Disk Write Error

[Eko]

I'm having a problem where a game is due and update, a few MB will be downloaded and then it stops with Disk Write Error. I resume the download and its the exact same thing; a few MB download and then it gives up.

After googling the problem, I've tried everything!

Restarting Steam
restarting the PC
freeing up space on the SSD
verifying game integrity
Launching Steam as an Admin
Allowing Steam full control on Windows
adding and/ or removing ReadOnly privileges
Clearing the download Cache
running Diagnostic scans on the SSD (provided by Samsung Magician)
uninstalling the specific game (Which lead to the game not even downloading at all now, because of the same issue)


Theres absolutely nothing wrong with my SSD, I download games from other game stores all the time with no problems.

This is literally driving me insane and I have no idea what else to try

[shadowliez]

I'm way too late to this but gotta say I got this issue with only steam, Tried everything! Windows/HDD Or every video on youtube or any thread but still getting Issue and my hdd just disspears and getting not respond on every app possible, I even got to the point check anyhing possible on pc one by one but they said it's fine and it's not pc or anything and we don't know wtf is happening and I have to see my hard disspear for not responding cuz steam not editing rendering or using any other app, I mean Idk how to even start to explain how fked up my life was because of this =))))))))

[Phénomènes Mystiques]

I have something to say about Linux Red Hat. They just bought a huge building in the Eastern Silicon Valley. Right down the street from Nvidia and IBM.

[Sakke]

I hade a similar problem (the update kept on repeating the validate process for days).
In the log file (\Steam\logs\content_log.txt) I could see a similar but slightly different error:

AppID 916840 update started : download 2257773264/2257773264, store 0/0, reuse 8975576679/24420663321, delta 265821899/935602303, stage 11623752563/32654402662 
AppID 916840 update changed : Running Update,Staging,
AppID 916840 update canceled : Failed updating depot 916841 while reading chunk "2f9627c4dc205c37efb26e3909c1c74b11c4fe25" (Device Corrupt) (Corrupt game files) "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\TWDSaintsAndSinners\TWD\Content\Paks\pakchunk6-WindowsNoEditor.pak"
AppID 916840 update changed : Running Update,Staging,Stopping,
AppID 916840 update changed : Running Update,Stopping,
AppID 916840 update changed : None
AppID 916840 state changed : Update Required,Fully Installed,Update Queued,Files Missing,Files Corrupt,Update Started, (Corrupt game files)
AppID 916840 state changed : Update Required,Fully Installed,Files Missing,Files Corrupt,Update Started,
AppID 916840 scheduler finished : removed from schedule (result Corrupt game files, state 0x4ae) 
AppID 916840 scheduler update : Priority Auto Update, not played for 10751077 seconds, update disabled for 0 seconds
AppID 916840 state changed : Update Required,Fully Installed,Update Queued,Files Missing,Files Corrupt,Update Started,
AppID 916840 state changed : Update Required,Fully Installed,Update Queued,Files Missing,Files Corrupt,Update Running,Update Started,
AppID 916840 update changed : Running Update,
AppID 916840 update changed : Running Update,Reconfiguring,
AppID 916840 update changed : Running Update,
AppID 916840 update changed : Running Update,Validating,
Validation: 0 chunks corrupt and 1899 chunks missing of 1914 total in file "TWD\Content\Paks\pakchunk4-WindowsNoEditor.pak"
Validation: 0 chunks corrupt and 746 chunks missing of 1615 total in file "TWD\Content\Paks\pakchunk6-WindowsNoEditor.pak"
Validation: 0 chunks corrupt and 1772 chunks missing of 1819 total in file "TWD\Content\Paks\pakchunk3-WindowsNoEditor.pak"
Validation: 0 chunks corrupt and 4278 chunks missing of 4318 total in file "TWD\Content\Paks\pakchunk1-WindowsNoEditor.pak"
Validation: missing file "TWD\Config\SteamVRBindings\indexhmd.json"
Validation: 0 chunks corrupt and 4427 chunks missing of 4485 total in file "TWD\Content\Paks\pakchunk8-WindowsNoEditor.pak"
Validation: 0 chunks corrupt and 605 chunks missing of 650 total in file "TWD\Content\Paks\pakchunk7-WindowsNoEditor.pak"
Validation: full scan in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\TWDSaintsAndSinners" found 7/167 mismatching files (4.82 KB/31.52 GB) in 29 seconds).
AppID 916840 update changed : Running Update,

Here I could see which files where the problem (the ".pak" files).
With the following steps it all works again:
- stop the update
- delete the files
- go to the Steam Library
- right click the game
- properties
- local files
- check integrity of game files
This made it redownload the game files and now it works again

[Iceira]

If you dont get disk write error msg, then it dont belong here with a validate issue.
those 2 error is not seen as same issue at all.

validate content will not gat past disk write error, thats my point.

you need to do what harddisk support say and read consequence of firmware update or change security to get past such statement.

i doubt even change steam server will fix anything, fat chance that game devs content should not be same on whatever steam server , odds for that is so little, it will be seen as not be possible at all to catch a steam server with such issue.


technicaly it can be seen as hijacking thread even, you need to be very skilled as technicain to know this, and thats why it wont be corrected. this is a user forum.

[Elvensong]

Just wanted to share. Had same "Disk Write Error" on my Steam for all my downloaded games. Had my games saved in another hard drive in my computer. Going to Settings -> Storage -> selecting the download folder -> choosing "Repair Folder" worked for me.

[Mike Loeven]

Sadly this has been an annoyance for many years a known issue. The problem is honestly poor coding on steams end any little blip can cause this I have been dealing with these false write errors for many years because I have my library on a high speed NAS any little network latency trips this. There has never been a real valid excuse for this error and valve could very eaisly fix the problem by implementing a simple retry X times before fail or making their installer more network aware. Instead of trying to repeate the same ujseless troubleshooting steps over and over and over again ad nauseum we should be bashing valve and trying to actually get them to fix their ♥♥♥♥ its 2023 FFS they should make their ♥♥♥♥ network drive aware

[CamCabbit]

One thing I found. On Windows NTFS drives, the Security Permissions might be funky. Here's how I fixed my issue.

• Make sure you're on an Administrator account.
  
• Locate what drive that the game you're having Disk Write Error issues with is on.
  
• Go to that drive in Explorer and right click on the SteamLibrary folder and select Properties.
  
• Go to the Security tab.
  
• Click the Edit button to change permissions.
  
• Click on the Add button.
  
• In the "Select Users and Groups" window that pops up, click in the "Enter the Object Names to Select" box, and type in "Everyone" without quotes and click the "Check Names" button. This will bring you back to the previous window.
  
• In the "Group or User Names" inset window, select "Everyone", and in the Permissions lower inset, turn on the "Full Control" checkbox. This should automatically fill in all the other checkboxes except for "Special Permissions". The "Special Permissions" checkbox should be empty.
  
• Click "OK", and "OK" again until all of the windows you brought up go away. You should see notification type window pop up showing that it's doing something with the files and folders.
  
• Try verifying your game, then if it has an update, do so. It should work fine now.

[Lamp]

Found the way to fix it, for me at least. I was having "disk write error" on steam works contributions. The file was corrupted. therefore couldn't play any game. delete the file inside "Steam works Shared". Should fix it.

[Iceira]

Lamp님이 먼저 게시:

Found the way to fix it, for me at least. I was having "disk write error" on steam works contributions. The file was corrupted. therefore couldn't play any game. delete the file inside "Steam works Shared". Should fix it.

Its here you have 2 option check disk in windows system or repair steam library, thats the system side of the issue.

Then you have clear DL cache or validate game intergrity of files. ( one time i even had to delete the game folder itself , ( i haver never could repete that error or other that can confirm that ) could be one them should never had happend ) only mods or leftover files is only thing left, and again why wipe the game install folder inside steam for that can can be seen as return to game devs default, and dont forget userdata in Document or other known old places thast user data with game save/config files.

And last is antivirus app that block it, without user know it, some use qurrantine folder other block it with falsh possitive ID of another virus.

Many know this, but there will always be a steam user that dont know this.
and dont think we other learn this from first day this is years of experience any steam helper can tell you that.

has nothing to do with book or education sure it help, but this has been so always even then steam made option later , we other reset it with delete of data.

and last
is disk itself or cable or the port its attached to and its board chipset driver and usb driver or controller even.

Another steam user actual attach a old disk to system, and then all that trigger write error, and i wonder maybe syteam dont give the power it need , this is seen in GPU card , so why not disk if PSU has a issue with deliver its power a harddisk need ( test this in Full performance in power scematic ) if you cant write its data fast enough, you might or in hes case trigger a issue with it, most system i see have no issue with it, you just write thing slowly.

Thats hard to proof only he had the issue i have never seen that before. but accroding to him disk work fine in other pc, thats why its was so odd.

why bother make this post because many have notice odd issue with write disk error lately.

dont forget other stem user with samsung drev had a issue with its firmware , check Samsung harddisk support 970 series, if i remember correctly.

gl with it.

[Krjal]

CamCabbit님이 먼저 게시:

One thing I found. On Windows NTFS drives, the Security Permissions might be funky. Here's how I fixed my issue.

• Make sure you're on an Administrator account.
  
• Locate what drive that the game you're having Disk Write Error issues with is on.
  
• Go to that drive in Explorer and right click on the SteamLibrary folder and select Properties.
  
• Go to the Security tab.
  
• Click the Edit button to change permissions.
  
• Click on the Add button.
  
• In the "Select Users and Groups" window that pops up, click in the "Enter the Object Names to Select" box, and type in "Everyone" without quotes and click the "Check Names" button. This will bring you back to the previous window.
  
• In the "Group or User Names" inset window, select "Everyone", and in the Permissions lower inset, turn on the "Full Control" checkbox. This should automatically fill in all the other checkboxes except for "Special Permissions". The "Special Permissions" checkbox should be empty.
  
• Click "OK", and "OK" again until all of the windows you brought up go away. You should see notification type window pop up showing that it's doing something with the files and folders.
  
• Try verifying your game, then if it has an update, do so. It should work fine now.

Extra huge thanks mate. It was a permissions issue for me. Steam's error messages are just so vague I couldn't figure it out. Well done!

[Grubert]

I'm late to the party, however I've come across another reason why you might get the "Disk Write" error: the problem is on the source drive, not the destination! What I think happens is Steam reads a block of data from the game, writes it to the destination, then compares checksums generated from both sides, and if they don't match assumes that the write failed. Something along those lines anyway. In my case, the comparison fails because the data is corrupted on the source drive (as in a bad cluster) and therefore the source checksum is garbage. What's annoying is Steam's files integrity verification doesn't detect bad clusters.

Anyway, if you want to find out whether you're having the same issue:

• Open a Command Prompt as Administrator
  
• Run chkdsk /R <drive letter>:
  This will scan your drive for logical and physical errors (Stage 4). This will take a while, depending on the disk size, speed, and the amount of stored data. chkdsk will ask you permission to unmount the drive, which will make it unavailable for the duration of the scan. If your Steam game folder is on the same drive as Windows, the scan will be scheduled during the next reboot. It will take a while to complete, so plan something to do in the meantime, like an outdoor activity. (just kidding, stay indoors at all costs)
  
• If indeed game files are corrupted, you'll get the following output (once per file):
  Windows replaced bad clusters in file <file id>
  of name \Steam\STEAMA~1\common\<DOS 8.3 folders and filename>
  
• chkdsk will attempt to fix the cluster by copying the data to a healthy, free cluster. It'll do its best but the data will be partly garbled. It will be readable nonetheless.
  
• Once done, and for every game that was affected by bad clusters, verify the integrity of the files. This time Steam will detect that something is wrong and will download valid files.
  
• Try updating the game. It will work!

[Trusty Rumbone]

Grubert님이 먼저 게시:

I'm late to the party, however I've come across another reason why you might get the "Disk Write" error: the problem is on the source drive, not the destination! What I think happens is Steam reads a block of data from the game, writes it to the destination, then compares checksums generated from both sides, and if they don't match assumes that the write failed. Something along those lines anyway. In my case, the comparison fails because the data is corrupted on the source drive (as in a bad cluster) and therefore the source checksum is garbage. What's annoying is Steam's files integrity verification doesn't detect bad clusters.

Anyway, if you want to find out whether you're having the same issue:

• Open a Command Prompt as Administrator
  
• Run chkdsk /R <drive letter>:
  This will scan your drive for logical and physical errors (Stage 4). This will take a while, depending on the disk size, speed, and the amount of stored data. chkdsk will ask you permission to unmount the drive, which will make it unavailable for the duration of the scan. If your Steam game folder is on the same drive as Windows, the scan will be scheduled during the next reboot. It will take a while to complete, so plan something to do in the meantime, like an outdoor activity. (just kidding, stay indoors at all costs)
  
• If indeed game files are corrupted, you'll get the following output (once per file):
  Windows replaced bad clusters in file <file id>
  of name \Steam\STEAMA~1\common\<DOS 8.3 folders and filename>
  
• chkdsk will attempt to fix the cluster by copying the data to a healthy, free cluster. It'll do its best but the data will be partly garbled. It will be readable nonetheless.
  
• Once done, and for every game that was affected by bad clusters, verify the integrity of the files. This time Steam will detect that something is wrong and will download valid files.
  
• Try updating the game. It will work!

I am dumb, how do I do that?

[Daring]

CamCabbit님이 먼저 게시:

One thing I found. On Windows NTFS drives, the Security Permissions might be funky. Here's how I fixed my issue.

• Make sure you're on an Administrator account.
  
• Locate what drive that the game you're having Disk Write Error issues with is on.
  
• Go to that drive in Explorer and right click on the SteamLibrary folder and select Properties.
  
• Go to the Security tab.
  
• Click the Edit button to change permissions.
  
• Click on the Add button.
  
• In the "Select Users and Groups" window that pops up, click in the "Enter the Object Names to Select" box, and type in "Everyone" without quotes and click the "Check Names" button. This will bring you back to the previous window.
  
• In the "Group or User Names" inset window, select "Everyone", and in the Permissions lower inset, turn on the "Full Control" checkbox. This should automatically fill in all the other checkboxes except for "Special Permissions". The "Special Permissions" checkbox should be empty.
  
• Click "OK", and "OK" again until all of the windows you brought up go away. You should see notification type window pop up showing that it's doing something with the files and folders.
  
• Try verifying your game, then if it has an update, do so. It should work fine now.

This worked perfectly for me. Thanks.

[HunterZhou]

I have the same problem. I've tried everything and nothing solves it. Although I'm starting to believe that it's no longer a problem directly with Steam because exactly the same thing happens to me on BattleNet.

It started happening to me when I downloaded Call of Duty Warzone on BattleNet and then I downloaded the same game again but on Steam, and from there everything started to get corrupted and in the both platforms started having the same problem (Disk Write Error)

[Kiddtango]

Found a semi fix, noticed there was a download that needed to be completed but wouldn't ever download. Go into the top left Steam Menu>Downloads> Clear Download Cache. It should trigger the download and you should be able to update the Steamworks Comm Red.