Install Steam and most games in one large HDD but some popular games on a separate SSD [duplicate]

I have a 1 TB HDD and a 120 GB SSD. On the HDD I have all my data along with Steam and—currently—all my games. On the SSD I have Windows 7 and programs, but there's 50 GB of unused space that I wish to use for the games I most commonly play on Steam (for quicker loading times, etc).

To summarize, I want to have this situation:

120GB SSD (C:\): Windows, programs, and a few Steam games.
1TB HDD (D:\): data, Steam, and most games.

Is this possible? If not, what other choices do I have to do something similar?

Best Answer

You can create multiple 'game libraries' in Steam, each one going in a different location on your computer, in your case, 2 different hard disks.

Nolonar adds a good point:

Keep in mind that not all games can be installed on a library other than where Steam is installed; most notably old games like Half-Life 2

How to

Steam > Settings > Downloads tab > Click 'Steam library folders' button.

Next time you download a game you can choose where to put it.

Look here for 2 ways to add the library.

Read this question if you want to move games between libraries.

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Can you have Steam on one drive and games on another?

Click the \u201cLocal Files\u201d tab and click the \u201cMove Install Folder\u201d button. Select the Steam library you want to move the game to and click the \u201cMove\u201d button. You're done. Steam will move the game's files to the other library location.

Is it better to install games on a separate SSD?

Yes, do that - keep windows on sata SSD. That's easiest/simplest method, also makes most sense. Migrating OS from sata SSD to NVME SSD won't give much performance benefit. Yes - your system would boot by couple of seconds faster, but that's about it.

Is it better to have games on a separate hard drive?

By having your games on a different hard drive, you allow your OS to use the space more effectively on its own drive. One of the thing modern OS's do is save data from memory to storage(SSD in this case) when it isn't likely to be used in a while.

Can I download Steam games into an external hard drive and use the game on different computers or save it for re downloading it some other time?

The good news is that you can run your Steam library from virtually any external drive. You'll probably be best avoiding a USB flash drive, but a USB HDD or SSD will be just fine. The limitations on performance will be the same as on an internal drive.

How to Play Steam Games from an External HDD or SSD

More answers regarding install Steam and most games in one large HDD but some popular games on a separate SSD [duplicate]

Answer 2

Personally I use junction points. Install everything originally to the SSD as it is your base/original Steam install location then you can move the data folder and create a "junction point" to generate a virtual link to the new physical location of the game data. This really can be done for a lot of other things than SteamApps.

See: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2181335

And the example given is

 mklink /d "D:\program files\Steam\TF2" "C:\Steam\TF2"

Answer 3

There is actually a utility someone created for just this reason. Steam Mover creates junction points and moves the actual game contents to a new location of your choosing and keeps track of moved games in a nice interface.

For your use case you might install all your games to your 1TB hdd, and then use Steam Mover to move select games for which you want to gain the advantages of ssd performance.

Answer 4

Each time you install a game from Steam, you can select where you want to install it. I have an SSD for my OS, but some of the larger games where performance isn't a huge deal go on a 1TB HDD. Every time I click the "install" button it prompts me for the location. Fortunately it remembers each location and offers them as default options.

Personally I wouldn't chance moving a game, and I've never used junction points (although they sound cool until something doesn't work with them, then they sound like a nightmare to troubleshoot) so I'd either verify the steam cloud has my save info, or copy off the save games then delete/reinstall the game on the other drive. I have no complaints thus far with that procedure. (Granted I did this after a fresh Windows install, so I had to reinstall everything in Steam anyway.)

Edit: I saw the answer about Steam Libraries -- and I wasn't sure if that was the same thing as what I just posted, so I left my answer anyway... if it is, then so be it.

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