Want to move Steam games to another drive safely? Look through this guide

In this article you will find out:

how to move Steam games to another drive

how to protect your data

Are you ready? Let's read!

So, is it possible to move Steam games to another drive safely? The simple answer is YES, and this article explains every detail you need to know about this action.

Why Should You Move Your Steam Games File?

The reasons may vary from person to person. But, basically, the reasons why to move Steam game files can be due to storage problems or you're switching from HDD to SSD.

When there’s not much space in your primary storage drive, it is advisable to transfer some of your files to a secondary drive such as a thumb drive or an external hard drive.

Similarly, if you’re upgrading your primary storage disk to SSD, you need to be careful with your Steam game files so as not to lose anything.

How To Keep Your Steam Games File Safe

No Steam user would love to lose the offline files for all the games in his/her Steam account. Hence, it is advisable to regularly backup your game data using a tool like the DiskInternals Partition Recovery software. This tool is intuitive to use, and it's not only a data backup solution but also doubles as a data recovery app for Windows OS computers.

DiskInternals Partition Recovery lets you create "Disk Images" - an advanced backup format that proves to be more comprehensive and reliable than conventional backups. A disk image is simply a cloned version of your HDD; it contains every single file and data, plus the configuration of your hard drive.

It is entirely free to create disk images with DiskInternals Partition Recovery, and you can create as many as you wish at any time. Below is a guide to backing up your Steam game data using this software tool.

Backup your Steam Data Using DiskInternals Partition Recovery

Download and install the software on your computer

Launch it and close the Wizard that launches automatically

Select the disk/drive where your Steam game data is saved

Right-click and select “Create Image”

Follow the prompts and choose where to save the disk image. (Note: you have to save the disk image copy on an external storage, not your primary local storage).

Three (3) Ways To Move Steam Game Files

Follow either of these three (3) methods to transfer your Steam files to another drive without losing any data.

1. Use Built-In Tools

Interestingly, Steam has a built-in feature that lets you transfer your files to another drive safely. Here's how to do it:

Open Steam, and go to Settings >>> Downloads >>> Steam Library Folders >>> Add Library Folder.

Select a different drive and create the new library folder there.

The new folder will appear on your Steam Library folders list and your new installation will be saved in this new folder, which is in another drive.

Now, to move existing game files, go to LIBRARY >>> Games library >>> right-click on the game to move >>> go to Properties.

Navigate to the Local Files tab and select Move Install Folder.

2. Use Steam Library Manager

You can download the Steam Library Manager tool to help you in moving your Steam game files. This tool is available here. With Steam Library Manager installed, follow the steps below:

Launch the tool and on the main interface, you’ll see all your game libraries/folders

Now, drag your games from one library to another

Go to the Task Manager tab to see all games ready to be moved to another drive, you can select multiple games at a time and click “Start.”

3. Move The Steam Folder Itself

Another way is to move the Steam folder on your local drive to another drive. To do this, simply launch File Explorer and find the Steam folder, usually C:\Program Files(x86)\Steam.

Select the Steam folder and press CTRL + C to copy it (or right-click and select Copy). Then open the new drive you want to transfer it to and paste it in there. After the copy and paste is completed, rename the old Steam folder on the old drive to avoid file conflicts.

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