Trouble Downloading Games to New HDD

[Eleetist]

Hey guys, so I recently purchased a WD Black 2TB HDD to store all of my steam games. Steam is on my 128GB SSD but of course I don't have the kind of space necessary to hold them all. My problem is that when I try to download a game to the new drive, it'll download for a few seconds then stop, then pause the download on its own. I've tried to do as much research as I could before asking for help, and have determined that it isn't a hardware problem. My guess is that it has something to do with the formatting or some kind of software conflict, but I don't know what could be causing it. Any suggestions?

[Air]

If it isn't already, try formatting the drive to NTFS.

[Eleetist]

Yeah, it's already formatted in NTFS. I suppose I should mention I'm running Windows 7 64-bit also. In case that may make a difference.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

U just make a folder on the new drive (like Steam or Games; etc.)
Then open Steam Client, go to Settings > Downloads > click on Steam Library Folders and make a new Library on the new drive. Then when u install games from now on it will ask you which Library (Drive Folder) u wish to install it too.

The pausing of a download in Steam is normal. That's mainly because a HDD can't read/write as fast as the SSD, so the pausing will continue, but eventually the game will finish downloading/unpacking properly.

[Eleetist]

Yes I've done all that. Thankfully, Steam makes it easy to dl games to separate drives. But this pausing issue does not seem normal. I know the download will drop to 0MB/s at times while it is writing, but it does this after only a few seconds, then physicaly pauses the download on its own as if I'd hit the pause button, even though I didn't. If left alone, it won't unpause itself.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

If the game is very large one; u can expect this longer delay.
Cause what happens is when you go to install such a large game fresh; Steam has to go and reserve that disk space first for caching purposes. HDDs will take longer; and the larger the game the longer it takes or delays/pauses.

It is normal.

Also don't forget; there is a Setting in Steam so u can choose if downloads/updates can occur while a game/app is running. So if you wondering why it pauses and goes out to lunch while u running something within Steam, make sure that feature is toggled on.

[Eleetist]

Yes yes, I've been using Steam for years, I know all that. This is something I've not run into before, it is why I am so baffled by it. It's not just delays in the download. It's a full on stop. Refuses to keep downloading even when I unpause it, it just pauses again. And all of this happens after letting it sit for hours.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Well it also has to do with Steam's "Disk Busy / In-Use" feature. Which was implemented in 2013.

I would exit Steam; then run CHKDSK /F on your SSD and then the WD Black; and see if any problems here.

When u download on Steam Client; don't go multiple-tasking around too quickly within the Client; it slows it all down. When the client is downloading and u wanna surf around Steam Community and such, do that in a web browser instead of the client.

If the download still experience issues after this; try a different download server (via Steam Client > Settings > Downloads)

Another thing to try is going to Properties on your Steam desktop shortcut (or where ever that is) and adding -TCP to the target line, like this: x:\Steam\Steam.exe -tcp

Which will change how Steam connects; using TCP instead of UDP

[Eleetist]

Alright, I'll try those and update with results. Thanks for your help.

[Eleetist]

Okay, so that's strange. CHKDSK on my SSD was just fine. However, the CHKDSK on my WD Black says that it can't check a RAW drive. My disk manager shows it as being formatted in NTFS though...any tips or ideas?

EDIT: Dunno how this got moved to Help and Tips...my issue is due to a recent hardware change...

[Silicon Vampire]

Download and run WD diagnostic tools. I think the drive might have an error.

[Eleetist]

Will do, thanks.