How to force Steam to download to certain drive?

[Lou the Lou]

I have two Steam folders, one on my C, one on D. I have ONE game installed on C. But Steam, in its brokenness, insists on using the C drive to update games.

This, coupled with the absolutely broken way Steam updates games, results in none of my games updating. I don't keep a lot of room free on my C drive. Steam copies the whole freaking game folder just to apply a patch, so these games that are 30-40GB refuse to update because they claim I don't have enough disk space.

But I do. On my D drive. Where the games in question are installed.

So. How do I make Steam stop being stupid and use the drive that a game is installed on as the "workspace" to update it?

[crunchyfrog]

komninosm님이 먼저 게시:

crunchyfrog님이 먼저 게시:

OK, so if I'm wrong - and as you CLEARLY understand logic - demonstrate where I'm wrong.

I was making a point about David using a bad argument [tactic].
I wasn't trying to prove you are wrong with that part of my post.
This should be clear to all, as I said right after :
"See what I did there? ^.^"

I'm not sure how you misunderstood that.

I misunderstood that because it wasn't clear, simple as that.

I wasn't sure whether you meant that or whether you were INCLUDING me bring wrong in there. That's the point.

It is vague, so I thank you for the clarification.

[₦Ø₮ⱤɆⱠ₳ӾɆD]

Ohhhh i found a thread to talk about this.

What the ♥♥♥♥ is going with steam???

I have a game installed on my NVME M.2 C drive.
I also have a 2nd ssd as D drive, and an external HDD that is I drive.

When steam downloaded an update for beamng today, it INSISTED that it used the SLOW FREKIN HDD TO DOWNLOAD 100MB.

you might ask, what could be so frustrating.

Well.
for 100 MB, the PROCESSING TIME FOR UPDATING THE GAME IS FLUCTUATING BETWEEN 30MIN AND 5 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ HOURS!!!!!

WHAT!!!
5 HOURS FOR A 100MB UPDATE??? WTF!!!!!!

ive got way more then 10gb even available on my C drive, 30gb left to be specific.

Why, what. how?????
Why doesnt steam download a game ON THE SAME DRIVE ITS INSTALLED???

im mind blowingly confused and honestly frustrated (obviously)
i checked in task manager and my C drive is not being used at all, but my external HDD is at 100% USAGE..... That hard drive is on its way out/literally dying as we speak, this old thing can barely write 1mb/s anymore its incredible how slow it is.

WHY DOES STEAM CHOOSE THIS THING OUT OF ALLLLLLLLLLL TO EXTRACT AND PROCESS A ITTY BITTY TINY 100 MB UPDATE.....

3gb got processed almost instantly last week and now its just a giant middle finger.

C drive IS my default steam DIR as well...


Thanks for coming to my ted talk, (haha so funni /s)

[PRIME]

Just wanted to chime in and say that I've discovered the same issue happening on my PC, to wit, steam itself is on my SSD: Drive "C", as well as a few games. When I request that a new game be downloaded to my HDD: Drive "D" I see what actually happens is that it downloads to C drive anyway, even after D Drive is set to default.

The discrepancy is only visually apparent when looking at either Windows Storage or Space Sniffer. When validating where the game is downloaded on Steam, it shows that it is on the D Drive and therefore cannot be moved to itself.

Incredibly frustrating. Parsing through this forum I can see that the only solution may be to move steam itself from my SSD to my HDD. That seems ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ lame.

[||BALA||]

i read other topic about this and think this can be used,
i not tested it out because i dont have games to update
suppose your game is on default library (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam)

1 - Make sure your games not be able to auto-update:
(library - > right click on game -> update -> only update this game when i launch it)
(steam -> settings -> Donwloads -> unmark all options to auto update)
2 - when your game have a new update, close steam application
3 - Rename your second library (ex: E:\Program Files (x86)\SteamLibrary) to (E:\Program Files (x86)\SteamLibrary_BKP)
4 - Run Steam application and make shure that second library dont be in (steam -> settings -> downloads -> steam library folders)
5 - Run the update manually and look at (resource monitor -> disk activity), where the game being downloaded
6 - After update complete close steam application and rename back (E:\Program Files (x86)\SteamLibrary_BKP) to (ex: E:\Program Files (x86)\SteamLibrary)
7 - Run steam and verify the librarys are in (steam -> settings => downloads -> steam library folders)

obs: I do not work on the steam support, and I am not responsible for any damage you do in your pc

[Lou the Lou]

||BALA||님이 먼저 게시:

i read other topic about this and think this can be used,
i not tested it out because i dont have games to update
suppose your game is on default library (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam)

1 - Make sure your games not be able to auto-update:
(library - > right click on game -> update -> only update this game when i launch it)
(steam -> settings -> Donwloads -> unmark all options to auto update)
2 - when your game have a new update, close steam application
3 - Rename your second library (ex: E:\Program Files (x86)\SteamLibrary) to (E:\Program Files (x86)\SteamLibrary_BKP)
4 - Run Steam application and make shure that second library dont be in (steam -> settings -> downloads -> steam library folders)
5 - Run the update manually and look at (resource monitor -> disk activity), where the game being downloaded
6 - After update complete close steam application and rename back (E:\Program Files (x86)\SteamLibrary_BKP) to (ex: E:\Program Files (x86)\SteamLibrary)
7 - Run steam and verify the librarys are in (steam -> settings => downloads -> steam library folders)

obs: I do not work on the steam support, and I am not responsible for any damage you do in your pc

Your assistance is appreciated. However, manually renaming folders to trick Steam into not using them is not a solution. If it works, it might be seen as a workaround, but Valve needs to address this for it to not be an issue anymore.

But I sincerely doubt that will happen. Valve could not care less about its users.

[komninosm]

Yeah, it's going to be a no from me too, sorry.

Valve needs to fix this idiotic "AI" "smart" choosing a drive randomly.
Just always choose the drive the game is in, as that's the easiest to move files in. (when you move files in the same drive, it happens almost automatically because the file-data does not actually move, just the path pointer changes.
Or give an option for choosing the update drive.

[Ced]

I've just hit this issue too.
I have 5 drives total.
1 NVME
3 SSD
1 HDD

Halo installed on my NVME C: drive
Steam default drive set to one of my SSD's

Steam decided to download the latest update to my HDD, making what should've been a 10 minute install at most into an hour long process.
This is ridiculous.

[komninosm]

Hi Ced.
I still do not understand how they can't fix this easy logic problem.
I already gave them the solution and the reasons for it.

"Just always choose the drive the game is in, as that's the easiest to move files in. (when you move files in the same drive, it happens almost automatically because the file-data does not actually move, just the path pointer changes.
Or give an option for choosing the update drive."

[crunchyfrog]

Ced님이 먼저 게시:

I've just hit this issue too.
I have 5 drives total.
1 NVME
3 SSD
1 HDD

Halo installed on my NVME C: drive
Steam default drive set to one of my SSD's

Steam decided to download the latest update to my HDD, making what should've been a 10 minute install at most into an hour long process.
This is ridiculous.

And what of the solutions did you try? What happened when you did?

[Bullwinkle]

Move Steam and all your games to D

[crunchyfrog]

komninosm님이 먼저 게시:

There is no solution, stop shilling.

Except the ones we demonstrably showed in this thread. Please keep misinformation to yourself.

[komninosm]

Stop lying. Nothing was shown in this thread, much less demonstrably...
The solution is very simple logically as I proved, but Steam/Valve are not doing anything to implement it.

[crunchyfrog]

komninosm님이 먼저 게시:

Stop lying. Nothing was shown in this thread, much less demonstrably...
The solution is very simple logically as I proved, but Steam/Valve are not doing anything to implement it.

Post 93 on this very page contains a nice well described solution, so you're clearing not reading properly.

Whether it works is another matter.

All I said was "have you tried the solutions that ARE within this thread?"

Now, do you need more evidence you are demonstrably wrong?

Also, stop being so childish in saying I'm "Shilling". I don't give a flying ♥♥♥♥ about Valve or any other company. Offering an answer you do't like does not make anyone a shill. That's ridiculously naive and silly.

[komninosm]

crunchyfrog님이 먼저 게시:

Post 93 on this very page contains a nice well described solution, so you're clearing not reading properly.

Whether it works is another matter.

Whether it works is another matter?
What kind of talk is that? It's like sarcasm from a Monty Python sketch about a dead parrot. It's pining for the fjords.
Working is the primary matter!
Oh and post 93 is another complain. It doesn't offer a solution. It just points out how the stupid bug from Valve/Steam forces you to not use the simple logical solution I and others want.

primalandrew님이 먼저 게시:

Just wanted to chime in and say that I've discovered the same issue happening on my PC, to wit, steam itself is on my SSD: Drive "C", as well as a few games. When I request that a new game be downloaded to my HDD: Drive "D" I see what actually happens is that it downloads to C drive anyway, even after D Drive is set to default.

The discrepancy is only visually apparent when looking at either Windows Storage or Space Sniffer. When validating where the game is downloaded on Steam, it shows that it is on the D Drive and therefore cannot be moved to itself.

Incredibly frustrating. Parsing through this forum I can see that the only solution may be to move steam itself from my SSD to my HDD. That seems ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ lame.

Talk about naive and silly, you're the king of it...
Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time knave.

[crunchyfrog]

komninosm님이 먼저 게시:

crunchyfrog님이 먼저 게시:

Post 93 on this very page contains a nice well described solution, so you're clearing not reading properly.

Whether it works is another matter.

Whether it works is another matter?
What kind of talk is that? It's like sarcasm from a Monty Python sketch about a dead parrot. It's pining for the fjords.
Working is the primary matter!
Oh and post 93 is another complain. It doesn't offer a solution. It just points out how the stupid bug from Valve/Steam forces you to not use the simple logical solution I and others want.

primalandrew님이 먼저 게시:

Just wanted to chime in and say that I've discovered the same issue happening on my PC, to wit, steam itself is on my SSD: Drive "C", as well as a few games. When I request that a new game be downloaded to my HDD: Drive "D" I see what actually happens is that it downloads to C drive anyway, even after D Drive is set to default.

The discrepancy is only visually apparent when looking at either Windows Storage or Space Sniffer. When validating where the game is downloaded on Steam, it shows that it is on the D Drive and therefore cannot be moved to itself.

Incredibly frustrating. Parsing through this forum I can see that the only solution may be to move steam itself from my SSD to my HDD. That seems ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ lame.

Talk about naive and silly, you're the king of it...
Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time knave.

Because I can't tell you if a solution works. We can only offer what has worked for OTHERS. We cannot know your specific intimate PC details and set up.

Are you serious?

Post 93 above contains a response to a list of procedures which IS a solution. If you can't read that's not my problem. Now do you want to me to go back through the htread and dig out all the other offered solutions too, or are you going to dodge and make ad hoc excuses some more?

The fact remains, there ARE demonstrably solutions on this thread to try.... and no, NOBODY can guarantee they work. That's how the world works. I'm sorry you don't understand this.