How To Move Steam Games To Another Drive

You are likely staring at a full hard drive or finally upgrading to a faster SSD, and you really do not want to sit through a massive game download again. You can move your existing Steam library files between drives safely as long as you use Steam's built-in tools instead of dragging folders manually.

The Golden Rule

Always use the Steam storage manager to relocate game files. If you manually move or copy-paste game folders in File Explorer, you will corrupt the installation and Steam will force you to redownload the entire game.

Steps

1. 01
   Open the Steam client, click the 'Steam' menu in the top-left corner, and select 'Settings'.
2. 02
   Navigate to the 'Storage' tab on the left sidebar to view your current drives and installed content.
3. 03
   Click the drive dropdown menu at the top, select 'Add Drive', and choose the folder location on your new drive to register it as a Steam library.
4. 04
   Switch the dropdown back to the drive containing your game, check the box next to the game you want to move, and click 'Move' in the bottom-right corner.
5. 05
   Select your new destination drive from the popup menu and click 'Move' again to begin the transfer.
6. 06
   Wait for the progress bar to complete; do not close Steam while the files are copying, as this can lead to data fragmentation.
7. 07
   Launch the game once the move finishes to verify the path was updated correctly.
8. 08
   Click the three dots icon next to your new drive in the Storage menu and select 'Set as Default' if you want future game installations to land there automatically.

Still not working?

If a game refuses to launch after the move, right-click it in your Library, select 'Properties', go to the 'Installed Files' tab, and click 'Verify integrity of game files'. This forces Steam to re-check the file paths and fix any fragments that didn't transfer correctly. If you get a 'Disk Write Error' during the move, check that your new drive is properly formatted as NTFS and that you have full read/write permissions for that folder.

Frequently asked questions

Will I lose my game saves if I move the folder?

No, your local game saves are typically stored in your user profile documents folder or within the game installation folder, and Steam's mover is designed to keep these files intact.

Can I move games to an external hard drive?

Yes, but be aware that if the drive disconnects or is powered off while Steam is running, your games will show as 'Not Installed' until you reconnect the drive and restart Steam.