Can I seed files that have been renamed and moved?

[kiwichick888]

Hi everyone, I'm relatively new to downloading using torrents and I know this has been asked before, so I apologise if I've done the wrong thing by posting again but one thing I'm struggling to understand is if completed files can be renamed and moved (in that order) but still be seeded. I really want to seed back the files I download but I'm not keeping them in the folder they are downloaded to, they don't all get moved to the same folder, and pretty much everything gets renamed because a) the standard naming conventions are messy/inconsistent and b) some files aren't named correctly (wrong title/year/episode number). I've read a few posts online and some say it's possible by doing this, that and the other, and some say it's not possible at all. I would really appreciate some clarification on this and, if it is possible, what is the correct method (there seems to be conflicting advice regarding the method)? I'm using qBittorrent v4.40beta1 on a laptop running up-to-date Windows 10. Thanks

[unseen19]

Hi and welcome

Yes this is possible. You can rename file(s), folder(s), and move torrent to another location BUT all need to be done through the QBT interface. This is valid for any Bittorrent client. If you change anything at the filesystem level (explorer) it will be in error in QBT and no longer seed.

You have the option "Rename" and "Set location" when you right click a torrent. You can
-rename the displayed torrent name in QBT
-rename the effective file (select a torrent and click on "Content" section to see/rename real file name

I proceed this way with a generic d/l location then a folder structure shared where I put all the files. The shares are accessed by media box and other computer of the house.

[kiwichick888]

Hi and welcome

Yes this is possible. You can rename file(s), folder(s), and move torrent to another location BUT all need to be done through the QBT interface. This is valid for any Bittorrent client. If you change anything at the filesystem level (explorer) it will be in error in QBT and no longer seed.

You have the option "Rename" and "Set location" when you right click a torrent. You can
-rename the displayed torrent name in QBT
-rename the effective file (select a torrent and click on "Content" section to see/rename real file name

I proceed this way with a generic d/l location then a folder structure shared where I put all the files. The shares are accessed by media box and other computer of the house.

Thanks very much unseen19, yes that way certainly works. I understand the need to do it in qBt but it's a shame there isn't another way to do it because it's very time-consuming when needing to rename a large number of files. I use a file manger that has scripting so I can rename bulk files at once. I guess that's made me used to doing it fast

[unseen19]

Is duplicating the file an option?

I see no easy way for your request but if the space is not an issue you can duplicate the downloaded folder (left untouched for seeding purpose) and work on a copy elsewhere. Sort/rename/move is then no more an issue (but storage well).

[Peter]

well you can use script + qbt API to do the rename inside then I guess. (if its exposed to API ofc)

[kiwichick888]

well you can use script + qbt API to do the rename inside then I guess. (if its exposed to API ofc)

Sorry Peter, I have no idea how I never saw your comment. Can you please point me in the right direction for how I might go about this? Since I posted I have changed my renaming method from using my file explorer's scripting to using FileBot - if that makes any difference to the process I might use for renaming/moving.

[Peter]

Okay so.

OPTION A - Use Hard Links:

I think it would be easiest if you used hard links. I THINK.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windo ... -junctions

You could simply:
1) close qB
2) move files
3) create hard links to new location

Renaming is much harder, since the torrent contains the file names too.

OPTION B - Use the WebUI API:

https://github.com/qbittorrent/qBittorr ... ename-file

Option C - Change the FASTRESUME/btbackup files.

This is the most complicated, since you'd basically go behind qB's back and change the files. Things can go bad easily, but it is an option.

1) close qB
2) move files
3) edit the qB files like FASTRESUME
4) start qB

https://pypi.org/project/bencode.py/
https://www.libtorrent.org/reference-Resume_Data.html

[pasimetes]

I agree with Peter, I just used LLM to help me write a powershell script to hard-link my SNL episodes according to themoviedb so that plex could scrape them properly.

I just relocated the torrent to 'original files' location and created hard-links with correct naming. It works perfect and the hard links do not use any extra disk space.

Code: Select all

# Define the source and destination directories
$sourceDir = "\\192.168.0.68\media2\tv\Saturday Night Live\original files\Saturday Night Live Best Of"
$destinationDir = "\\192.168.0.68\media2\tv\Saturday Night Live\Specials"

# Define the mapping between original files and renamed files
$tvdbMapping = @{
    "SNL in the 80s (2007).avi" = "S00E81 - SNL in the 80's Lost and Found.avi"
    "SNL_ 25th Anniversary (1999).avi" = "S00E08 - Saturday Night Live 25th Anniversary.avi"
    "SNL_ Christmas (1999).avi" = "S00E177 - SNL Christmas.avi"
    "SNL_ The Best of Chris Farley (2000).avi" = "S00E12 - The Best of Chris Farley.avi"
    "SNL_ The Best of Commercial Parodies (2006).avi" = "S00E54 - The Best of Commercial Parodies.avi"
    "SNL_ The Best of Dan Aykroyd (2005).avi" = "S00E36 - The Best of Dan Aykroyd.avi"
    "SNL_ The Best of John Belushi (2005).avi" = "S00E38 - The Best of John Belushi.avi"
    "SNL_ The Best of Mike Myers (1999).avi" = "S00E25 - The Best of Mike Myers.avi"
    "SNL_ The Best of Steve Martin (2000).avi" = "S00E11 - The Best of Steve Martin.avi"
    "SNL_ The Best of Tom Hanks (2005).avi" = "S00E33 - The Best of Tom Hanks.avi"
    "SNL_ The Best of Tracey Morgan (2004).avi" = "S00E29 - The Best of Tracy Morgan.avi"
    "SNL_ The Best of TV Funhouse (2006).avi" = "S00E48 - The Best of Saturday TV Funhouse.avi"
    "SNL_ The Best Of Will Ferrell Vol. 2.avi" = "S00E28 - The Best of Will Ferrell Vol. 2.avi"
    "SNL_Halloween (2003).avi" = "S00E179 - Saturday Night Live Halloween.avi"
    "SNL_The Best of 2006-07 (2007).avi" = "S00E70 - The Best of '06 '07.avi"
    "SNL_The Best of Adam Sandler (1999).avi" = "S00E09 - The Best of Adam Sandler.avi"
    "SNL_The Best of Alec Baldwin (2006).avi" = "S00E32 - The Best of Alec Baldwin.avi"
    "SNL_The Best of Amy  Poehler.avi" = "S00E119 - The Best of Amy Poehler.avi"
    "SNL_The Best of Cheri Oteri (2004).avi" = "S00E53 - The Best of Cheri Oteri.avi"
    "SNL_The Best of Chris Rock (1999).avi" = "S00E24 - The Best of Chris Rock.avi"
    "SNL_The Best of Christopher Walken (2004).avi" = "S00E27 - The Best of Christopher Walken.avi"
    "SNL_The Best of Dana Carvey (1999).avi" = "S00E10 - The Best of Dana Carvey.avi"
    "SNL_The Best of David Spade (2005).avi" = "S00E17 - The Best of David Spade.avi"
    "SNL_The Best of Eddie Murphy (1998).avi" = "S00E22 - The Best of Eddie Murphy.avi"
    "SNL_The Best of Gilda Radner (2005).avi" = "S00E37 - The Best of Gilda Radner.avi"
    "SNL_The Best of Jimmy Fallon (2005).avi" = "S00E31 - The Best of Jimmy Fallon.avi"
    "SNL_The Best of Jon Lovitz (2005).avi" = "S00E34 - Best Of Jon Lovitz.avi"
    "SNL_The Best of Molly_Shannon.avi" = "S00E13 - The Best of Molly Shannon.avi"
    "SNL_The Best of Phil_Hartman.avi" = "S00E23 - The Best of Phil Hartman.avi"
    "SNL_The Best of Will Ferrell, Vol. 1 (1995).avi" = "S00E14 - The Best of Will Ferrell.avi"
    "SNL_The Best ofChris_Kattan.avi" = "S00E26 - The Best of Chris Kattan.avi"
    "SNL_The First 5 Years (2005).avi" = "S00E35 - Live from New York The First Five Years of Saturday Night Live.avi"
}


# Ensure destination directory exists
if (!(Test-Path -Path $destinationDir)) {
    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $destinationDir
}

# Create hard links
foreach ($originalFile in $tvdbMapping.Keys) {
    $renamedFile = $tvdbMapping[$originalFile]
    $sourcePath = Join-Path -Path $sourceDir -ChildPath $originalFile
    $destinationPath = Join-Path -Path $destinationDir -ChildPath $renamedFile

    if (Test-Path -Path $sourcePath) {
        try {
            New-Item -ItemType HardLink -Path $destinationPath -Value $sourcePath
            Write-Host "Hard link created: $renamedFile"
        } catch {
            Write-Host ("Error creating link for {0}: {1}" -f $originalFile, $Error[0]) -


        }
    } else {
        Write-Host "File not found: $originalFile" -ForegroundColor Yellow
    }
}