Steam keeps disconnecting from my internal hard drive

[CrazySith87]

Recently got myself a new ssd internal hard drive, however every once in a while, even mid game, Steam just ups and disconnects from the hard drive and will not recognize any of the games on it until I restart my computer. I'm not sure on what to do to prevent this. And by the way, its only Steam that disconnects from that hard drive, I'm still able to browse through it and Steam even recognizes that there's stuff on that hard drive, its just that the games on that hard drive are removed from my Downloaded games and I'm unable to play them

[nullable]

The only reason Steam would "disconnect" is if the drive is randomly not available, not visible to the system. At least as far as I know. So my focus would be on the drive or the motherboard input and making sure there wasn't an issue there.

[HypersleepyNaputunia]

could be power saving options somewhere, where windows shuts down idle drives aafter 5 minutes

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Classic Control Panel > Power Options > if Desktop set to High Performance and leave it there. Then edit the profile and under HDD Timer set to 0.

[nullable]

Those above suggestions aren't bad either to look at/configure. It wouldn't generally be the default behavior to put disks asleep while the system is in use though. I'm not sure what the consequences for Steam would be if the disk went to sleep.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

It's one of the first things to do after installing WinOS since the days of Win2000/XP
I always hated that feature. It's a drive killer more then anything.

[CrazySith87]

I doublechecked, everything was already set to High Performance. I did go and edit the HDD Timer to 0, however then it happened again.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Then I'd suspect a faulty drive or perhaps the sata cable is an issue of sorts.

I wouldn't even use the High Performance profile from WinOS that MS made. You should have one made from Intel or AMD after installing your Chipset Driver Package. Use one of those.

[CrazySith87]

I tried moving my steam installation into the drive, and at first that seemed to work, only for after my computer fell asleep, for me to be completely unable to open Steam at all.

[_I_]

a laptop came in with intermittent problems seeing the m.2 ssd (windows and bios)
bestbuy/geeksquad upgraded the laptops ssd, and did not put in the 2mm screw, just the sticker to hold the drive in place

[nullable]

Originally posted by CrazySith87:

I tried moving my steam installation into the drive, and at first that seemed to work, only for after my computer fell asleep, for me to be completely unable to open Steam at all.

Well yeah, you moved a program to what you describing as a misconfigured/faulty/non-functional drive and it kinda sounds like you're hoping it's some kind of Steam issue? Nothing really suggest that it is or that the behavior would be improved by moving Steam there.

Steam isn't doing anything wrong, the drive is. Steam is just exposing an issue. The solution isn't to try to make Steam stop exposing it or ignoring it. The solution is to address the drive.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Run CrystalDiskInfo and check the Drive Health.

Launch CMD via Run As Admin, go to the drive letter that is having an issue; such as D:\ or E:\ for example. Then type CHKDSK /F press enter key and wait til that is done checking the drive.

Is it an SSD (Solid State Drive) or a mechanical HDD?
Which Brand + Model?

[MonkehMaster]

i doubt the drive is being put in sleep mode due to inactivity, but as mentioned, thats usually one thing you change right away, you can change them one by one in each of their properties, i do not know if the power plans "hdd" setting effects ssd's.

you didnt mention if it was sata or nvme, or?

that all being said, i could be the port having issues, or could be due to motherboard design, said ssd port you are currently using is sharing bandwidth with something else on the motherboard and is then causing the issue?

the reason steam is forgetting games on that drive, is due to it disconnecting during use with steam, it will do the same during a power outage (assuming you dont have battery backup).

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Power Planin Windows, the HDD timer applies to ALL secondary drives of all kinds

[Polloko]

I know it's a bit late, but I managed to solve a similar issue I had.

First some context.

In my case my hard drive disconnected from Steam after downloading hamachi. A program used to simulate Lan play remotely that I used to play "Cry of fear" with a friend. The exact moment after downloading it made that all of my folders now needed to be opened as administrator to work.

If your issue is similar to mine maybe following the next series of steps may help.

>Go to steam settings
>Storage (This will work if your steam for some reason still shows you your HDD in the settings but doesn't recognizes it)
>Add drive
>Then choose the folder "Steamlibrary" of the disconnected hard drive.

Use this method if all of the solutions given above didn't managed to solve the issue.