Moving SOME of my steam games to an SSD.

[games_maxed]

Just got an SSD and I have about 10-12 steam games on my hard drive. I have about 90 GBs free after installing Windows 7 on the SSD so I'd like to put some games and editing programs on there. However, the only game I have through steam that would really benefit from an SSD is Amnesia: The Dark Descent because it has some ridiculous level load times. The rest I'd like to keep on my HDD. How can I do this?.

I looked at the article that Steam themselves posted on this but they only tell you how to move the whole library. I only want to move one game.

Of course, I'm wanting to avoid downloading the games again. Mostly because I live in a rural area and although my download speeds aren't that shabby (8 Mbit/s) I get throttled pretty quickly down to about 200Kbit/s.

 

[CP7212]

Update: I went into the platter HD's directory to permanently delete the 8K of files, to clean up the directory. I clicked on Resume on the Steam download and the download timer went to two minutes. So, I just let it run. After the Play button lit up, I went to the directory on the SSD drive and all of the files were there. It must have turned the bits back on once the duplicate directory was removed. The game runs and it points to my saves. I wouldn't condone anyone doing it this way, but if you run into problems, give this a shot.

 

[Shooter_NZ]

This is a little late, but anyone else with the question.. this is all you have to do:

1. Go to Steam settings and add a game library for the other HDD or SSD you are moving games to. I made a D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\ to mirror the steam install on C:

2. Copy the game folder in \common\ to the other drive, and then go back into \SteamApps\ and find the .acf for the game (looks like appmanifest_XXXXXX.acf) To find what acf is for your game, go to steam, go to your library, click "View store page" and when it loads the game's store page, right click and copy url... go into your browser and paste the link, the number at the end is the .ACF number. Now, move that .ACF into the /SteamApps/ folder on the other harddrive.

3. Once all files are copied over for your game folder and the .ACF for it, go into steam and right click your game > Delete Local Content. This will uninstall your game at the old location, aslong as you moved your files to the new drive, it shouldn't delete them.

4. Last, once it says to Install Game, click Install Game and choose the library location you added where the game now resides. It will "Discover" the files and not download anything.

THANK YOU - FOR A SIMPLE SOLUTION:

This is a VERY EASY solution as I only wanted one steam game (Arma 3) moved to my SSD and the rest of my steam games reside on another HDD. In addition to #3 - after deleting local content for Arma 3, I found that I had to delete the Arma 3 folder (old location) so that the previous folder I used for Arma 3 was not visible. Then when I selected Arma 3 to install, no message displays that the game exists and then "discovers" that the files are in that new location.

 

[willcoq]

This is a little late, but anyone else with the question.. this is all you have to do:

1. Go to Steam settings and add a game library for the other HDD or SSD you are moving games to. I made a D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\ to mirror the steam install on C:

2. Copy the game folder in \common\ to the other drive, and then go back into \SteamApps\ and find the .acf for the game (looks like appmanifest_XXXXXX.acf) To find what acf is for your game, go to steam, go to your library, click "View store page" and when it loads the game's store page, right click and copy url... go into your browser and paste the link, the number at the end is the .ACF number. Now, move that .ACF into the /SteamApps/ folder on the other harddrive.

3. Once all files are copied over for your game folder and the .ACF for it, go into steam and right click your game > Delete Local Content. This will uninstall your game at the old location, aslong as you moved your files to the new drive, it shouldn't delete them.

4. Last, once it says to Install Game, click Install Game and choose the library location you added where the game now resides. It will "Discover" the files and not download anything.

THANK YOU - FOR A SIMPLE SOLUTION:

This is a VERY EASY solution as I only wanted one steam game (Arma 3) moved to my SSD and the rest of my steam games reside on another HDD. In addition to #3 - after deleting local content for Arma 3, I found that I had to delete the Arma 3 folder (old location) so that the previous folder I used for Arma 3 was not visible. Then when I selected Arma 3 to install, no message displays that the game exists and then "discovers" that the files are in that new location.

I tried the solution originally posted by CraveMode that you quoted, and at the end of step 4, when I chose the new library location and clicked Install, it DELETED the copy I had made and re-downloaded the whole game from scratch. This was GTA V, and my directory was 64 GB. It does not send it to the recycle bin. Neither does "Delete Local Content." So I had no copy of it at all anymore. It was too late to try what you recommended about manually deleting the old location.

Fortunately, I'm one of the internet's 1%, and I have Google Fiber, so it downloaded again in a jiffy, but not everyone is so lucky!

 

[Neil_23]

This is a little late, but anyone else with the question.. this is all you have to do:

1. Go to Steam settings and add a game library for the other HDD or SSD you are moving games to. I made a D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\ to mirror the steam install on C:

2. Copy the game folder in \common\ to the other drive, and then go back into \SteamApps\ and find the .acf for the game (looks like appmanifest_XXXXXX.acf) To find what acf is for your game, go to steam, go to your library, click "View store page" and when it loads the game's store page, right click and copy url... go into your browser and paste the link, the number at the end is the .ACF number. Now, move that .ACF into the /SteamApps/ folder on the other harddrive.

3. Once all files are copied over for your game folder and the .ACF for it, go into steam and right click your game > Delete Local Content. This will uninstall your game at the old location, aslong as you moved your files to the new drive, it shouldn't delete them.

4. Last, once it says to Install Game, click Install Game and choose the library location you added where the game now resides. It will "Discover" the files and not download anything.

the

 

[Neil_23]

A little easier - perhaps. Try adding a step between 1 and 2 above. Install some small uninstalled game (peggle for me) from your library into the new folder you've created. This then sets up the folders you need so you can copy the game folder you want to move straight into the new common folder.Did all the ACF stuff above and it worked perfectly. Alot better than downloading a whole 57gb of DOOM again!

 

[RevoLand]

Alternatively;

• 
  Get Steam Library Manager (Steam should be closed)
  Drag & Drop the new library folder you like to create to the free space on left panel of SLM
  Move your games by drag & dropping over the new library you have just created

You are done, have fun

 

[Timmmaahh]

This is a little late, but anyone else with the question.. this is all you have to do:

1. Go to Steam settings and add a game library for the other HDD or SSD you are moving games to. I made a D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\ to mirror the steam install on C:

2. Copy the game folder in \common\ to the other drive, and then go back into \SteamApps\ and find the .acf for the game (looks like appmanifest_XXXXXX.acf) To find what acf is for your game, go to steam, go to your library, click "View store page" and when it loads the game's store page, right click and copy url... go into your browser and paste the link, the number at the end is the .ACF number. Now, move that .ACF into the /SteamApps/ folder on the other harddrive.

3. Once all files are copied over for your game folder and the .ACF for it, go into steam and right click your game > Delete Local Content. This will uninstall your game at the old location, aslong as you moved your files to the new drive, it shouldn't delete them.

4. Last, once it says to Install Game, click Install Game and choose the library location you added where the game now resides. It will "Discover" the files and not download anything.

This does not work anymore, as Steam no longer "discovers" anything. It will just pop up a warning saying "invalid install path"

Just use the steam mover utility in the link above. Hassle free, and actually works

 

[ClaretT]

This is a little late, but anyone else with the question.. this is all you have to do:

1. Go to Steam settings and add a game library for the other HDD or SSD you are moving games to. I made a D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\ to mirror the steam install on C:

2. Copy the game folder in \common\ to the other drive, and then go back into \SteamApps\ and find the .acf for the game (looks like appmanifest_XXXXXX.acf) To find what acf is for your game, go to steam, go to your library, click "View store page" and when it loads the game's store page, right click and copy url... go into your browser and paste the link, the number at the end is the .ACF number. Now, move that .ACF into the /SteamApps/ folder on the other harddrive.

3. Once all files are copied over for your game folder and the .ACF for it, go into steam and right click your game > Delete Local Content. This will uninstall your game at the old location, aslong as you moved your files to the new drive, it shouldn't delete them.

4. Last, once it says to Install Game, click Install Game and choose the library location you added where the game now resides. It will "Discover" the files and not download anything.

This does not work anymore, as Steam no longer "discovers" anything. It will just pop up a warning saying "invalid install path"

Just use the steam mover utility in the link above. Hassle free, and actually works

Not true, this works fine. Just don't bother with the appmanifest .ACF part (step 2) as this simply tells steam a game has been installed on that drive and will therefore cause it to be deleted from both drives.

 

[Vanpotheos]

In Steam; click Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders > ADD Library Folder > (make the folder)

Drag and drop game files from original HDD location and paste into new SSD location...

Not sure why everyone is making such a fuss about this. Or why so many companies are taking the opportunity to sling mal-ware around.

DO NOT download any third party apps to do this.
They just want to rob you. Literally...


Here is a more detailed explanation of what I listed above: https/www.howtogeek.com/269515/how-to-move-a-steam-game-to-another-drive-without-re-downloading-it/

Hopefully this solution out-SEO's the spam-ware guys trying to brick your PC. Don't download their trash-apps, please.

 

[RevoLand]

In Steam; click Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders > ADD Library Folder > (make the folder)

Drag and drop game files from original HDD location and paste into new SSD location...

Not sure why everyone is making such a fuss about this. Or why so many companies are taking the opportunity to sling mal-ware around.

Don't download any third party apps to do this.
They just want to rob you. Literally...

There is only 2 references to 3rd party apps. Steam Mover (outdated) and Steam Library Manager (open source with mit license)

Companies? Malwares? You clearly have no idea about what you are talking. Examine before shooting randomly else you are missing like now.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Looks like this thread has run its course.