Sending large files to a friend without a web service? Create a torrent!

There have been times that I have needed to send large files (like I'm talking around 1Gb or more) to my friends...and well, you know - something over 5Mb is just plain rude to send through email. There are 3rd party services like transferbigfiles.com, yousendit.com, FilesOverMiles.com and others. It's great to have these available, but sometimes I just don't want to use a 3rd party service, but I do want to take advantage of the great features that the Bittorrent protocol gives me.

So, how do I send a copy of a DVD of home movies to my family?

Here's a great article from www.bootstrike.com: Creating a [Private] Torrent using uTorrent (Guide/Tutorial) Version 0.51 - the title says it all.

The summary goes something like this:

• Install uTorrent
• Identify your IP address and upload port for uTorrent incoming connections (you will need an address that will be yours for as long as you need to upload the file to your friend/family)
• Enable the self-tracking feature of uTorrent via the setup options.
  
• Note your tracker URL - - i.e. http://yourip:incomingport/announce
• Add a Torrent with your file or folder you wish to share, add your local tracker to the torrent. Enable 'start seeding' and 'private torrent' then click 'Create and save as...'
• Send the Torrent file to your friend/family and have them drag it into their Torrent downloader.

To get optimum performance from your BitTorrent client, check out the great guide provided by bootstrike.com here: http://www.bootstrike.com/Articles/BitTorrentGuide/