Libraries

Datasets larger than 5GB deposited in ScholarsArchive@OSU will be distributed using the BitTorrent protocol. BitTorrent, in essence, splits the file into smaller pieces, distributes the smaller pieces to you, and then reconstructs them to recreate the whole - all in a way that reduces impact on our computer networks. In addition, each “piece” of the file carries a marker that helps verify the validity and integrity of the final file. 

The link to the file in ScholarsArchive@OSU is actually a link to the torrent file for the dataset. This torrent file can be loaded to a torrent client, at which point the process of retrieving and reconstructing the dataset will commence. Any BitTorrent client should allow you to download the dataset you seek from ScholarsArchive@OSU. If you do not already have a client, our current recommendation is to use qBittorrent. 

• Download qBittorrent: https://www.qbittorrent.org/download.php
• The official documentation is here: https://github.com/qbittorrent/qBittorrent/wiki
• Instructions on adding and deleting torrents can be found here: https://mariogarontechwriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/qBittorrent2.pdf

You can control your torrent download through the qBittorrent interface; for example, select your destination folder before the download begins, choose only certain files to be download from a torrent (all the files from a torrent will be downloaded by default), and pause and resume torrents. 

For further assistance with downloading large datasets, contact ScholarsArchive@OSU through the contact form at https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/contact.