Can't install Dota 2 on an exFAT drive (Steam for Windows)

[Sus Fring]

I'm a dual-booter who has an external hard drive for installing games (formatted it to exFAT so that I could access my drive in alternate OS). Everything works fine except when I tried to install Dota 2 in it.

It says that Dota 2 can't be installed on a FAT32 drive, which is clearly because one of those files are over 4GB in size. Problem is: I'm on exFAT (this format removes the file size limitation).

I'm guessing that this problem comes from the fact that the Steam client recognises exFAT as FAT32, which tripped the warning and halted the installation.

A response from a Steam rep may be apreciated, otherwise I may have to make an NTFS partition in my external drive for my library.



May Lord GabeN bless us with the Holy Green Tags of Steam Sales.

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by SumFuk:

I'm a dual-booter who has an external hard drive for installing games (formatted it to exFAT so that I could access my drive in alternate OS).

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7418-YUBN-8129

It is not recommended that you install Steam to an external hard drive, due to potential performance issues.

[Tev]

Any reason you won't install the game on one disk and then just move it onto the exFAT disk?

[Sus Fring]

Originally posted by The Giving One:

Originally posted by SumFuk:

I'm a dual-booter who has an external hard drive for installing games (formatted it to exFAT so that I could access my drive in alternate OS).

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7418-YUBN-8129

It is not recommended that you install Steam to an external hard drive, due to potential performance issues.

GTAV, Warframe, and Brawlhalla worked completely fine so far. Just like in an internal mechanical drive

[Sus Fring]

Originally posted by Teutep:

Any reason you won't install the game on one disk and then just move it onto the exFAT disk?

I've tried that, but the error message popped up during preallocation

[Tev]

Originally posted by SumFuk:

Originally posted by Teutep:

Any reason you won't install the game on one disk and then just move it onto the exFAT disk?

I've tried that, but the error message popped up during preallocation

So, do it manually outside the client?

Exit Steam, go to wherever you've got DOTA 2 installed.

-- \steamapps\common\dota 2 beta

Move it onto your exFAT disk's steamapps\common\ -folder.

Then go to ther same location where you had DOTA 2 installed, but under

 -- steamapps\

Move appmanifest_570.acf onto your exFAT disk's steamapps\ -folder.

Restart Steam.

[Sus Fring]

Originally posted by Teutep:

Originally posted by SumFuk:

I've tried that, but the error message popped up during preallocation

So, do it manually outside the client?

Exit Steam, go to wherever you've got DOTA 2 installed.

-- \steamapps\common\dota 2 beta

Move it onto your exFAT disk's steamapps\common\ -folder.

Then go to ther same location where you had DOTA 2 installed, but under

 -- steamapps\

Move appmanifest_570.acf onto your exFAT disk's steamapps\ -folder.

Restart Steam.

Holy crap that worked!!! Thanks m8

Still crossing my fingers so that updates won't fail like the downloads...

[Tev]

If it does, you could just make a symbolic link.

Then Steam would always assume the game is installed on your NTFS disk while in fact its files would be on the exFAT disk. Don't know if dual booting could screw that up though, with the changes in disk letter.

i.e. Let's pretend C:\ is your NTFS disk, and E:\ is your exFAT drive.

You'd have locations like this,

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\appmanifest_570.acf

E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\dota 2 beta

Then you'd open up cmd.exe with admin priviledges and type in,

mklink /d "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\dota 2 beta" "E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\dota 2 beta"

That should create a dota 2 beta folder within C:\ which should redirect to your E:\'s location. The updates for DOTA 2 would take place under,

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\downloading

[Sus Fring]

Originally posted by Teutep:

If it does, you could just make a symbolic link.

Then Steam would always assume the game is installed on your NTFS disk while in fact its files would be on the exFAT disk. Don't know if dual booting could screw that up though, with the changes in disk letter.

i.e. Let's pretend C:\ is your NTFS disk, and E:\ is your exFAT drive.

You'd have locations like this,

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\appmanifest_570.acf

E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\dota 2 beta

Then you'd open up cmd.exe with admin priviledges and type in,

mklink /d "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\dota 2 beta" "E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\dota 2 beta"

That should create a dota 2 beta folder within C:\ which should redirect to your E:\'s location. The updates for DOTA 2 would take place under,

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\downloading

Thanks a bunch! This is a miracle

(lol this isn't one. Just some superior technical know-how)