Steam has become one of the most popular gaming platforms. However, many users still encounter issues while using it.
One of the most common is the “Steam not enough disk space” error message that pops up when downloading, installing, or running games.
If you’ve experienced this issue yourself, don’t worry. This article will provide an in-depth analysis of the underlying causes and a set of practical solutions to help you easily resolve them.
What causes Steam Not Enough Disk Space Error?
The “Not enough free disk space” error on Steam can happen for several reasons.
- Insufficient disk space: This error message appears if you download or install a large game and your hard drive doesn’t have enough free space.
- Steam’s space reservation mechanism: When installing or updating a game, Steam temporarily downloads and decompresses a compressed file, which takes up additional disk space.
- File corruption: Corrupted or incomplete game files, as well as a corrupted Steam library folder, can trigger this error message.
- Cache or temporary files occupying space: Steam generates a large number of cache files and temporary downloads, which can take up a significant amount of space over time.
- Read-Only drive: The drive or folder where Steam is installed may be set to “read-only” mode.
- File system limitations: If you install the game on a FAT32-formatted drive and the game contains files larger than 4GB, you’ll receive an insufficient space error.
Next, I will introduce several ways to solve the Steam deck not enough free disk space error.
How to Fix Not Enough Free Disk Space Steam
After identifying the possible causes, you can begin troubleshooting by trying different solutions one at a time until the problem is resolved.
Fix 1. Some Basic Checks and Operations
Method 1: Restart Steam
Restarting Steam can clear temporary files and close background processes that may be hogging resources. This can help you resolve “out of disk space” issues caused by cache errors or inaccurate space reading.
If that doesn’t resolve the issue, try restarting your computer.
Method 2: Restart Your Computer
Sometimes simply restarting your computer can resolve the issue, as it can shut down background programs or software that may be conflicting with Steam.
If the issue persists after restarting, continue with the following steps.
Method 3: Clear Download Cache
Steam generates cache files during game downloads, and over time, these leftover files can accumulate and take up significant disk space.
So, you can delete the download cache. Here is the guide:
Step 1: Open Steam.
Step 2: Click Steam in the top-left corner of the window.
Step 3: Select Settings and click on Downloads.
Step 4: Scroll to the bottom of the Downloads section and click Clear Download Cache.
Step 5: Read the warning, then click Confirm.
Step 6: Steam will restart, and you will be prompted to log back into your account.
After logging in to your Steam account, try downloading or installing the game again and see if that works.
Method 4: Run as Administrator
Running Steam as an administrator gives it full permissions to access the files and directories it needs.
This can help prevent “Steam not enough disk space” errors caused by insufficient permissions.
Step 1: Right-click on the Steam icon on your desktop.
Step 2: Select Properties from the menu.
Step 3: Go to the Compatibility tab. Then, check the box for Run this program as an administrator.
Step 4: Apply the setting.
Once setup is complete, Steam will run as Administrator every time you open it. Next, you can check if the Steam deck not enough free disk space issue still occurs.
Fix 5: Verify Integrity of Game Files
If the error occurs when updating a specific game, that game’s local files may be corrupted. In this case, you need to verify the integrity of its game files.
Step 1: Launch the Steam client and click on Library.
Step 2: Right-click a specific game and select Properties.
Step 3: In the Properties window, click the Installed Files tab from the left-hand menu.
Step 4: Click the Verify integrity of game files button.
The process may take several minutes. Once completed, Steam will show whether any files were re-downloaded or if all the files are intact.
Fix 2. Free up Disk Space
Freeing up disk space is a simple and common fix for the Steam low disk space error.
You can free up space by deleting unused programs, cleaning up temporary files, removing old games, or moving infrequently used files to another disk or external storage device.
Method 1: Delete Unnecessary Files using MiniTool Partition Wizard
The Space Analyzer is a utility included with MiniTool Partition Wizard. It helps you scan your hard drives and gain a better understanding of their disk space usage.
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Step 1: Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard to get its main interface.
Step 2: Select the Space Analyzer feature on the toolbar.
Step 3: Select the drive where your Steam installation is and click Scan.
Step 4: After the scan, unfold the tree structure to find large or unnecessary files.
Step 5: Select the items you don’t need and choose Delete (Permanently).
Method 2: Uninstall Old Games
Step 1: Open Steam and go to your Library.
Step 2: Find the game you want to uninstall and right-click the game’s title to choose Uninstall.
Step 3: Click Uninstall again on the pop-up confirmation screen to begin the process.
After deleting some games that you no longer need, the storage space occupied by Steam will be freed up to a certain extent.
Fix 3: Clear the Downloading Folder
When downloading or updating games using Steam, all temporary download files are stored in the Steam\steamapps\downloading folder.
When a download is interrupted, fails, or paused, some unfinished files may remain in this folder. Over time, these files can accumulate to several gigabytes or even tens of gigabytes of hard drive space.
Deleting the contents of this folder can free up disk space and resolve conflicts or errors encountered when updating or installing games on Steam.
Fix 3. Advanced Methods
Method 1: Check Drive Properties
When Steam downloads, updates, or installs games, it needs to write data to the hard drive.
If the permissions for Steam or its game folders are set to “read-only”, the system will block these write operations, resulting in “disk write error” or “low disk space” errors.
To resolve this, you’ll need to uncheck the “read-only” attribute on the hard drive or folder where Steam is installed.
Method 2: Check for Leftover Files
While Steam’s uninstall function typically deletes most game files, some files and folders may be left behind. If these folders accumulate, they can unnecessarily take up hard drive space.
You’ll need to navigate to your Steam library folder, find the steamapps directory, and then navigate to the common folder.
This common folder contains folders for all your installed games. Find the folders for the game you just uninstalled and delete them.
Method 3: Expand the Partition Where Steam Is Installed
If you continue to encounter errors when downloading new games from Steam, this may indicate that you’re still running out of free disk space.
In this case, we recommend resizing your disk partitions to ensure there’s enough free space for game downloads and installations.
MiniTool Partition Wizard provides the Extend Partition and Move/Resize Partition functions, which can help you effectively expand disk partitions and release more available space.
How to Extend a Partition
When there is no unallocated space adjacent to the target partition, you can use this feature to solve the issue.
It allows you to allocate free space from other partitions or unallocated areas on the same disk to expand the capacity of the specified partition.
Step 1: Open MiniTool Partition Wizard to enter its main interface.
Step 2: Right-click the drive where you installed Steam and click the Extend option.
Step 3: Click the down arrow from Take Free Space From and choose a partition, and click OK to save changes.
- Open the Take Free Space from the drop-down menu and select a partition or unallocated space.
- Move the blue slider to decide the amount of space to take.
- Hit the OK button.
Step 4: Tap on Apply > Yes to execute the operation. Once finished, the result will be displayed as follows.
How to Move/Resize a Partition
You can only expand the partition where Steam resides if there is unallocated space next to the target partition.
Step 1: Run MiniTool Partition Wizard to its main interface and right-click the partition, and select Move/resize.
Step 2: Drag the arrow lengthen the handle to occupy the unallocated space adjacent to the partition to occupy the unallocated space and click OK.
Step 3: Click Apply to perform the partition extension operation.
Once the installation of Steam’s disk expansion is complete, you can check again to see if you still receive a similar error.
Tip: Besides, it includes some advanced features, such as changing cluster size, converting MBR to GPT, converting NTFS to FAT, recovering data from external hard drive, etc.
Bottom Line
While the “Steam not enough disk space” issue can be annoying, it’s usually easy to fix with a few simple steps. Simply follow the steps in this guide, and you’ll have a good chance of successfully expanding the space available for Steam.
If you have any questions or suggestions while using MiniTool Partition Wizard, you can contact us at [email protected] for further assistance.
Not Enough Free Disk Space Steam
You can create multiple “Steam Library Folders” in Steam Settings and then select different installation locations when installing new games.
Therefore, it’s recommended to convert the target disk to the NTFS file system. NTFS not only supports larger files and partitions but also provides better security.
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Cecilia is a new member of MiniTool. She works as an English editor on the MiniTool team. She likes to learn articles about computers and is passionate about partition management and Windows operating systems. She is committed to allowing readers to use simple, efficient, and fast methods to solve the computer problems they encounter. To provide more professional solutions, she will continue to learn and master computer knowledge.
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