Steam on 2 HDDs

Intel_Hydralisk

Supreme [H]ardness
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Feb 6, 2005
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Hi Guys, I've kind of just lived with this for a while - but wanted to know if there was a better way to handle it.

I bought a SSD and installed windows steam etc. on it. I didn't want to put all of my steam games on there (despite it being 1 TB, it would have quickly run out of space). I also didn't want to redownload everything. So I backed up my old steam games folder and placed it on my old HDD after wiping it.

So... my current flow is for new games is: if I want it on the SSD, I'd install it on there. If I didn't feel like it needed to be on the SSD, I'd install it to my old HDD. For old games... the problem is, it thinks nothing's downloaded/installed. So, for a game that I already have on my old HDD that I backed up - I'll have to tell it to install to the old HDD and at that point it slowly figures out that the files are there and I'm good to go. Not horrible... but not ideal since I can't tell what I already have downloaded etc.

Is there a good way to sweep a directory to see what's been downloaded already and have Steam recognize this? Even if it's not a complete download or if it's missing updates... something that checks for the existence of files.

I also want to eventually get to a spot where I can install to the SSD and when I finish the game, move it to the HDD to sort of archive it. But doing this is a bit clunky right now...
 
Did you try right clicking the game, going to properties, then local, and checking the integrity of the game cache?
 
When you download/install a game in Steam, it asks you where you want to install a directory.

You don't need symbolic links anymore for this. If you install Steam to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\", if will install to "\steamapps\common\" by default. You can create a new SteamLibrary where ever you choose.

You can cut and paste a game between the directories and verify the game cache and Steam will make sure it's all intact and good to go.
 
When you download/install a game in Steam, it asks you where you want to install a directory.

You don't need symbolic links anymore for this. If you install Steam to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\", if will install to "\steamapps\common\" by default. You can create a new SteamLibrary where ever you choose.

You can cut and paste a game between the directories and verify the game cache and Steam will make sure it's all intact and good to go.

I'd have to do this hundreds of times though for games I've installed in the past right?

I wanted to avoid that with something that just does the same by crawling a directory... but I guess if that's what it takes.
 
You can just move the folders (usually steamapps\common) and their associated manifest file (steamapps\appmanifest_<id>.acf) to the new directory. Some acfs may contain path information that needs to be updated, but most don't.

Needless to say this should be done while Steam is closed down.
 
if you look in the Steam folder you can see what you already downloaded as there should be folders there for the games.
 
You don't need any of those Steamtools, I don't understand the confusion here. If you want to move your Steam games to an SSD, all you have to do is cut and paste from your \steamapps\common\ directory.
 
You don't need any of those Steamtools, I don't understand the confusion here. If you want to move your Steam games to an SSD, all you have to do is cut and paste from your \steamapps\common\ directory.

this. no need to make it any more complicated then that. this is what I did to get my games off my C: and to my old 160 GB 10k raptor (that I still use today, no ssd for me yet sadly :( soon though.)
 
You don't need any of those Steamtools, I don't understand the confusion here. If you want to move your Steam games to an SSD, all you have to do is cut and paste from your \steamapps\common\ directory.

I already did that.

Seems most folks didn't actually read my original post... but I'll repeat it.

Functionally, the only problem is the fact that Steam doesn't think most of my games are downloaded/installed when they are. Which isn't a problem if I want to play a specific game since I just launch it and it then it proceeds to find the files where I specified. I would just like something to automatically do this once for the hundreds of games I have downloaded already.
 
I think your best luck is trying to find or write a script that will do all that for you. If it fixes itself when you want to play a specific game, then why the need to fix all the games if they are just sitting there?
 
You did something weird. I expect steam scans the manifest files on startup, if they're in the right location (split on each drive with the rest of the data) it Should Work.

It may be cached in which case maybe remove the ClientRegistry.blob file.
 
If you run the game after you have moved it, it should detect that it's uninstalled. Just point to the other SteamLibrary directory and it will just verify the game cache real quick and you'll be on your way.
 
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