Availability

From AzureusWiki

Important things to note

Note that a good (high) availability does not necessarily mean that it's a good torrent (and also read about Bad torrents). Another important thing is that seeds are NOT necessary to finish a download since peers can have data to share too, only an availability above 1 (not counting cases with superseeds).

It's perfectly normal not to connect to all seeds and peers in a swarm - more important is a good Average Swarm Speed.

What does the Availability number tell you?

You could (and should) easily enable the Availability column: just go to the My Torrents tab, right-click where the downloading torrents are queued and choose Column Setup. Enable the Availability column there and hit OK.

Doing this will give you a new column where you can easily spot the Availability of the torrent. This is calculated based on the pieces available from seeds and peers, that you're connected to.

Another option is to open the torrent details via right-click > Show Details or doublecklicking on the torrent in the My Torrents view. The Availability is displayed as a graphic bar and the availability number itself.

Examples:

• 0.000 means that the Tracker is offline or doesn't track this torrent anymore and DHT can't help either or there simply are no seeds left (old torrent).
• 0.249 means there are only parts of the torrent available (in this case 24.9%). Try to wait for seeds, you might have to wait a day or so. Or it is very new and in Superseeding mode
• 0.644 and all other peers stuck at nearly the same percentage (~64.4% in that case) means the torrent is either stuck because it lacks a seed or there is a very slow seed you're currently not connected to. Be patient, that torrent might finish, very slowly.
• 0.999 (or something below 1 near that) means there is almost 100% of the torrent available. This could be a anti-leech-protection, meaning you just have to wait a few hours or days for it to get 100% of it. If you are already trying to get it for 2 weeks or so read the Torrents stop at 99 percent page.
• 1.000 means that there is currently 100% of the torrent available. You are only able to download this torrent when the seed won't go offline before you got all of it.
• 1.846 and many peers stuck at ~84.6% (check the torrent details) means the swarm is either a bad torrent or the only seed is very slow, thus you'll reach 84.6% very fast but the remaining 15.4% will take quite some time (could be hours or days).
• 3.357 means there are some seeds and peers available and you should be able to download the complete torrent, even if a seed stops seeding.
• 69.498 means that you are downloading a torrent with a big swarm - if the Average Swarm Speed is not too low you should be able to download it rather fast (partly depending on your upload too).

Read the Azureus FAQ