How To Seed Moved Or Renamed Files In BitTorrent

BitTorrent etiquette dictates that once you've downloaded files, you also seed them to help others' downloads go quickly. If you need to move or rename your download, everything's thrown off. Lifehacker reader Jake Champion explains how to seed after moving or renaming files.

This feature is available in uTorrent version 1.8 and later. You can't change file names and keep seeding with earlier versions of uTorrent.

You can use this guide if you move or rename the folder in addition to changing file names.

It's possible to change file (and folder) names because they are not really parts of the files. They are like ''labels'' that tell the computer where to find the content of the files.

After such changes, you need to re-target the files in uTorrent if you want to keep seeding the torrent. The procedure for doing this is the same no matter if the torrent is already loaded in uTorrent or if you add it as a new torrent.

Seed Renamed Files

1. If the torrent is already loaded in uTorrent, right-click it and choose ''Stop'' (if it is not already stopped). If you are adding a new torrent with changed file names, make sure that you add it in stopped mode (or stop it very quickly if you fail to do this). 2. Select the torrent, then click the ''Files'' tab in the lower pane. (If you have no lower pane, click ''Options'' and check ''Show detailed info''.) 3. Right-click a file and choose ''Relocate...'' from the menu. (If you have also changed the folder name, or moved the folder, you need to browse to the right folder.) 4. When you are in the right folder, simply click the new file name for the file, then click ''Save''. Be careful that you really choose the right file: sometimes uTorrent and Explorer show the files in different order. You will see the changed file name in the file list in uTorrent. 5. Optional: When you have changed all the file names to the new names, you may want to right-click the torrent and choose ''Force re-check'' in order to be sure that all the files were pointed to the right new names. 6. Right-click the torrent and choose ''Start'' (or ''Force Start'' if you want to make sure the torrent does not get queued).

Seed Files Inside a Renamed Folder

1. Stop the torrent by right-clicking it and choosing ''Stop''. 2. In uTorrent, right-click the torrent and choose ''Advanced - Set Download Location...'' 3. Browse to the moved and/or re-named folder, click OK. 4. Optional: If you have re-named the folder and want to change the name of the torrent so that the new name shows in uTorrent too, select the torrent and (left-)click it again. (Or select the torrent and press F2.) 5. Optional: If you want to be really sure you got it right, right-click the torrent and choose ''Force Re-Check''. When it stops checking, uTorrent should say that 100 per cent is done. 6. Right-click the torrent and choose ''Start'' (or ''Force Start'' if you want to make sure the torrent does not get queued).