Allocating disk space*

[dxVEGAS]

So I just installed a new HDD.. only difference is that its Barracuda vs Toshiba.. however they're both 2TB only thing was my Toshiba started clicking and needed to be replaced. So upon replacement and complete fresh install of Windows 10 / Steam.. im noticing my 'Allocation of Disk Space' when it comes to dl'ing games takes SOOOO long now???! like.. im talking almost 20-25mins for a 17gb game... thats just whack... as previously I never even noticed it.

What are some things I can do to bring that back to the way it was?

Ive seen some people have slow issues with Allocation but they always mention an 'error' and I dont get that.. Just notice the extreme slow down and know that its not normal behavior.

Hope someone can help :)

Cheers!

[Base]

Been going on for years. I just tried to install a game and its only half way through "allocating disk space" after 5 mins.

I dont know why they cant fix it so if you are installing the game on a 4tb drive that has 3.5tb it see's it and allocates faster (which should only be a long few seconds.

[dxVEGAS]

Base a écrit :

Been going on for years. I just tried to install a game and its only half way through "allocating disk space" after 5 mins.

I dont know why they cant fix it so if you are installing the game on a 4tb drive that has 3.5tb it see's it and allocates faster (which should only be a long few seconds.

..agree'd ..it seems to be doing a lot more than just allocating space*

[Mathroy]

Dling Battlefront 2 right now and it's almost 90 GB in space. It's been 10 minutes and it's not even 25% done. It's sad because it's dling on a 4 TB HDD too...

[dxVEGAS]

Mathroy a écrit :

Dling Battlefront 2 right now and it's almost 90 GB in space. It's been 10 minutes and it's not even 25% done. It's sad because it's dling on a 4 TB HDD too...

its crazy.. I have a decent internet connection, running Ethernet, and it still takes about 1 hour to download 30 gbs.

Gross lol

[Iceira]

Hi
Consolidated free space its a know issue then disk size has reach 75% full
other things impact disk preformance, unpacking files but that is not pre-allocation
is all about your disk I/O reseved free space all over the disk then to many free space all over the disk is there, ( only Hard disk experts know this ) and then you hit apox. under 10% free space left ( old windows rule ) on disk you also get even slower , problem is 3tb-4tb disk is way over 300gb+ and it seem % dont match big disk, its more a apox 250gb and lesser issue depend on how fast disk is and its cache. ( only Hard disk experts know this )
Laptop seem to notice this even more, then Desktop pc. i dont want to debat all of this, its already been proofed by other steam user on a laptop.

and no i will not explan all again, see other thread for that. its more a infomation post then.
feel free to debat it. but im out. ( google all knowledge, and steam wont remove it i doubt it, but that is a steam choise if they want to keep it or not ) and i doubt they will never removed it.

[Iceira]

you can try iobits smart defrag options, i know there is other apps outthere but do keep in mind they move all files back and forth depending on each app. and thats what imo all should try to avoid.

ps.
other old app i use to use.
Auslogic disk defragmenting

other steam user might have found other apps. might be a good idea with other info what they use and why.

[Jack Schitt]

Did you partition the drive in to smaller partitions or did you leave it just one drive, the entire 2tb?
If you didn't partition it allocation is taking as long as it is because it has to go through all of that 2 tb to find empty space to put the game in to.

Create partitions. Generally for a 64bit NTFS operating system 250 to 500gb per drive works out pretty well. Larger than 500gb per drive letter...it's going to be slow.

[crunchyfrog]

Yup, this is pretty much why it does this - lacking in remaining space and a large unpartitioned drive can cause this. It seems odd because it doesn't happen with ALL games, leading you to think there's something else at play.

Valve recommend that you should not run any drive you're using Steam on over 90% capacity (iirc). It will affect performance like this.

I personally partition into 500GB chunks as I quickly found that seems to be about right. I could be wrong but that's what worked for me.

[Iceira]

yeah both have pro's and ♥♥♥'s with partition disk. more lost free space per logic disk and same time try avoid move data among them. ( but yeah faster controll per disk, but imo not worth it.
maybe 2tb split could be a good thing, so it dont have defrag 4tb disk, but now its simple matter of do you want so many letters and split disk to much )

and you also have issue with huge size files then disk size is little per logic drive
( and we are back at what kind of files , movies, this is no doubt no easy way to advice in depend on every user files and data storage. )

but i do understand them , and if it works for them, maybe the others could use same idea.
even then i dont split my 3TB up.

[crunchyfrog]

Iceira a écrit :

yeah both have pro's and ♥♥♥'s with partition disk. more lost free space per logic disk and same time try avoid move data among them. ( but yeah faster controll per disk, but imo not worth it.
maybe 2tb split could be a good thing, so it dont have defrag 4tb disk, but now its simple matter of do you want so many letters and split disk to much )

and you also have issue with huge size files then disk size is little per logic drive
( and we are back at what kind of files , movies, this is no doubt no easy way to advice in depend on every user files and data storage. )

but i do understand them , and if it works for them, maybe the others could use same idea.
even then i dont split my 3TB up.

Yeah, a lot of this in regard to partinitioning really boils down to your personal preference.

I'm really patient, so I don't care waiting longer for pre-allocation or downloading, or startup. Others might though. It's just worth mentioning to help steer it your way, I guess.

[dxVEGAS]

Jack Schitt a écrit :

Did you partition the drive in to smaller partitions or did you leave it just one drive, the entire 2tb?
If you didn't partition it allocation is taking as long as it is because it has to go through all of that 2 tb to find empty space to put the game in to.

Create partitions. Generally for a 64bit NTFS operating system 250 to 500gb per drive works out pretty well. Larger than 500gb per drive letter...it's going to be slow.

This sounds like it makes the most sense! as yes! it is still the whole 2 tb.
Gonna try the split.. 2 partitions make sense for me as I am still a ways away from hitting that first Tb.. and that should speed it up a tad*

Huge thank you for all the replies :)

Cheers*

[fdemar]

dxVEGAS a écrit :

Jack Schitt a écrit :

Did you partition the drive in to smaller partitions or did you leave it just one drive, the entire 2tb?
If you didn't partition it allocation is taking as long as it is because it has to go through all of that 2 tb to find empty space to put the game in to.

Create partitions. Generally for a 64bit NTFS operating system 250 to 500gb per drive works out pretty well. Larger than 500gb per drive letter...it's going to be slow.

This sounds like it makes the most sense! as yes! it is still the whole 2 tb.
Gonna try the split.. 2 partitions make sense for me as I am still a ways away from hitting that first Tb.. and that should speed it up a tad*

Huge thank you for all the replies :)

Cheers*

Just received my new gaming PC and having the same issue. Did partitioning your drive help? When downloading to my SSD it's bearable but Hitman 2 on my HDD...oh man! Thanks.

[Jack Schitt]

I replied and suggested doing it 90% sure it would help. It's the same exact concept of filling a room with the same size boxes, after all that's how sectors in hard drives work. We can put boxes in a room all organized in a specific area but as we dig through them to find and use stuff here and there some of the boxes get placed randomly. While all of the boxes (data clusters) are still in the same room we may have the shorts we're looking for in the box we chucked out of the way in the middle of the room, the shoes we're after in the shoe box over *there*, and a shirt in the shirt box in the other corner. We have outfits (programs) we like but the pieces of them are spewed all over the place (fragmentation).

The more space we have to randomly throw things out of the way to get to *that thing* the longer it's going to take to find, get to, and go through all the boxes that contain parts we're looking for.
When there's smaller space to throw stuff in we're forced to keep it more organized / together.

[Iceira]

btw. also sounds like a laptop owner known issue is a reduce I/O disk opration on a pc. im sure no one has notice this and talk about disk issue only. and why most will not agree on make 500gb disk we did that 2 decads ago.

[Jack Schitt]

Anyone that knows computers at all will agree having only one, giant, space to store data causes slowness. Mechanics and the way and reasons things work the way they do doesn't and hasn't ever changed. What keeps changing because it advances is technology being able to work with how things work better, and things are made physically smaller. How things work doesn't ever change because physics doesn't and won't ever change.

Smaller partitions = better.