All Discussions > Steam Forums > Help and Tips > Topic Details
free_c00kies Jul 17, 2015 @ 1:22am
What does disk usage mean?
I chose to participate in beta and now when i download something it tells me disk usage?

What does this mean tho?

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ReBoot Jul 17, 2015 @ 1:24am 
Ask in the beta forum.
#1
free_c00kies Jul 17, 2015 @ 1:24am 
kk
#2
Cathulhu Jul 17, 2015 @ 1:33am 
That graphs shows you how much Steam is currently using your harddisk to read or write data.
Better than the old "Disk busy" icon.
#3
76561198202858402 Jul 17, 2015 @ 1:35am 
:D
#4
free_c00kies Jul 17, 2015 @ 1:43am 
so if its using 3.4 MBS that is fine?
#5
ReBoot Jul 17, 2015 @ 1:48am 
Originally posted by Free_c00kies:
so if its using 3.4 MBS that is fine?
Question: Is there a reason to assume its not fine?
#6
free_c00kies Jul 17, 2015 @ 2:51am 
nope just curious
#7
TheDom102 Jul 23, 2015 @ 8:13pm 
so... what does it mean? is it saving more data because of it?
#8
ReBoot Jul 24, 2015 @ 12:19am 
Originally posted by skullfreak102:
so... what does it mean? is it saving more data because of it?
Of course not!
#9
JOO Sep 1, 2015 @ 4:16am 
Yes I need to know too what does DISK USAGE mean?
#10
Still Alive Sep 1, 2015 @ 4:31am 
no ... idea
#11
Still Alive Sep 1, 2015 @ 4:31am 
:steamfacepalm:
#12
 KARR™ Sep 1, 2015 @ 4:50am 
Originally posted by HaDySoSo:
Yes I need to know too what does DISK USAGE mean?

It means the disk is busy writing to the hard drive. Normally it's unpacking something.

The speed you can download and the speed the hard drive can work at won't match, if you try to download faster than it can be written to the drive, the download has to stop until the disk has caught up.

Think of a tap running into a large bucket and you are using a smaller bucket to put water somewhere else, eventually you'll need to turn the tap off to stop the big bucket from overflowing. Once you've got back to a decent level, you can turn the tap on and continue.
#13
Mattio Sep 1, 2015 @ 4:51am 
Originally posted by HaDySoSo:
Yes I need to know too what does DISK USAGE mean?
It was already answered.
Disk Usage is how much data is being written / read on your storage device.
If you download at 5Mbps it has to write 5Mbps to your HDD/SSD to store it. If you download faster than your HDD can handle or the HDD is busy reading/writing other files, then you can end up with a backlog which means Steam has to halt the download / slow it down to allow the catch up.
It's used on Steam to diagnose those kinds of problems.
#14
DK Sep 11, 2015 @ 7:16pm 
i update 1.3gb/6.3gb yesterday and pause. and open it now its back to 300mb/6.3gb. does it mean the disk didnt download the 1gb?

Originally posted by Mattio:
Originally posted by HaDySoSo:
Yes I need to know too what does DISK USAGE mean?
It was already answered.
Disk Usage is how much data is being written / read on your storage device.
If you download at 5Mbps it has to write 5Mbps to your HDD/SSD to store it. If you download faster than your HDD can handle or the HDD is busy reading/writing other files, then you can end up with a backlog which means Steam has to halt the download / slow it down to allow the catch up.
It's used on Steam to diagnose those kinds of problems.
#15
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All Discussions > Steam Forums > Help and Tips > Topic Details
Date Posted: Jul 17, 2015 @ 1:22am
Posts: 21
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