Free Downloads - File Sharing Guide

Before we get into downloading anything, you should know where the files come from. Most 'warez', or copyrighted material, is spread through a small group of friends (more like an anonymous group of people) over an FTP connection. FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, is just one of the many ways you can transfer files from one computer to another. These groups of friends can also be called 'scene' groups. You've probably seen some of their names before and never realized what it was. These groups can specialize in anything from mp3 music files to software to video games. Almost anything you can store on a drive can be found and is made available on the internet. From FTP, the files tend to show up on Usenet newsgroups, and finally to Bittorrent sites like The Pirate Bay. It's no wonder why the Pirate Bay has become one of the largest (torrent) sites on the net.

Bittorrent is a type of protocol (a set of rules and description of how to do things) allowing you to download large files quickly by allowing people downloading the file to upload parts of it at the same time. The .torrent protocol is mostly used for finding free music as well as free movies. To download a '.torrent' file, you must use a bittorrent client. I suggest uTorrent, Azureus, or Transmission, however, there are a number of clients which all accomplish the same thing.

One of the most important parts of downloading torrents is your torrent tracker. There are two types of trackers, public and private. Public torrent sites tend to have a lot more users which can result in slower download speeds. As a general rule, I suggest using private trackers 100% of the time. There are people who will tell you otherwise but in order to be completely safe from prying eyes, one should join a private community. A good place to start is Demonoid which is essentially a public tracker because they don't seem to care about your ratio (how much you've downloaded in relation to your uploaded amount). If you frequent the forums you will find it very easy to get into other private torrent sites. Note that invites to private sites are usually not given to just anyone that asks. Be polite and active and you'll get one. It takes time to reach the higher level torrent sites, but it's worth it when you see the content available for download.

If you're new to the world of torrenting it can be hard for some to catch onto the lingo. While there's a lot of terms out there, the most important ones you should know are 'seed' or 'seeder', 'peer' or 'leecher', and 'ratio.' A seed AKA seeder is simply someone who is sharing the file. He or she likely isn't the person who originally uploaded the torrent. A peer AKA leecher is someone else like you who is downloading the file. Now your ratio won't really matter until you reach the level of private sites. Your ratio is the amount of data you downloaded compared to the amount you uploaded. One of the biggest mistakes i see people make in transitioning from public to private torrent sites is that they have trouble maintaining a positive ratio (1:1 at the least). The best way to maintain a 1:1 ratio is to simply leave your torrents seeding (sharing). There's always the option of uploading some material yourself but I recommend staying clear from that if you're a beginner. Mainly because private sites tend to have strict rules regarding the quality of their torrents.

It should be known that your free downloads aren't exactly 'free'. You're putting your safety on the line when you when you torrent copyrighted material. This is why I wan't you to pay attention to the following steps. Enable encryption is an option in many torrent clients nowadays. Use it. Be sure to forward a port if you're using your internet through a router.

Usenet is considered to be one of the most "private" ways to share and obtain files. Private meaning this method is the least likely to get you into problems with the RIAA or MPAA. Newsgroups are fast, have a whole lot of content, and are getting more popular even though the technology is 30 years old. Sounds fantastic, only downside is that a high speed Usenet server isn't free. However, prices have been steadily decreasing and there are a number of decent deals out there for less money (Astraweb, Giganews).

There are two ways to access newgroups -- a) using a "web browser" or b) use of "newsreader" software. Like many programs today, there are free news readers and paid versions. Follow the news reader link for links directly to developers of news readers, short descriptions of each application, and also links to web-based news readers.

If you're using a news reader to access newsgroups, the news reader makes its connections through the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP). Once you decide on a news reader software and install on it your computer, you'll need to configure it to connect to a Usenet server. Your news reader will likely ask you to associate itself with NZB files. These are essentially the .torrent files of the newsgroups world. Once launched you'll be asked to enter the name of your Usenet provider. If you have a premium news server then enter your username and password that was given to you. Now to find something to download... try out Newzleech or NZBMatrix which are basic NZB index sites. Import the NZB file to your news reader, tell it where to save, and your done!

The best way to describe one-click hosting is a site that is financed by the subscriptions of paying users. The users can upload any number of files up the site's file limit. This range can be as low as 100MB or as high as 1-2GB. All of these files reside on the site's servers which tend to be huge in capacity. In more simpler terms, these servers are housing just about anything you could ever think of, literally anything that could be stored on a harddisk. Currently, some of the most popular one-click hosting sites are Rapidshare, Megaupload, Sendspace, Sharebee, etc.

Most of the sites have restrictions in some form for its free users. For example, Rapidshare requires a 15 minute wait time in between each download unless you are a premium user. Don't worry though. Where there's a will, there's someone who can write an amazing script that will do it all for you. These gems are called premium link generators. Basically, users who have purchased premium accounts on, let's say Rapidshare, can donate their account to be used. Those who donate their accounts can still download normally, but they are also helping others by getting around wait times. It's a win win situation, really. Some of my link generators are Grablinksby, RsLinkGens, and Rapid8. You're probably wondering where you can find links to all of the movies, games, software, and music the internet has to offer. A solid site to try is Warez-BB. If an mp3 music search engine sounds good to you, I recommend sites such as albumwash, albumhunt, or soundarea for all the free music downloads you can fit on your drive.

As I was updating this, I realized that I left out an important section for you all. One of my biggest dilemas is finding space for everything I download. 2 TB sounds like a lot, but if you gave me a few months I could fill it. Probably sooner than later.

When it comes to choosing a harddrive, you should really go with your gut. The truth is, at some point, you're going to need to replace the drive. I've already gone through two in just three months. Personally, I've always had good results with Seagate, Lacie and Western Digital. If you're looking for the cheapest price, I'd say buy yours online. You should know that the drives warranty could be affected depending on your vendor. My favorite places to buy them are Amazon, Newegg, and TigerDirect.