I have both an SSD and an HDD in my PC. Regular Steam games download and install successfully on either drive, but games downloaded through Steam Tools only work when the SSD is selected. When I choose the HDD, the download begins and eventually fails with a "disk is corrupted" error. The HDD otherwise works normally: I can copy files to it, download other content, and install regular Steam games there. I also completely formatted the drive, but that did not fix the issue. Steam itself is installed on the SSD. Could this be caused by Steam Tools' save-location handling, permissions, the file system, or a Windows setting?
2 Answers
Since Steam is installed on the SSD but regular games can still use the HDD, the issue seems specific to how Steam Tools writes or verifies files on that drive. The reported corrupted-disk message could be a path, permission, or compatibility problem rather than an actual failing HDD. Checking the folder’s permissions and trying a new library folder on the HDD would be useful next steps.
First check whether Steam Tools has its own download or installation-path setting. It may not be using the same library configuration as regular Steam downloads, or it may be failing to locate the HDD correctly. Make sure the HDD is added as a valid Steam library location and that the selected folder exists and is writable.
The HDD has already been formatted, and regular Steam games still install there successfully. Steam Tools works normally when the SSD is selected, so the failure only appears when Steam Tools targets the HDD.