Dumb questions with (Hopefully) simple answers

[Provb427]

Good Day!!
About 11-14 years ago I was very active on 3 or 4 torrent sites. Then 11 years ago I moved to 11 acres in the woods. Paradise!! BUT- NO internet. No cable, no DSL, and MAYBE on a good day (outside, about 100 yards down the driveway) I could get 2bars on the phone. Last fall some company got a grant and NOW I have "fiber-optic" cable. But a 7 year old computer. I've been trying for weeks to figure out how to get back to trading. I THINK I have some things worked out BUT- still have ISSUES
QUESTIONS- (in no particular order)
1) Do I put the torrent file INSIDE the folder with the FLAC files to upload?

2) I use Traders Little Helper to make Fingerprint/checksum (FFP, MD5) files, but my "read-out" doesn't look anything like what I remember. Can I just grab the icon from the file and copy/paste on the Announcement page?

3) Is it poor etiquette to post the same show at different sites?

4) I was FINALLY able to download/leech a show (from a different site) Does that imply that i should be able to upload a show (as long as i get the "Announcement page" info correct?
I have tried a few times to upload/seed a Whiskey Myers show (hopefully i will get it right) IF you are a moderator- Im really sorry if I caused issues. I'm really trying to make this all work again.
THANKS!! From a returning Newbee!
Peace, Love, & Understanding!
Provb427

[LeifH12345]

1 - No, you can save the torrent file anywhere you like but not inside the folder you wish to seed

2 - Not sure what you mean, but to make a FFP in TLH, just drag your concert folder into TLH, a menu will appear, then choose create checksum file and go from there. You can do the same to create a torrent file for the concert folder once everything is ready, drag the folder into TLH, create torrent, choose the right tracker/announce URL (eg Traders Den)

3 - No

4 - Theoretically yes

[Provb427]

THANKS for your answers! My computer seems to be going IN and OUT of "firewalled"
Router ports 6881-6889 "forwarded"
Windows Firewall - added Qbittorrent and ABC to allowed apps...
not sure what else to do?

[LeifH12345]

Its ok if you show up as firewalled at TTD, it just means that other firewalled leechers can't download from you. You can still seed to non firewalled users, who will then seed to those who are firewalled.

[dorrcoq]

Originally Posted by LeifH12345

Its ok if you show up as firewalled at TTD, it just means that other firewalled leechers can't download from you. You can still seed to non firewalled users, who will then seed to those who are firewalled.

I've noticed lately that even though I still show as firewalled, other apparent firewalled people CAN download from me. Odd.

[daddyray]

that has been teh case here for me since I started here. Firewall notice is ignored by me.

[Provb427]

I have just noticed that when I JUST open Chrome, everything looks good. BUT when I open a BT client (either one. i have 2- ABC and qBittorrent) Things go to crapland. I'm really bummed that I can't share (at the moment) I was REALLY happy with the show that I recorded and have been looking forward to getting back to sharing and trading.

QUESTION-
Is there a way that I can practice or a test I can run to see if it will work (uploading AND THEN seeding) without having to post a show only to NOT be able to connect properly and NOT be able to seed? It's probably SUPER annoying, and I hate being the short-bus kid in the gang
THNKS

[LeifH12345]

You could upload the files to a cloud service like swisstransfer just to see if you can upload at all, then if your torrent fails have someone download from the cloud service and seed for you

[Audioarchivist]

If you are firewalled, the worst that will happen is you won't be able to connect to someone else who's firewalled. A couple of times, I have seen two people both firewalled, one seed and one leecher, and I with my firewall properly squared away with ports forwarded, got on the torrent to act as a sort of bridge between the two to download from one and seed it all to the second person...

So, I say go for it, and let someone who's not firewalled get in on it. Lots of us have it fixed up - you'll get it out there...

Good luck!

[joujoujou]

Regarding firewalled (or not) status - check it at canyouseeme.org

While have your client up and running enter the port number your client use and hit "check port".

[mr breeze]

i think i'm fixing to lose a harddrive on this downloading machine.
its a 12 year old HP desktop running windows 10 and last week i got a writing error during a download and just now i got a reading error during a download. its on its 2nd or 3rd harddrive.
i know, i need to back up everything which i hope it will work
but can i run checkdisk to save the drive? i used to run that in norton utilities but i dont have that now. i don't even know if windows 10 has that.
any ideas? thanks for any help!
breezey

[Orangeboy]

I found this:

Solved: What to Do with A Dying Hard Drive
A dying hard drive usually accompanies with perceivable signs, like slowing down the computer, frequent freezes, blue/black screen of death, accumulative bad sectors, strange sound, S.M.A.R.T errors...Read the article about what to do with a dying hard drive, and hope you can self-check and repair the dying hard drive.

Updated by Finley on 2026/01/29
Written by Tracy King

What to fo with a dying hard drive? How to deal with it without causing data loss? Follow the detailed guides on this page.

Workable Solutions Step-by-step Troubleshooting
Fix 1. Recover data from hard drive for free If a hard drive is inaccessible, recover data from...Full steps
Fix 2. Back up hard drive The hard drive slows down but works as normal...Full steps
Fix 3. Replace corrupted hard drive The hard drive corrupted with bad sectors...Full steps
Fix 4. Revive a dying hard drive The hard drive is dying, recover data to...Full steps
Hard drive has a limited lifespan. The average lifetime of a stationary hard drive today is around 5-10 years, according to the shared statistics on the internet, even longer if you choose brands of big manufacturers, keep the hard drive running at ambient temperature (25~40℃), and grow a good habit of regularly cleaning the hard drive. Do not heavily shake the computer host, drop coffee or juice on it. Strong variations in temperature, humidity, and motion will undoubtedly reduce the hard drive's lifespan, the realistic hard drive lifetime is probably around 3-5 years.

Imagine a hard drive that you bought 3 years ago. One day, you brought a cup of morning coffee and sat in front of your computer, supposing to continue the project of last night's. Oops, it takes almost 30 minutes to start up the computer, what's worse, the project.pdf cannot open, it's corrupted. All signs of the slow startup and file corruption suggest your hard drive is failing. What to do with a dying hard drive? In the best of cases, a gradual failure is a good thing, it has commonplace symptoms, giving you a chance to react, create an exact backup, and prepare for a hard drive replacement.

Six Signs Your Hard Drive Is Dying
Here is a list of symptoms and signs of a dying hard drive. And if you observed two of three signs on your computer, it means that your hard drive is probably dying.

1. The computer becomes extremely slow, frequently freezes, stuck in the blue/black screen of death.
2. Hard drive overheating, making strange sounds, clicking noises.
3. Data loss, corrupted, files disappear and won’t open.
4. Slow processing speed and startup.
5. Increasing bad sectors.
6. S.M.A.R.T errors.
If you are having the above-all listed symptoms, your hard drive is almost dead. Follow on, you can check and diagnose if your hard drive is dying or dead.

Diagnose Hard Drive: Dying or Dead?
With the below tips, you’ll be able to check the S.M.A.R.T status on your hard drive, based on which you can tell if your hard drive is dying or dead.

Step 1: Press Windows+X keys and choose Command Prompt (Admin).
Step 2: Type: wmic diskdrive get status and press Enter.

Syntax explanation:
Status "OK": Everything is working properly on your hard drive.
Status "Bad", "Caution" or "Unknown": Your hard drive has problems that may lead to death.

Upon a dead hard drive, you won't be able to run Windows OS, or even with a normal boot, the computer won't recognize it. Aside from running cmd command, you may also turn to some new tips for checking if a disk is alright or not. Here are some tutorials for you to follow and go deeper in checking a disk statue:

How to Tell If a Hard Drive Is Bad Check Hard Drive Health
After checking the disk status, you may have two questions, and you can check and find the answers here:

What to Do with A Dying Hard Drive?
A dying hard drive is not dead yet, it's facing imminent failure. So, take care of the data. This should be the prior thing to do.

STEP 1: Hard drive inaccessible? Recover data.
Losing data or file corruption is normal when a hard drive is dying. You should first move to save existing data and restore lost files from the dying hard drive immediately.

If you failed to create a hard drive data backup, reliable data recovery software like EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is able to help. It enables you to recover data from almost all situations when a hard drive is dying or facing logical problems.

Support recovering data from the following problematic hard drive:

Hard drive becomes RAW, cannot open.
Hard drive is not formatted with errors.
Hard drive corrupted, not readable.
Tutorial: Use EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to recover data from inaccessible hard drive

The scanning process might be a little bit longer than its normal speed since it's canning a dying hard drive which may have bad sectors or other errors. Wait patiently when this software is trying to scan and find all your data.

Step 1. Scan the hard drive partition

Select the drive on your hard disk where you lost or deleted files. Click "Search for Lost Data" and let EaseUS data recovery software scan for all lost data and files on the selected drive.

Step 2. Check the results

When the scan completes, you can apply the "Filter" feature or click the "Search files or folders" option to find the lost files on the hard drive.

Step 3. Restore lost hard drive data

Select wanted files that you lost on the drive and click "Recover" to save them to another location.

💡Tip: You can restore data on the local disks, external hard drives, and also the cloud storage.

STEP 2. Hard drive slows down but works as normal? Backup data.
You have multiple ways to back up a failing hard drive. EaseUS free backup software is a popular choice among home users and small businesses. It uncovers most features and allows users to backup disk/partition, files, and system for free.

STEP 3. Hard drive corrupted, growing bad sectors? Replace it with a new one.
When your hard drive has too many bad sectors and even the data recovery software cannot run a quick scan, you need to replace it with a new one, to prevent further more data loss.

To clone a failing hard drive with all data to an external hard drive or a new hard drive, you can continue using another EaseUS product called EaseUS Disk Copy.

STEP 4: Revive a dying hard drive
After saving all useful files and data to a secure storage device, your next move is to find some possible ways to revive the dying disk. Try the following troubleshooting methods one by one.

Method 1. Change power cables and SATA cables, and turn on ATA/SATA in BIOS

You need to reconnect your hard drive to your PC and then enable ATA/SATA in BIOS to check out if it’s working fine.

Shut down the PC and unplug the data cable from the hard drive properly.
Reconnect the hard drive with data and power cables.
Restart PC and press F2 to enter BIOS.
Enter Setup and check system documentation to see whether the not detected hard drive is turned Off in System Setup or not.
If it's Off, turn it ON in System Setup.
Reboot PC to check out and find your hard drive in Windows Explorer.
Then restart the PC, Windows will automatically reinstall the drivers on the hard drive. If not, continue with the following steps.

Method 2. Update the hard drive drivers

Click the "Start" button, type: Device Manager, and hit Enter.
Select Device Manager, expand categories to find the name of your hard drive, and right-click it.
Select "Update Driver".
Select "Search automatically for updated driver software".
If Windows doesn't find a new driver for your drive, find the latest one on the device manufacturer's website.
If the above steps don't work, try re-installing the drivers: Open Device Manager. Right-click on your hard drive and select "Roll Back Driver" or "Uninstall".
Then restart the PC, Windows will automatically reinstall the drivers on the hard drive.
Method 3. Test and check if the bad sectors are overtaking the disk

You can run EaseUS Partition Master Free on your computer with its Surface Test feature to check out how many bad sectors exist on the disk. According to a survey, it's said when the existing bad sectors surpass 20%, your hard drive may have a slow issue.

Method 4. Repair the hard drive under the warranty

When the bad sectors are over 50%, it’s dying and it won’t be able to function normally again.

Your best choice is to take your hard drive to the customer service center and get warranty service.

Original link: https://www.easeus.com/storage-media...ard-drive.html

"Textised" link: https://www.textise.net/showText.asp...ard-drive.html

[mr breeze]

thank you orangeboy!

[joujoujou]

Originally Posted by mr breeze

i think i'm fixing to lose a harddrive on this downloading machine.
its a 12 year old HP desktop running windows 10 and last week i got a writing error during a download and just now i got a reading error during a download. its on its 2nd or 3rd harddrive.
i know, i need to back up everything which i hope it will work
but can i run checkdisk to save the drive? i used to run that in norton utilities but i dont have that now. i don't even know if windows 10 has that.
any ideas? thanks for any help!
breezey

Get yourself Crystal Disk Info (freeware, Standard Edition is more than enough) and run it.

If any of your drives is marked red - backup everything asap. Share the results (screenshots) if unsure.

It is extremely unlikely that a faulty drive would be "repaired" to trusted state, so if you like your stored data, better get yourself new hard drive.

Note that there are only 3 manufacturers left: Western Digital, Toshiba and Seagate (I personally avoid the latter like a plague - nothing but problems with them, all the Seagates I had so far already landed in a skip).

[mr breeze]

thank you joujoujou!