Steam Install on one drive, games on the other?

wyattzx · January 20, 2015

Hey guys!

Before you go linking to a Steam Support page regarding moving installs, I'd first like to brief you on what exactly I am asking. Is it possible to install Steam on my C:/ drive (SSD) and have the games installed on another drive? I'm talking previously installed titles. I have about 440gb of Steam Games installed, and I'll be damned if I want to go through downloading them all again. When shutting down my Computer, it tends to hang for a few moments while it closes the Steam Application. It's not so much an issue, as much as an annoyance. Furthermore, it takes Steam a good 15 seconds to start, after everything on my SSD is done. I want to be able to have all of my programs on my SSD, and mass storage on my other drives. It's a 120gb Kingston HyperX, and my mass storage is a 500GB WD HDD, and a 1TB WD Blue HDD. Specifically, the 1TB is my games drive right now. Can I install Steam on my C drive, and direct my steamapps location to a steamapps folder on my other drive? Or is there another method?

Thanks!

iruixos · January 20, 2015

Absolutely. You can go to Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders and manage them from there.

I have Steam installed on an SSD with some very frequently games, and the rest are spread out over 3 drives.

Once you have the directories sorted, "download" the game to the proper drive and it will discover the existing files if it's already installed.

ErickS89 · January 20, 2015

When you start to install a game it'll ask where, I have steam on my SSD but have my games on a 12TB raid5 array.

wyattzx · January 20, 2015

Absolutely. You can go to Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders and manage them from there.

I have Steam installed on an SSD with some very frequently games, and the rest are spread out over 3 drives.

Once you have the directories sorted, "download" the game to the proper drive and it will discover the existing files if it's already installed.

So, I've installed Steam onto my SSD. What would be the next step to directing Steam to my previously-downloaded games? Would I direct a Steam Library Folder to my SteamApps folder? Or..?

iruixos · January 20, 2015

So, I've installed Steam onto my SSD. What would be the next step to directing Steam to my previously-downloaded games? Would I direct a Steam Library Folder to my SteamApps folder? Or..?

Yeah. So say you have

C:\Program Files\Steam (install folder)

D:\Games\SteamLibrary (games)

You just add the directory on the D: drive as a Steam Library folder and it should do the rest.

wyattzx · January 20, 2015

I created a folder "Steam Library" on my E:/ drive, and noticed that Steam put a "Steamapps" folder in. I merged my existing one with it. Now I just need to "download" my games, right?

Edit: Yup! Seems to be working right! Thanks guys!