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I'm searching for a torrent client with following features:

  • Continuously download a file (so video files can be viewed while downloading)
  • Prioritize first and last piece of a file (without last piese some videos cannot be seeked)
  • Windows support

Optional features:

  • Download files in selected order
  • Rehash only selected files in a torrent
  • Search in torrent/file names (I had >1k torrents)
  • Linux version preferable (I have a Linux NAS)

Clients I already tested:

  • µTorrent 2 - continuous downloading can be turned on with a hack, but no way to prioritize last piece. MKV files cannot be seeked with a hardware player then. Files can be only downloaded by order they are listed in the torrent file.

  • µTorrent 3 - IMO even continuous download haven't worked well. Still need a hack to turn continuuos downloading on.

  • qBittorrent - can continuously download a file and prioritize first and last piece, but you must select it for every torrent. No idea how to download files in selected order. I don't like the program itself though. Added: it just failed on downloading the last piece of a file although all peers I was downloading from were seeds.

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    "I don't like the program itself though" <- Say why
    – Nicolas Raoul
    Aug 25, 2014 at 3:05
  • @NicolasRaoul it's gui suxx, it's too simple and doesn't look good. uT3 looks prettier Aug 25, 2014 at 7:44
  • what is continuous downloading compared to regular downloading? and what is the benefit of getting the first and last piece as quickly as possible?
    – ycomp
    Dec 5, 2014 at 22:58
  • @ycomp download a file from beginning to the end instead of random order. See qBittorrent. Dec 6, 2014 at 17:17
  • ah, I guess contiguous downloading would be a better term for that. Continuous is a bit confusing. I guess that could be useful for watching a video before it completes, like streaming. Maybe that's the only use for it? streaming media?
    – ycomp
    Dec 6, 2014 at 17:19

2 Answers 2

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Please note, first of all, that this practice is not encouraged, per Bittorrent etiquette. More here: link.

However, qBittorrent allows, once you started a torrent download, to right-click on it and request both sequential order download, as well as to download the first and last piece first. Hope I understood what your requirements are.

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  • 1. I already mentioned qBittorrent in my answer, but continious download haven't worked always. Imagine I invited a friend to watch a movie, but instead of watching it we have to wait until it fully downloads because qbt fails again. 2. Link you gave is crap a) I don't understand quite how the authors come to this conclusion; b) on trackers I use most peers after initial seeding are seeds so it doesn't matter in which order to download. Oct 5, 2014 at 9:06
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Deluge is free and open source, has a Windows version and has an option for prioritizing first and last pieces in its settings.

It can be configured to download only one torrent at a time, and then you can reorder the torrents to choose which one to download first.

It's cross platform (Python based) and it's a client-server app, so you install the daemon on your NAS and then configure the Windows app to act as a client; you can of course use the Windows client as a stand-alone app as well; there is also a web UI that you can install on your NAS to interact without any kind of client.

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  • Can it continiously download files? Dec 6, 2014 at 17:17

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