How to Move Steam Games to Another Drive

This video shows you how to move Steam games to another drive, whether that drive is another internal hard drive or an external hard drive.

Video Transcript:
Steam games can take up a lot of hard drive space, and if you start out installing all of them on your primary hard drive you're likely to run out of room quickly. One solution is to move your Steam games to another hard drive, whether that drive is internal or external. After moving your Steam games to another internal or external hard drive you'll still be able to access those games the same as you normally would.

Now let's walk through the steps to move your Steam games from their current location to either another internal or external hard drive.

Step 1. Launch the Steam client on your computer.

Step 2. Click "Steam" in the menu row located in the upper left corner of the screen to open a drop-down menu, and then click "Settings" in the drop-down menu. The Settings window appears.

Step 3. Select "Downloads" on the left side of the Settings menu, and then click "Steam Library Folders" in the Content Libraries section on the right side of the Settings window. A Steam Library Folders window appears. Any current Steam library folders on different drives that you have set up appear in this list.

Step 4. Click "Add Library Folder" in the lower left corner of the Steam Library Folders window. The Create or Select New Steam Library Folder window appears.

Step 5. Click the drop-down arrow located to the right of the current Steam library location to display a drop-down menu with available drives where you can create a new Steam library folder to install games to. Locate the drive you want to move files for a specific Steam game to, whether it's internal or external.

Step 6. Click the drive you want to move some of your Steam game files to. The current folder hierarchy on that drive will be displayed.

Step 7. Either select the folder or create a new folder you want to use as your Steam library folder on this drive. In this example, I'll click "New Folder" and create a folder named Steam Library that I'll use. Click "Select" after choosing the folder you want to use as your Steam library on this drive. You'll return to the Steam Library Folders window, where you'll now see your new Steam library location listed. If you want to use your newly created Steam library location as your default Steam installation location, right-click your new library location in this list, and then click "Make Default Library." You'll now see Yes listed beneath Default to the right of that particular library.

Step 8. Click "Close" when you're done making changes in the Steam Library Folders window, and then click "OK" to close the Settings window and return to your Steam home screen.

Step 9. Click "Library" in the row of options located in the upper left corner of the screen. A list of Steam games you own appear in a list on the left side of the screen. The Steam games that are installed on your computer appear in bold.

Step 10. Right-click one of the games you want to move to your newly created Steam library on another drive to display a context menu. Click "Properties" in the context menu. A Properties window associated with that specific game appears.

Step 11. Select the "Local Files" tab. Click "Move Install Folder" in the Local Files tab. The Move Install Folder window appears.

Step 12. Click the drop-down item in the Move Install Folder window after the prompt about where you want to move the folder to. You'll see any Steam libraries you've set up on other drives. Select the new drive you want to move the Steam game to, and then click "Move Folder." A progress bar appears on the lower part of the Move Install Folder window displaying the progress of moving the Steam game to the new drive. After the Steam game is moved to the new drive, the progress bar will be replaced with a message that says the move was a success.

[donwon]

I have always wondered if the steam client should be on c drive or on d drive which includes all my games. The latter is my setup as of now. My question is what is the best place for the client itself c or d, in case of transferring to a new pc without downloading again ? Thanks.

[TribuneAquila]

I buy new SSD’s and forget how to move my steam games just so I can listen to your Burger King foot lettuce voice

[AdamGiaIsMetal]

Simple, straight-forward, articulate. A perfect how-to video. Thanks :)

[daddygoose]

This was so helpful thank you so much. You went at such a steady pace i could keep up with you and not have to pause and unpause the video, you did a really good job of explaining where to go aswell. Thank you!

[briannewman]

I know it is a simple thing, but this is one of the best how-to videos I have ever seen. Well done Sir.

[ganjaguru]

Watching in 2020 and this is a fantastic video. All menus and selection options are still relative. You did a great job at articulating the steps and the process. Thank you, greatly

[joshuamanwaring]

FYI if you guys can't see the " move install folder" restart steam client then try moving the files again. hope this helps!

[Richard-Freeman]

Thank you for a clear, concise and no frills instruction video.

[gizhaz]

Thank you, Max. I've been playing Rust on my Hard Drive for years, finally got a small SSD to put games on. My internet is bad, and I didn't wanna un-install and reinstall. This helped so much!

[pabloferreira]

If every tutorial would be like this, there would be no world hunger. Thank you mate

[dillonstyles]

Thank you so much I had an extra 2 terabytes that I didn't know how to excess and this helped alot!

[martins]

Thank you why can't all videos on youtube be so clear about what to do. At a pace that you can follow while watching. Great thank you.

[letsplay]

Omg bro thank you so much for explaining step by step I love it now I'm freeing space.

[robhaney]

You're a life saver! ... About to add my X300 4tb tomorrow, I had to uninstall a lot of my games because my 1tb was 90% full (too many games/mods). Gopher never explained how he put his games on a different drive. Others need to take a lesson from your style of instructions/tutorials. To the point, thorough, and step by step. Got a subscribe .... Thanks! Now I'll be able to reinstall all my 30+ games.

[theomnidegenerate]

Quick concise and literally no skipped steps or assumptions of any kind that we would somehow know something we don’t this is literally so straightforward and simple a literal four-year-old would probably be able to follow these instructions very well done

[xoln]

Very helpful in 2021, all though after the steam client updated it's interface it's still basically the same follow each steps and it'll work, thank you keep up the good work!

[heliosex]

Thanks, man. This couldnt have been more straightforward. Who frickin disliked this? You guys are some smooth brains.

[TroysHobbies]

You're awesome. I tried to follow some other youtubers and I got lost. They were going so fast. I'm completely new to Desktop. You gave it a little pause in between steps. Even though the newer Steam configuration is a little different, I was able to follow along and move my STEAM account to the "D" drive. Thanks a bunch!. I subbed.

[Leemz]

Perfect. Great job of detailing and describing the process (so many people SUCK at doing this sort of thing). I've been wanting to know how to do this and you've done a great job of explaining how.

[Sabrelake_Corp]

might be a little late, but your directions and steps are perfectly clear and easy to understand, thanks man