Steam update duplicate game file size

[rdrs]

Hey, having a problem with steam update downloads, every time my steam auto downloads an update it seems to update the whole game file and install the file twice like it is not recognizing the old file or re-writting/deleting it.
This means I reach my hard drive limit almost everytime an update happens even if it is a minor update, since the whole game file gets doubled up.

Only solution currently is to unistall the game everytime an update happens and re-install which is frustrating.

Any solution?

[_I_]

depends on how it updates the game
if the large files are modified in the update, it will need to download the updated file then move it and overwrite the old file

free up some space

you can try to stop the update, then verify game cache, but odds are it will do the same thing again (download new files to replace old ones)

[WhiteFoxy]

Hi.
Does this happen with a specific game or all your games?

If this only happens with one specific game or games published/developed by the same people/company, it could be a problem on their end, not Steam's.

Kindly contact the people responsible for the game updates and let them know about it.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Dump your download cache every once in a while via Steam settings in the Client. Keep at least 30gb free space at all times. If game has update issues, exit steam client fully, delete the files here... steam/steamapps/common/download and temp folders, then relaunch steam client and use the verify option on troubled game

[Muppet among Puppets]

You should keep 15 -25% of drive free space.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

You should keep 15 -25% of drive free space.

I never went by a % cause it doesn't make sense these day with large drives. 10% of a 1TB easily being around 90-100 GB which is silly... whatever the drive, if its an typical ssd of hdd that isn't extremely small, no less than around 30-50 GB is good idea, depending on needs though too, as some users may need a little more free space on their OS or Games drive to allow room for updates and such.

[rdrs]

happens to all games, trialing the 30gb 15-25% space see if that makes the difference

[dangerousbrian0]

I think I am having this issue witrh my 8TB external what happens my games get deleted from the HDD but they still look as if they are installed so I have to reverify them & it redoiwnloads the game so it uses extra space instead of overwriting the games previous files that would be still oin the HDD if you understand my problem.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by dangerousbrian0:

I think I am having this issue witrh my 8TB external what happens my games get deleted from the HDD but they still look as if they are installed so I have to reverify them & it redoiwnloads the game so it uses extra space instead of overwriting the games previous files that would be still oin the HDD if you understand my problem.

Thats something different and I can't see why this would happen.

Wipe out steam from c drive and everything steam on other drives.

Install steam client fresh to C:/steam, put a steam.exe shortcut on desktop and whenever you wish to run a game client, don't put in os startup, but instead right click shortcut and click Run as admin. Once steam is all setup again, go to settings, downloads, steam library folder and make new folder for this on the 8tb drive.

Disable hdd sleep timer in whatever Windows power options profile you use. Then in future always make sure the 8tb is connected and turned on before launching any game client that has games from it installed to an external drive. And don't disconnect the drive without first exiting the game client. If you have some games on C drive or other internal drive, then it's ok to load up game client and launch those games. Just that when you do, games installed to any disconnected drive may show as uninstalled for that instance because it can't see that drive when disconnect, off or when it's in sleep mode. All Windows power profiles are defaulted to put all secondary drives in low power sleep after 20 mins. Change that to 0