat, otherwise it would be a simple matter of placing all the .torrent files in the "automatically load torrent from" directory and let uTorrent "find" them, but completed jobs that were in a "label" subdirectory may/would not be located without user intervention.

[Kitsoran]

That is an interesting case and I think it should be handled gracefully.

[ciaobaby]

Just tested with completed jobs (backup made first) and uTorrent does not scan the completed folders for matching folders or files (with or without labels) on auto or manual adding. Fairly fairly reasonable to assume that it would not of course, but always worth a check.

[djhash]

The problem with automating a migration is that labels are not stored in the metadata file, but in resume.dat, otherwise it would be a simple matter of placing all the .torrent files in the "automatically load torrent from" directory and let uTorrent "find" them, but completed jobs that were in a "label" subdirectory may/would not be located without user intervention.

We are not doing an automated migration. We are recovering from a manual migration that has gone wrong. Where the utorrent setting files were backed up properly (including the resume.dat), but not the individual .torrent files. So at this stage utorrent knows there are torrents, their labels and where the data files are supposed to go. It's only missing the information that are kept in the .torrent which can be retrieved using the magnet URI.

That is an interesting case and I think it should be handled gracefully.

I agree. I also found out that out of my 93 files, there was one torrent that had the "Copy magnet URI" grayed out. So this process might not work with all of the torrents. I'm not sure what was so special about that one.

Anyways, this topic was to help me figure out the reasons for the deleted idea and maybe provide details as to what I mean in case the write up was confusing, which I believe it was.

Any insights as to how to re-articulate this so it's more understandable would be very appreciated.

P.S. Don't let me end this discussion, if people here think it's worth further investigation and would like to talk more about it, then go ahead. I wouldn't mind hearing your thoughts on it.