IMO comments about
Bittorrent downloading vs HTTP or FTP should be shortened, simplified for clarity.
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For any other download method, the checksum (MD5) check is critical.
For Bittorrent, it's unnecessary and overkill because a Torrent download automatically checksums every one of the hundreds or thousands of pieces as well as the final re-constructed file. The only way a torrent download can be damaged is if the original source file is damaged.
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For the
first few hours after a Source file is available, downloads will be no faster and might be slower than HTTP or FTP downloads but anywhere from about 5-18 hrs later in general downloads can be far faster.
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All torrent downloads start slow regardless of the ultimate speed, so don't get excited about how slow the download might be for the first half hour to hour, and expect the download to slow the last 15 minutes or so.
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Do be a "Good Citizen" when using Torrent, you don't have to upload as fast as you download but especially on a legal file like this don't be afraid to allow uploads as fast as you are able.
The bottom line is, if you use Torrent to download enormous files like ISOs, you're almost guaranteed to get a perfect file when done, but if your your HTTP or FTP download is corrupted, you'll have to start over... and maybe over... and over again...