Preallocating

[zuniger]

81mb update been going for 20 min now wtf steam

[Phantom]

Preallocation shouldn't take very long, since it's just 'reserving' disk space for game files.

If it is never-ending, then your anti-virus software could be affecting the process.

This is the common explanation.

Just note that i'm on a SLUGGISH HDD and preallocation for 1 GB + games do not take that long.

[zuniger]

ill look into the anti virus thing my computer is decent so idk why it takes so long although it only does this sometimes

[MonkehMaster]

Originally posted by Robin3sk:

Preallocation shouldn't take very long, since it's just 'reserving' disk space for game files.

If it is never-ending, then your anti-virus software could be affecting the process.

This is the common explanation.

Just note that i'm on a SLUGGISH HDD and preallocation for 1 GB + games do not take that long.

the "preallocation" takes long on my pc and im using a ssd that isnt even 1/4 the way full and i dont use an antivirus on this pc because it doesnt go on the internet aside from steam and other gaming platforms.

so... its not an antivirus thats causing this, its steam using a feature that is useless and unwanted.

[zuniger]

Originally posted by MonkehMaster:

Originally posted by Robin3sk:

Preallocation shouldn't take very long, since it's just 'reserving' disk space for game files.

If it is never-ending, then your anti-virus software could be affecting the process.

This is the common explanation.

Just note that i'm on a SLUGGISH HDD and preallocation for 1 GB + games do not take that long.

the "preallocation" takes long on my pc and im using a ssd that isnt even 1/4 the way full and i dont use an antivirus on this pc because it doesnt go on the internet aside from steam and other gaming platforms.

so... its not an antivrus thats causing this, its steam using a feature that is useless and unwanted.

they really need to remove said "feature" then its so bad

[Phantom]

Originally posted by MonkehMaster:

the "preallocation" takes long on my pc and im using a ssd that isnt even 1/4 the way full and i dont use an antivirus on this pc because it doesnt go on the internet aside from steam and other gaming platforms.

Note that i said your AV software could cause NEVER-ENDING preallocation.

Just for clarity, in case you misread or hastely replied; it means that games are stuck at preallocation.

This is just one of the many explanations.

Some AV software and other security programs tend to affect this process.

a feature that is useless and unwanted.

Some users do not even know what preallocation does; much less be able to see its potential benefits.

As i said, the preallocation process 'reserves' disk space.

When you check the drive properties, you will see space used up.

If prealloction did not exist for very large games, you could in theory run out of space if you decided to download 4k movies or some ISO—[while Steam is downloading a large game].

This is just a smaller part of the bigger picture, as it also helps to prevent other download issues further down the line.

I would not explain anything further, considering your ignorance in many threads...

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/10/1744479063984471720/?ctp=2#c1744480966989753858

[Autumny]

I'm experiencing slow preallocating. My computer ran out of space so I though to download BlackOpsIII on a USB drive. Now I know the game is very large (Almost 100GB) so I made sure the drive would have some wiggle room once installed so it can't be because it is cramped. It has been allocating for about 26 hours now and is a little more than half way done. It hasn't even began downloading.

[Starweaver]

The preallocation thing is just a bs thing they started. Really, if you don't know if you have enough drive space for a download, why are you even trying? I just had a 99kb update. Yes, you read that right!! 99kb!! It took over 20 min for the preallocation and another 10 min for install. Don't even say there's anything wrong with my system. I use many other companies' download and install/update services and NONE are as bad or as slow as Steam has become. It's ridiculous! Even their download speeds are just stupid slow. I have a 200Mb+ connection speed and it's still being throttled by Steam.

Just eliminate the preallocation phase already! I'd go as far to say that most people have 1TB drives by now and preallocation is just a waste of time! Even SSD has dropped radically in price now to almost the same, if not less, than hard disk drives of the same storage capacity.

[StillFrozen]

Originally posted by Starweaver:

The preallocation thing is just a bs thing they started. Really, if you don't know if you have enough drive space for a download, why are you even trying? I just had a 99kb update. Yes, you read that right!! 99kb!! It took over 20 min for the preallocation and another 10 min for install. Don't even say there's anything wrong with my system. I use many other companies' download and install/update services and NONE are as bad or as slow as Steam has become. It's ridiculous! Even their download speeds are just stupid slow. I have a 200Mb+ connection speed and it's still being throttled by Steam.

Just eliminate the preallocation phase already! I'd go as far to say that most people have 1TB drives by now and preallocation is just a waste of time! Even SSD has dropped radically in price now to almost the same, if not less, than hard disk drives of the same storage capacity.

1.) Nice Necro

2.) it sounds like you have 0 idea on how in depth computer tech works and what preallocation means and what it’s actually doing... it’s not just “looking” for space. In a someone simple term, It’s organizing, categorizing, and altering files and folders for more fluid download and install so there’s less chance of corrupt/missing files....

[MonkehMaster]

Originally posted by Frozen:

Originally posted by Starweaver:

The preallocation thing is just a bs thing they started. Really, if you don't know if you have enough drive space for a download, why are you even trying? I just had a 99kb update. Yes, you read that right!! 99kb!! It took over 20 min for the preallocation and another 10 min for install. Don't even say there's anything wrong with my system. I use many other companies' download and install/update services and NONE are as bad or as slow as Steam has become. It's ridiculous! Even their download speeds are just stupid slow. I have a 200Mb+ connection speed and it's still being throttled by Steam.

Just eliminate the preallocation phase already! I'd go as far to say that most people have 1TB drives by now and preallocation is just a waste of time! Even SSD has dropped radically in price now to almost the same, if not less, than hard disk drives of the same storage capacity.

1.) Nice Necro

2.) it sounds like you have 0 idea on how in depth computer tech works and what preallocation means and what it’s actually doing...

ssd's dont need preallocation, as well ssd's are designed to run with fragmentation, we dont need the feature, we can decide if our storage drives are full or not.

we shouldnt have to sit around waiting for steam to "preallocate" our games, then decide when we can start downloading and installing.

preallocation can take anywhere from double or more the amount of time it takes to download and install, not including steam shoddy download speeds that drop to 0 quite frequently.

its a unwanted and unneeded feature.

[[N]ebsun]

Without pre-allocation, you would end up with people filling their drives up and complaining that stuff is getting borked. I could imaging people installing many games at once, then when the installs fail due to no space, they will come here to complain in just the same way.

Sure many people have 1TB hdd, but how much of that is already used - how much is going to be used in the future, in the next 5 minutes, over the course of 1 week, month, year.. pre-allocating the space ensures there is enough space available for the game to install and update.

If it took 20 minutes to allocate 99kb there is probably something wrong.

I wouldn't try installing stuff onto a usb flash drive - especially as large as 100GB.. even the fastest ones are very slow, and I don't think they have the same protection against data corruption as an internal hdd/ssd drive.

[zuniger]

Originally posted by Nebsun:

Without pre-allocation, you would end up with people filling their drives up and complaining that stuff is getting borked. I could imaging people installing many games at once, then when the installs fail due to no space, they will come here to complain in just the same way.

Sure many people have 1TB hdd, but how much of that is already used - how much is going to be used in the future, in the next 5 minutes, over the course of 1 week, month, year.. pre-allocating the space ensures there is enough space available for the game to install and update.

If it took 20 minutes to allocate 99kb there is probably something wrong.

I wouldn't try installing stuff onto a usb flash drive - especially as large as 100GB.. even the fastest ones are very slow, and I don't think they have the same protection against data corruption as an internal hdd/ssd drive.

id prefer the occasional complaint from idiots who cant check how much space they have its not a hard thing to do