"The game you are installing requires an NTFS File system", but the external drive is already NTFS

[Justin]

I am receiving the error on multiple 50gb+ games "The game you are installing requires an NTFS File system and cannot be installed on a FAT32 system". However; I checked the formatting of my external drive by right clicking it and clicking Format.. and under File System it says "NTFS (Default)"
Why is it giving me this error if my drive is already NTFS?

[Iceira]

Are you have any usb stick attached or other drive that once had steam lib on it, i bet steam try install there and it cant.

ps.
this was seen last time on Computer administation ( see your disk there, i bet system see it there. )
and another user had same issue , but i could see a usb entry

[DarkCrystalMethod]

NTFS drives that came from WindowsNT are vastly inferior to NTFS drives that Windows7/8/10 make. I'm thinking there is some Windows10 code and you have a disk created in Vista.
Also if steam is telling you this that seems so wrong, it shouldn't care and steam games USED to work on FAT32. Take this up with steam support or the game you're having this issue with.
The other possibility is that the disk is corrupted. Run the disk check tool just to be sure (before you yell at the game company) as it might fix it.

[Iceira]

Nothing to take up with steam, FAT is dead, and you cant have steam installed with NTFS with security and then use FAT.

[Iceira]

Oprindeligt skrevet af DarkCrystalMethod:

NTFS drives that came from WindowsNT are vastly inferior to NTFS drives that Windows7/8/10 make. I'm thinking there is some Windows10 code and you have a disk created in Vista.
Also if steam is telling you this that seems so wrong, it shouldn't care and steam games USED to work on FAT32. Take this up with steam support or the game you're having this issue with.
The other possibility is that the disk is corrupted. Run the disk check tool just to be sure (before you yell at the game company) as it might fix it.

im sure you mean well but NTFS is NTFS , are you mixup up harddisk speed with whatever Brand and media, dont do that. but then it make sense what you try to say

[DarkCrystalMethod]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS#Versions
Just saying there are versions. More modern editions should be able to work with the older versions so there really shouldn't be a problem unless you have a later NTFS format version and you're trying to read it from NT4.
Other than that Steam and certainly video games themselves shouldn't care.

[Iceira]

okay now it make sense, but i have that as standard, not sure i have seen a slow disk still in use from 2000 and size issue on jbod, lol but yeah even that is possible.


do not underestimate a reboot, not the first time things get screwup

[Justin]

Oprindeligt skrevet af |<- Iceira ->|:

Are you have any usb stick attached or other drive that once had steam lib on it, i bet steam try install there and it cant.

ps.
this was seen last time on Computer administation ( see your disk there, i bet system see it there. )
and another user had same issue , but i could see a usb entry

Nope, no USB. It is definitely trying to install to the correct location, I just get this NTFS error even though my drive is already formatted to NTFS by default.

[Justin]

Oprindeligt skrevet af DarkCrystalMethod:

NTFS drives that came from WindowsNT are vastly inferior to NTFS drives that Windows7/8/10 make. I'm thinking there is some Windows10 code and you have a disk created in Vista.
Also if steam is telling you this that seems so wrong, it shouldn't care and steam games USED to work on FAT32. Take this up with steam support or the game you're having this issue with.
The other possibility is that the disk is corrupted. Run the disk check tool just to be sure (before you yell at the game company) as it might fix it.

I've ran the check disk tool and it said there are no problems with the drive. It is an ADATA HD710 external drive

[WarBucks]

Hmmm are there any extra partitions on the drive ahead of the NTFS volume? Some small recovery partition by the manufacturer?

[Justin]

Oprindeligt skrevet af WarBucks:

Hmmm are there any extra partitions on the drive ahead of the NTFS volume? Some small recovery partition by the manufacturer?

I am seeing 3 folders ahead of my Steam folder (which is the only thing I store on the drive)
These 3 folders are D:\.Spotlight-V100 which contains some volume configuration files. There is also a D:\.fseventsd folder, and a D:\.Trashes folder. These are all "hidden" and then the only other folder on the drive is my steam folder.

[WarBucks]

not the folders the partitions.

If you type disk management into the taskbar you will see the app be an option.

Open that up and you will see your external drive (you might have to scroll down). In the representation of the drive it will show the ntfs space you are seeing in windows. But it might have a sliver of space reserved by the manufacture of the drive. that wont be visible in windows. And steam might just be misreading it as the whole drive.

Its a bit of a stretch really.

The next think id question is whats the sector size of the drive. Does steam support other than 4KB blocks. Was it formated as NTFS: default sector size?

[Justin]

Oprindeligt skrevet af WarBucks:

not the folders the partitions.

If you type disk management into the taskbar you will see the app be an option.

Open that up and you will see your external drive (you might have to scroll down). In the representation of the drive it will show the ntfs space you are seeing in windows. But it might have a sliver of space reserved by the manufacture of the drive. that wont be visible in windows. And steam might just be misreading it as the whole drive.

Its a bit of a stretch really.

The next think id question is whats the sector size of the drive. Does steam support other than 4KB blocks. Was it formated as NTFS: default sector size?

I seemed to have solved the problem. When I reopened the format screen I just left it on NTFS (default), clicked start, and now it seems to work. I appreciate all of yall's help

[Iceira]

its seen before a preformat disk give issue, but now we are over in tech person doing this themself on server, we should not trust what is made by others.

most see just a quick format, normal format take way longer.
cant say what you have been trough, but how come it work now and not before, so something has change. thats my point here.

again keep in mind we have seen such before ( most of them problem is a preformat disk not by user themself, and yes we all ask ourself what can go wrong here. )

i only reply so you get last info, and why most harddisk format is being done by user themself. to be sure a quick format did not screw this up, and every disk sector is verified.

this has been learned by many experience harddisk user , ( but not what cause it )

i think you need Brand harddisk support devs that go way deeper then us that just use it.

[DarkCrystalMethod]

I still want to know which steam game requires NTFS. And also consider if you're on linux there is no NTFS(well you can access those drives after you're done installing, etc). Sounds fishy.

[Satoru]

Oprindeligt skrevet af DarkCrystalMethod:

I still want to know which steam game requires NTFS. And also consider if you're on linux there is no NTFS(well you can access those drives after you're done installing, etc). Sounds fishy.

FAT32 has a file size limit of 4GB. Ergo any game that has file sizes largerthan 4GB needs NTFS to write those large files. Pretty much all modern AAA games these days.

Note the error message doesnt appear on linux/Mac based systems

But even a quick search of google will show many games have 4GB files

https://www.google.com/search?q=steam+unsupported+file+system+site:steamcommunity.com

* Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
* Watch Dogs
* Wolfenstien 2
* TW:Warhammer 2
* ELEX
* R6: Seige

You can pretty much just click down this list to show games that need NTFS support

Or more technically accurate a file system that supports files larger than 4GB, but since its windows pretty much your only realistic option is to use NTFS.

This was mostly an issue transitioning from XP to windows 7. As anything after windows 7 uses NTFS as the default file system. Or people who format external drives as FAT32