If we talk about video games in digital format, the first store that comes to mind is Steam, followed by Epic Games StoreGOG, not to mention video game developers’ own stores like Origin, Battle.Net, Ubisoft Connect and so on, platforms that are much more limited in terms of the number of titles available.
Although it is true that video games in digital format present a series of advantages that go beyond the physical format, they are not perfect. Steam being the most popular platform, it is the one that usually causes the most problems when playing. But, in addition, we c an also have problems when installing a new title or even an update.
One of the most annoying problems that immediately makes no sense is the message “Steam disk writing error”, an error, like others, is not related to a single problem.
Fix Steam disk write error
As we mentioned above, this typical Steam error cannot be solved by changing a simple thing, but rather we must try, one by one, the solutions that we offer below in the same order.
Remove read protection
The first thing we will do is check if the Read Only box is checked in the Steam folder where all the games are saved. If this is the case, Steam will not be able to update or install any games in the folder, so it will display the message Disk write error.
The solution to this problem is as simple as going to the Steam folder where all the games are installed and checking if the box is checked. Typically, Steam is installed in the folder Program files although we can change the location to any other hard drive.
Once we have located the SteamLibrary directory, with the right mouse button we access its properties. In the General tab, we check if the box Read only is marked. If this is the case, mark it and click Apply. At this point it will ask us if we want to apply the changes to all folders, to which we must answer Yes.
Check the game files
If the problem occurs with a game that we have already downloaded to the PC, we must check the integrity of the files of that title to verify that there are no corrupted files and, if there are any, request for Steam to take care of downloading them again.
This option is available through the properties of the title in question and can be accessed using the right mouse button. In this section we access the installed files and in the right section click on Check the integrity of game files. This process may take more or less time depending on the type of hard drive (HDD or SSD) and the space it occupies in the storage unit.
Clear download cache
It is also possible that the problem lies in the files that were downloaded and that they are corrupted, interrupting the download, either because of a power outage or because we closed the application from the File Manager. tasks.
To clear the cache and ask Steam to redownload the problematic title, we access the application configuration options via the menu Steam > Settings. In the settings options, click on Downloads and then in the Clear download cache section, press the button Empty the cache.
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