Myowngol

About Steam Disk Write/Read Error

Jun 27, 2018 - Steam is a complex program which handles a lot of different processes. Different computers have different settings enabled and it's impossible for Steam. Includes reinstalling the Steam client and redownloading games from scratch. And finds a small update after which it's successfully downloaded. Restart your Steam and wait for its automatic update. If automatic update is failure (restart Steam but nothing happens), you need to change your download region. Verifying integrity of game cache. (It will waste your time but better than reinstall your game.).

Usually, when installing or updating a popular Steam game, such as Dota 2, Fallout 4, Tree of Savior and Team Fortress, you may encounter an error that suggests a Steam disk write error or perhaps disk read error. You can refer to the error details and related screenshots.

An error occurred while updating [game title]
An error occurred while installing [game title]

As you can tell, the extra information in the parenthesis behind the detailed error message is disk related. So, what disk problems would bring about such failure in daily game update and installation?

In conclusion, the disk write or read error comes, to a large extent, from some bad sectors on your hard drive, or your hard drive is failing and the disk is write protected in aspects of scratches, corruption, virus and specific permissions. Thus, to have Steam disk problems solved, you need to take prompt actions to repair the hard drive in question.

How to Fix Steam Disk Write/Read Error in Windows 10/8/7

In addition to the basic troubleshooting for Steam disk errors provided by Steam Support, including restart computer, clear download cache, reinstall Steam or move the Steam installation to other location, we come up with four advanced solutions that proved to be more potent in removing Steam disk write or read error thoroughly.

Fix 1: Verify integrity for Steam game files

Try to verify integrity for Steam games files at first if you see games keeps crashing or their models missing unknowingly.

Step 1: Reboot system and then launch Steam.

Step 2: Select 'LIBRASY' tab and right click the game that sends disk errors and select 'Properties'.

Step 3: Click 'LOCAL FILES' tab, and then you can see 'VERIFY INTEGRITY OF GAME FILES…' button. Click it.

Step 4: Steam starts verifying game files, which may take a couple of minutes. Please note that some files may fail to verify, which is normal for most Stem games. That's because these files are local configuration files and they cannot be disturbed as part of this action.

Step 5: When all files are validated successfully, you can retry installing updates and see whether the disk error is removed.

Fix 2: Remove disk write protection

When a disk is write-protected, you're prevented from modifying it, such as formatting, writing data, installing programs on it. That's the other possible reason why you receive disk errors on Steam. Simply use the diskpart command to clear write protection and remove the error.

Step 1: Open administrative 'Command Prompt'.

Step 2: Type these commands one by one and press Enter key after each:

diskpart

list disk

select disk # (# is the number of the hard drive with which you're getting disk error)

attributes disk clear readonly

Step 3: You may now close Command Prompt and replug the hard drive and check if the Steam disk error disappeared.

Fix 3: Check and repair bad sectors

Starting from this approach, you'll need additional help from a third-party free partition manager tool, which is EaseUS Partition Master. First of all, the check partition feature within is extremely easy-to-use in checking and repairing hard drive partition errors and bad sectors.

Step 1: Open EaseUS Partition Master on your computer. Then locate the disk, right-click the partition you want to check, and choose 'Check File System'.

Step 2: In the Check File System window, keep the 'Try to fix errors if found' option selected and click 'Start'.

Step 3: The software will begin checking your partition file system on your disk. When it has completed, click 'Finish'.

Steam Unable To Download Game Play

Fix 4: Replace failing hard drive

We feel bad if the hard drive has developed serious problems and it's time to upgrade the hard disk to a new one. It's a permanent solution for either disk read error or disk write error for good. To replace a failing hard drive to a new one, use EaseUS Partition Master's clone disk function.

Step 1: Select the source disk.

Open EaseUS Partition Master. Right-click the disk that you want to copy or clone. Then, select 'Clone'.

Step 2: Select the target disk.

Choose the wanted HDD/SSD as your destination.

Step 3: View the disk layout and edit the target disk partition size.

You can select 'Autofit the disk', 'Clone as the source' and 'Edit disk layout' to customize your disk layout.

Then click 'OK' to continue. (The data on the target disk will be wiped, back up the data in advance.)

Step 4: Execute the operation.

Click the 'Execute the operation' option and click 'Apply' to start the disk cloning process.

Only a messagebox comes up: 'Steam.exe (main exception): To run Steam, you must first connect to the Internet'

• It worked earlier
• Other connections are working (http, vpn, skype)
• Firewall not blocking
• Router not blocking (don't need port forwarding afaik)

Did not found solution or any usable hint on the net so far.Steam.exe version is 1.0.1065.11

Any suggestions?

4 Answers

Unable To Download Games On Steam

As the Steam errors are quite vague, and can refer to a lot of different things, there's not an exact solution. However, the best way to troubleshoot it, is by eliminating various causes.

1. The most common issues can be solved deleting the ClientRegistry.blob file and force Steam to download a new and fresh copy of it.

   The clientregistry.blob is a file for the program Steam. The file holds your registration data for your games. If you delete it the file will be restored and you will have all of your default settings on all games installed (like your name, spray, binds, etc)

   • Go to C:Program FilesSteam (or the Steam directory that was specified during installation).
   • Locate ClientRegistry.blob and delete or rename the file to ClientRegistryOld.blob.
   • Next time you start Steam, the file will be forced to download.
     

2. Another common issue is the update list can become corrupt, this is solvable by deleting the AppUpdateStats.blob file and forcing Steam to download a new and fresh copy.

   • Go to C:Program FilesSteam (or the Steam directory that was specified during installation).
   • Locate AppUpdateStats.blob and delete or rename the file to AppUpdateStatsOld.blob.
   • Next time you start Steam, the file will be forced to download.
     

3. If none of the above work, you should try to start Steam on another computer on the same network, to check for router problems.

   • If Steam doesn't start on another computer on the same network, it indicates that there is a problem with the router.
     • Your router might need port forwarding. Portforward.com is a great site for tutorials on how to forward ports on a lot of routers.
   • If Steam starts on another computer on the same network. It's something with your computer that's causing issue.
     

4. If you have a firewall, try disabling it and start Steam.

   • If Steam starts your firewall might be blocking it. If you are using Windows Firewall, navigate to Control PanelAll Control Panel ItemsWindows Firewall and press the 'Advanced Settings' button on the left side. Then press the 'Restore Default Policy' as this image shows.
     If you are using another firewall, please consult the firewalls manual to figure out how to restore the default settings.
     

5. Some programs may interfere with Steam and it's connectivity.

   • Check your latest installed programs with Steam's list for programs that might interfere.
     

6. Some Spyware, Adware, and Viruses also interfere with Steam.

   • Scan your computer for viruses, spyware and adware with an Anti-Virus program of your chose. If would recommend the free version of AVG, if you are in need of a Anti-Virus program.

The answer to most problems with Steam is to close Steam (shouldn't be a problem for you :P), then go into your Steam Folder (default C:Program FilesSteam) and delete 'clientregistry.blob'.

This fixes most login problems, offline mode not working etc, because it causes Steam to re-update to the latest update (should be very quick as it mostly just verifies the files you've already updated).

I found that PeerBlock 1.1 was causing this issue on my Win7 machine. Disabling peer block fixed the issue for me.

I am using a Billion BiPac 7404VGOX and I had to change the firewall general policy here:

I tried everything else(deleting files / reinstall / firewall off / av off/ NAT settings).

protected by Community♦Jun 15 '13 at 14:50

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