Steam Library constantly corrupted and 100 disk usage cause?

[Vulcan]

This is an ongoing problem I have that I've found confusing and difficult to research. I'm NOT looking for a solution, because I'm getting a new computer very soon. However I would like to rule out this being caused by Steam so this isn't repeated.

I have a 1.5TB SSD divided into four parts: C, D, E, and F.
C and D are smaller, and I use them the least. No problems with either of them. E and F are 465GB each and contain the majority of my files. Task manager divides them into Disk 0 (C,D) and Disk 1 (E,F). E is my dedicated game library, for Steam and Blizzard's client. It has the most use between installing and uninstalling games. F is my dumping ground for unsorted files.

Files and directories on E are constantly getting corrupted without any clear pattern. It usually is a folder that will give the "corrupted and unreadable" error, and I need to chkdsk /f to remove the folder. It can be a random folder deep in a game's directory, or this time my entire steamapps/common folder just got corrupted. This can happen between restarts, or just in an hour when I'm not using the E drive at all.

Tied into this, when trying to open a corrupt directory, the task managed will spike the disk usage of disk 1 (E,F) to 100% active time. It will stay at 100 for a few minutes or until I restart. Anything using the disks in that time will take much longer than usual. However, no process in the task manager is claiming the activity, and the resource monitor looks completely normal. It's always Disk 1, and never Disk 0.

The earliest this problem happened was probably over a year ago. I didn't give it much thought until it became more common. It's been happening a LOT more in the past couple of weeks. I have never had any files or folders get corrupted outside of the E drive, not even the F drive. Ask for additional specs if you need them, but I'm running Windows 10 and this is an SSD divided into four drives.

If this happens to be something I can fix myself, great. I'm not looking to spend any money on this computer anymore, I just need to know it's the fault of the SSD and not Steam before I put my games on another drive, and before I start using my new computer. I just want to be sure is all. Thanks in advance for any help.

[ReBoot]

Entirely possible the drive is at fault. Rather likely actually.

[Dr.Shadowds 🐉]

1. Why did you need to petition your SSD??? It's not going to make it faster, as it's not a HDD. SSD is nano flash vs a spinning disk on the HDD.

2. It sounds like corruption, compression error, or device is defective.

3. Do you use any 3rd party software that manage your files, or downloads? If so what is it?

[Crazy Tiger]

This is the typical behaviour of a failing drive.

[Vulcan]

I didn't separate it, it came divided from the factory.

Otherwise no third party software involved. The E drive is literally two folders, one for Steam and one for Blizzard. All file handling is done by Steam or the Blizzard client.

[spaceboy]

Drives typically come with, or you can download, maintenance, diagnostic and repair utilities. I would get your disks out that came with the system and see what's on there, or, it might be quicker to just go to the drive manufacturer site and download the utilities for your drive.

They may not be able to "fix" the drive, but they might be able to confirm a bad drive. In the case of the traditional hdd magnetics, the basic windows utilities can do full sector scans and then mark bad sectors so they are not used anymore.

With SSD's, I don't know if that is done automatically or not. I would think it would be an automatic function, but it might not be. In any case, utilities can sometimes do stress testing and then mark bad spots.

Btw, drives and OEM systems do have warranties. If it's not too old, you may be able to get a new drive. Some drives have multi year warranties. Also, in rare cases where there was a really bad batch, the company may just opt to replace it for you even if it's out of warranty, but you won't know if you don't ask.

Even if you get a new system, you could get lucky and end up with a new spare drive.

[Vulcan]

Appreciate the replies.

Warranty ran out, and I have used the manufacturer software from Samsung. The partition that's been giving me problems was only given minor errors from that software, basically nothing solid came from it. I don't have any other hardware or software that came with the computer.

I've been playing games off of a different partition for the past week with no issues so far, so hopefully it's just bad hardware.

[spaceboy]

Originally posted by Vulcan:

Appreciate the replies.

Warranty ran out, and I have used the manufacturer software from Samsung. The partition that's been giving me problems was only given minor errors from that software, basically nothing solid came from it. I don't have any other hardware or software that came with the computer.

I've been playing games off of a different partition for the past week with no issues so far, so hopefully it's just bad hardware.

There's one other thing you can do if you want to mess with it and try to recover some space. My guess is that it's just one block of addresses that is the problem. So, if you can isolate them manually, then you can recover ther rest of your space.

If diagnostic software won't tell you, then you can just play around with it if you have time.

First, get you disk analysis tool that will show you visually where your files are located. Some defrag tools will do this, but you may need a full analysis tool for it.

With a visual map, you can start to pin down the general location when you have these errors. Once you get a rough idea, then you can use free partition tools to repartition your drive.

Let's say you determine that it's most likely the middle section of the partition that is the problem, then, after you backup and move your files, ,you can resize the partition so the boundaries now only cover the damaged area, leaving free usable space on either side. You can then create new partitions from this new free space.

You can also expand good partitions to absorb the new free space, BUT, I woudn't do that right away until you've done lots of testing, because any overlap will just give you new errors on the old partitions.

As long as you have everything backed up, you can put different games on this new set of partitions and keep some on the old corrupt part as well, and just run them all and test every day, gradually pinning down the corrupted areas.

You don't have to do this all at once either. You can do it 5-25Gbs at a time and just keep testing it. E.g., Trim 25 Gb off the front and back end of the partition, create new parts with them, and now you have 3 parts to test. If you go a week, or however long it usually takes, with no errors on those 2 new parts, then repeat the process over and over.

Anytime you get 2 sequential parts full tested, then you can combine them into one part, and gradually grow a new healthy partition like that.

So, I think you can save the drive, and over time, maybe salvage most of the space. Ftr, you can have multiple steam librariers on multiple parts for testing. I have 2 myself. Just don't dupe the games in them.

A couple of good free part tools Iv'e used are EaseUS and AOMEI. Good luck!

[spaceboy]

Oh, I forgot to add that you need to pack each new partition FULL of data, to fully test it. It won't do much good to test 1 Gb of data on a 25 Gb parttion. It could just end up being the unused parts that make you think the part is good. So give each new part a good FULL data workout.