How to move Steam games to another drive

Some of the most frustrating things that can happen while gaming include lag, slow load times and even those cut scenes that seem to go on forever. Something else that can creep up on you is a lack of space for updates and new games, especially on Steam. Thankfully, there are ways around this, so you don’t have to miss out on the most anticipated releases because you ran out of space. 

If you don’t have a spare disk, you will need to install an internal SATA SSD or NVMe SSD for your desktop or buy an external SSD to store your Steam library. Let’s walk through the best ways to move Steam games to another device, so you don’t have to worry about running out of space again.[PD1]   [PD1]Added for internal link opportunities

Creating a secondary library on Steam is the first thing you need to do when prepping your system for more space. With Steam, you can create several libraries and choose which library you download purchased games into. With additional libraries, there is also an option to move games in your primary library to other libraries. This process saves you time and effort as there is no need to re-download games that already exist in your primary library.

Find your Steam library folders by visiting Settings > Downloads >Steam LibraryFolders.

When you are in the Steam library folders, there will be a plus button next to ‘Local Disk.’.  Pressing this will prompt you to choose which drive you want to add the folder to if you have multiple drives available. 

After choosing your preferable location for a secondary Steam library, you will now have an additional folder appearing in ‘Steam Library Folders’. When you’ve completed this step, you’ll then be able to start moving games effortlessly.

Moving your Steam library to an external SSD can prove to be a sensible option when your internal storage is limited. The process of moving your existing Steam library to an external hard drive is seamless too, so you’ll be able to get back to your game in no time. There are slight variations between Windows and Mac with how you move your library to an external drive, however neither are too complicated.

On Windows, there are only a few steps to take, starting with the most important step of shutting down Steam. After this all you need to do is:

Once completed, rerun Steam to double check the transfer was successful.

Similarly to the process on Windows, the most important first step is to shut down Steam before any other step. Once you have done that, do the following:

Type cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/Steam and follow that command up with ln -s /path/to/new/SteamApps SteamApps 

Before taking any of these steps, it is best to do some research regarding the best hard drives for both Mac and gaming. One external SSD that can provide everything you need for gaming on your Mac is the Crucial X9 Pro for Mac Portable SSD. With this, you have a plug-and-play storage right out of the box for your Mac. You can also have access to up to 4TB, plenty of storage space for your Steam library. 

External hard drives provide a multitude of benefits for everyday use of devices, and gaming is no exception. As storage is a luxury that’s needed when it comes to accumulating an extensive Steam library on your PC or laptop, external hard drives can save the day. 

If you are gaming on a laptop, portability is a big benefit of external hard drives. Having the ability to travel with your gaming library without compromising data if your laptop malfunctions is a huge benefit to external hard drives, adding an element of security to your library.

The ease of playing games from an external hard drive continues to improve. The implementation of USB 3.2 Gen-2 on external hard drives has vastly improved their speed and efficiency in how they can access data. This means that playing games saved onto your external hard drive is no different to accessing those games from your internal SSD. 

The Crucial X10 Pro Portable SSD offers all of this and more to provide the best gaming experience when using an external hard drive. With up to 4TB of space available, there’ll be plenty of space to keep expanding your Steam library. With read and write speeds of up to 2,100/2,000MB/s as well, you’ll have no trouble accessing your games directly from the drive. 

Check out the Crucial System Scanner to guarantee the compatibility of your next computer upgrade.