transferring steam onto a different harddrive

[knife crime]

hi, im running out of space on my main harddrive, so my plan is to buy 1tb of sata and transfer steam onto it, the question is, will it work? will i still be able to run my games?

thanks for all replies.

 

[FreakingHell]

Not sure if that will work out or not.

But you can always download steam, install it, sign in, and then download all your games.

 

[iamevilbear]

The approach that I used in Vista (before I upgraded to 7)

I used windows complete pc backup to backup to an external HDD. Then I removed my old hard drive. Put in the new one. Booted from the Vista disc. Use Complete pc restore. Bingo done.

Of course, the great thing about steam is that you can simply download your games again. Maybe focus on backing up your music and pictures.

 

[Dead Tom]

Yea i would just back up the documents, music, movies, pictures, etc. Steam and your games is really easy to fix.

 

[e MpTy]

Simply coping the steam folder and transfering it to another drive works, it will just simply re-install the steam (ie. registery). and log into your account and there you go.

 

[shadows5631]

I had a similar question too.

My Steam folder is 25GB's so it's gonna be hard to back all of that up.

So, you can't just install Steam again and download your games?

 

[Dead Tom]

I had a similar question too.

My Steam folder is 25GB's so it's gonna be hard to back all of that up.

So, you can't just install Steam again and download your games?

Yes you can for something that size thats probably the better idea.

 

[xplag]

Unless you go for a complete backup, moving the files won't work, so I'd just re download all the games again.

 

[spidEY]

• Log out and exit Steam
• Navigate to the folder where Steam is installed (by default: C:\Program Files\Steam\)
• Delete all of the files and folders except the SteamApps folder and Steam.exe
• Cut and paste your Steam folder to the new location, for example: D:\Games\Steam\
• Launch Steam
• Steam will briefly update and then you will be ready to play
• All future game content will be downloaded to the new folder D:\Games\Steam\SteamApps\

Source: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7710-TDLC-0426

 

[Boo-Yeah!!]

i just uninstalled it and reinstalled it on my new hard drive. Its easier that way and gets past a lot of possible headaches and problems of xfer to an external or between drives. Plus its faster.

 

[3vlNomad]

I had a similar question too.

My Steam folder is 25GB's so it's gonna be hard to back all of that up.

So, you can't just install Steam again and download your games?

compress the important stuff, don't worry about the actual games

like cstrike\maps, cstrike\sound, cstrike\models, cstrike\materials

Basically things you downloaded from servers, if you would like to keep them.


To help contrast this:
My Steam folder is 23gb

My downloaded content (from servers, aka custom maps/etc) is only 1gb, which can fit on a $5 flash drive

 

[knife crime]

ok thanks for all the help and advice

 

[Resk]

i changed my pc to another with vista, old was with xp. And still works.