Steam Games Eat Up 3 Times SSD Disk Space Issue

[SunnyP]

Dear Steam,
I noticed that everytime I install a game, it uses/writes 3 times amount of disk space install size into my SSD according to HWinfo64 hardware monitoring tool. The lifespan of SSD is called TWB and it falls under Total Host Write in HWinfo64. A good example is GTA 5, this game requires 109GB to install. Before I install the game, I recorded the Total Host Write in HWinfo64 for my SSD that I will be installing the game to. After it is done installing, I found that the game writes 300GB instead of 109GB. Therefore, Steam eats up an additional 200GB of SSD lifespan for nothing which doesn't shows up in Windows, it is a huge waste which accelerate the death of SSDs.

To fix this death accelerating write issue of SSDs, please change the way Steam install games. Make Steam extract the download files into the actual install location. The whole install process should be 1 go. It should not copy or extract files to another location, then copy and extract further. This solution prevents data redundancy or wasting 3 times amount of disk space when installing a game.

Games use huge disk space these days and some are over 200GB per install. I've seen one requires 300GB to install. Nope, I will not install that game. That game will eat up 900GB of your SSD lifespan. Current Steam install process uses 3 times the required disk space per game even though it doesn't shows that in Windows. You need special tool to read the SMART data of SSDs to find out. HWinfo64 also shows you how much disk writes is used up after a game done installing. Look under your SSD for Writes in the tool.

We are awaiting for the fix and improvements.


Sincerely,

Paratrooper05

[Zukabazuka]

Have a 256mb SSD as an OS drive, pretty sure it see more daily action than my other drives due to most programs I use are on it. Its 8-10 years old and I'm pretty much using the PC on daily basis.

In fact haven't had a single SSD die due to that. So unless you using some super cheap SSD you really don't have much to worry about.

[Yzal]

That's how files work.
Steam downloads the compressed game and them de-compresses it, therefore double the usage.

[SunnyP]

GTA 5 requires 100GB to install. So if the download data is compressed to 50GB, after that is downloaded and then decompresses to 100GB in Windows. The Total Host Writes will be 150GB. However, HWinfo64 shows 200GB has been written after the game installed. The math doesn't add up. I don't mind a 10GB-20GB game install, but wasted additional 100GB is ridiculous in my book.

I've seen other apps that install and pull data directly into install location without decompression or extraction. Steam needs to use the same install method so to reduce unnecessary writes to SSD and accelerate their death.

[↑↑↓↓←→←→BASelect]

Download to a regular hard drive then move it over to your SSD using steam. Problem solved.

[invision2212]

SSDs can write an absurd amount of data before they become problematic. I wouldn’t really worry too much about it.

[Sleepy Yoshi]

invision2212님이 먼저 게시:

SSDs can write an absurd amount of data before they become problematic. I wouldn’t really worry too much about it.

^This. If I wrote 150gb's every day, for 10 years straight, I'd still fall short of my ssd's tbw. Steam's not going to serve games decompressed though. That increases their own overhead and even from the consumer perspective, given the chance to download then decompress 50 gb or download 150gb (or w/e arbitrary multiplier larger)....I'd wager there's a hefty chunk that would take the former.

[no154370]

could it be related to Steam Cloud Files???????

[Satoru]

You could update a 100GB game everyday and you would never reach the actual limit of any SSD for a decade. You are not a data center trying to run a 10PB NoSQL instance writing more data than your entire Steam library every day. This is simply not an issue any consumer will ever see or run into.

https://www.microcenter.com/product/649991/inland-tn436-1tb-3d-tlc-nand-pcie-gen-4-x4-nvme-m2-2230-internal-ssd-compatible-with-microsoft-surface-and-steam-deck

Lets look at this Inland 1TB drive, which is basically like Microcenter's own branded SSD so this is already not exactly super high end. And I want to throw this in my fancy new SteamDeck. At 600TBW you could write 100GB every day, for 16 YEARS before you hit this limit.

For consumers the endurance of the drive simply isnt a problem. Steam doesn't do anything weird with regards to game updates. Your drive is not going to also just magically implode at the TBW mark. Your drive actually has extra storage to compensate as blocks start dying as well. You have lots of safety nets for the drive. The controller on the drive is more likely to die first than the NAND

[davidb11]

Hey, if the controller on the drive breaks, can it still be recovered?

[Satoru]

davidb11님이 먼저 게시:

Hey, if the controller on the drive breaks, can it still be recovered?

'technically' yes

'practically' no

I give the same answer to VPs who insist that we recover their drives after they dumped orange juice on them "We are going to send this drive to our drive recovery vendor. They are going to charge YOUR GROUP $2000 to just LOOK at this thing and give you a quote of how much its going to cost and we are going to charge YOUR GROUP for it. Let me know how valuable your porn is, because your email is on the server." Unsurprisingly no one has ever taken us up on this generous data recovery option.

[davidb11]

Satoru님이 먼저 게시:

davidb11님이 먼저 게시:

Hey, if the controller on the drive breaks, can it still be recovered?

'technically' yes

'practically' no

Ah. Okay.
I see.
It must be like the MBT then.
The Master Boot Table.

I don't know much about SSDs.

[SunnyP]

SnakeFist님이 먼저 게시:

Download to a regular hard drive then move it over to your SSD using steam. Problem solved.

Hmm. Good idea, haven't thought of that since I stopped using HDD since 2010..lol. HDD has unlimited writes and I happen to have a 5TB external HDD in my drawer I bought 2 years ago and used it once...lol. I don't like HDD since they run at a snail's pace. Thanks SnakeFist!

Good trick is I'll create a Symbolic Link of the Steam download folder to the HDD, then after Steam completed the download to it, Steam will install the game to its installation location on my SSD. Problem solved. Now I don't have to worry about that wasted 100GB+ on SSD for games such as GTA 5 and other like it.

Thanks everyone for your input. Steam don't have to do anything about this issue anymore...Case close...lol

[Supafly]

Paratrooper05님이 먼저 게시:

GTA 5 requires 100GB to install. So if the download data is compressed to 50GB, after that is downloaded and then decompresses to 100GB in Windows. The Total Host Writes will be 150GB. However, HWinfo64 shows 200GB has been written after the game installed. The math doesn't add up. I don't mind a 10GB-20GB game install, but wasted additional 100GB is ridiculous in my book.

I've seen other apps that install and pull data directly into install location without decompression or extraction. Steam needs to use the same install method so to reduce unnecessary writes to SSD and accelerate their death.

Your doing a 1 to 1 ratio. Thats not how it works. Consider this

1 x GB file extracts to 1 x 2 GB worth of files. Then the 1 GB file is deleted leaving 2GB of data on the drive. Total writes is 1 GB + 2GB = 3 GB

Files would be compressed at different ratios than the example above but it should highlight things are not a 1 to 1 ratio

EDIT: Oh and SSD drives nowadays have much longer lifespan from writes than when they first cam to market. For example 1 of my drives has a 5 year warranty and lifespan of 2,400 TBW. I'd have to write 1.3TB a day to exceed that 2400TBW in those 5 years. More likely to have the drive die from power on hours than by exceeding TBW

[anacron13]

John Johnson님이 먼저 게시:

Download to a regular hard drive then move it over to your SSD using steam. Problem solved.

Nop the same happens

[anacron13]

Lazy Dog님이 먼저 게시:

That's how files work.
Steam downloads the compressed game and them de-compresses it, therefore double the usage.

Nah only steam does that in my case.