Should I Seed Unfinished Torrents?

[Hope Fails]

Hey. I have a question about torrents in which I finish without downloading every file inside the torrent. I've come across a few torrents where I didn't download a few episodes because I had already downloaded them from another source. Will I still be able to seed these torrents properly? On the BakaBT site, it thinks that I'm still leeching them instead of seeding (they're under the red arrow, not the green arrow.). Should I just download the rest of the files in the torrent so I can seed all of them, should I toss the torrents and just seed torrents that I have all the files for, or should I just seed them happily? Does it make any difference? Thanks!

[buchno]

As you're not a power user, you have a cap of 3 simultaneous downloads (otherwise 10). If you reach that cap, and still want to download more, you have no choice but to either stop seeding them or download the rest of the files in the torrents.

...and partial downloading is often discouraged at the trackers I've been at either way.

[ConsiderPhlebas]

If you have exactly the right files, then copy them to the download location and use re-check and whatever is needed in your client to get it all seeding. A torrent file delete and re-dowload and re-check may be easier than fiddling with the settings for files set not to download. Make sure to backup files temporarily to another folder to avoid losing things by mistake.

But realize, the only thing that BakaBT cares for ratio-wise is your total ratio, so if you're uploading anything that's good both for the community and your ratio. If it inhibits whatever you can DL for a period, just pause them. At some point you probably feel you're done with them and then you can just remove them.

[Hope Fails]

Thank you. I didn't know there was anything wrong with partial downloading... but I'll keep that in mind for the future.

I guess I'll remove them, then. I'll just seed my other torrents a bit longer to make amends. Thanks!

[buchno]

If you download single-file torrents like movies you won't have to worry about this ;]

[zherok]

Thank you. I didn't know there was anything wrong with partial downloading... but I'll keep that in mind for the future.

There isn't anything wrong with it here though. As Phlebas said only your overall ratio is considered.

The limit bunchno mentioned will be in effect till you become a power member. Partial torrents will count as downloads while they're active, even if you've completed the portion you want (the tracker has no way of knowing you're done.) But so long as you keep your total ratio in the clear you can do whatever with individual torrents.

[Sashamaru]

Seeding unfinished torrents only becomes an issue is if your account gets warned for having a low ratio or if you've reached your download cap for simultaneous downloads. While warned, you're only able to seed finished torrents, as incomplete torrents are seen as "downloading" by the system. Likewise, as has been mentioned, they'll count toward the number for torrents you're downloading simultaneously.

Otherwise, it's fine to leave an incomplete torrent open to seed what you have. You just want won't connect to as many leechers as you would if you had all the files.

[Hope Fails]

All right, that makes sense. Thank you very much!