Are local files necessary when I have cloud save turned on?

[thatgingerzoe]

Hey friends, question (keep in mind I am not very tech savvy). I have cloud syn turned on for a game on steam, but I have so many local files from save data (a lot of quick saves) that it's taking up 90% of my disk space. Is it safe for me to delete the local files on my computer to free up some space locally? I hope this question makes sense. Thanks!!

**Thanks to everyone who answered my question. For further context: I downloaded C Cleaner and paid for the professional version so I could see what was eating up my disc space, and 90% of it are "other files." I uninstalled some applications and deleted some duplicate files, along with these "other files" that the internet told me were ok to delete. I won't delete all of my local files for my game, instead I am going to just delete old saves that I don't play on anymore. For context, I am referring to Baldur's Gate 3. Thanks y'all!!**

[Spanky]

depends.

Steam cloud works by the latest installed games save. It's not always perfect. it skips a few due to the Steam servers down time and sync issues with it's specific game and it's community.

Also the Steam files on the PC have to be in top shape and this is controlled by Steam and Windows.

If you save games on the local drive and not in the cloud your relying on your drive to function as the backup.

If you rely on the Steam cloud to sync the back up after reinstall this makes things easier but it's not always perfect.

You have to remember it's software and hardware constraints and the user has to keep up with operations like data verification and PC optimisations.

Ultimately, you'd either want to have someone (or user account) to maintain the PC or get a computer repair tech to do something about it, but this requires some skill by the owner (you) to know what you want fixed.

You have to know something about Computers to fix anything even if you don't actually do it yourself.

[Chika Ogiue]

Think of the cloud saves as a backup. The Steam cloud isn't the most reliable thing in the world and when you're actually playing those games, they aren't saving to the cloud during gameplay.

But even if you're not using Steam cloud, there's generally no problem with deleting saves you're not using. Many games will even let you do this in the game, making it easier to manage which saves you want to keep.

[JamesF0790]

I'd recommend a tool like treesize free to see where your disk space is really going. Somehow I doubt 90% of it is savegames but I could be wrong.

[IFIYGD]

If you are running Windows 10/11 and have File History enabled, and haven't excluded folders that Steam uses to save savegames, it can eat up a ton of storage space on your machine.
May or may not be part of the problem here.

[Marazipan]

Originally posted by Chika Ogiue:

Think of the cloud saves as a backup.

They shouldn't think of it as a backup, that's not it's purpose and if a save gets corrupted locally the cloud save will be as well because it doesn't keep previous versions.

The sole purpose of the cloud is to enable you to play a game across different machines without having to manually transfer your save.

[Chika Ogiue]

Originally posted by Marazipan:

They shouldn't think of it as a backup, that's not it's purpose and if a save gets corrupted locally the cloud save will be as well because it doesn't keep previous versions.

Then Steam Cloud is even more worthless than every other gaming platform's cloud saves where they ARE backups.

[ShelLuser]

Local files are always needed, because otherwise games can't access the data.

If you access a cloud storage, say... OneDrive, and then click on an image to view it. Guess what? The image first gets downloaded to your PC as a temporary file, then your browser gets to access it.

In fact... this applies to pretty much everything on the Net. All those images on this very Steam page? At the time of reading my comment all those images, includiny my avatar, exist on your PC as temporary data right now (yes, including your PC, random reader ).

[Wolfpig]

If you delete the saves on your disc which already got transferred to steams cloud.....the only thing which will happen, if you have installed the games (not sure if they need to be started or not) is that the steam client will re-download those files to store them back on your drive.

[thatgingerzoe]

Thanks to everyone who answered my question. For further context: I downloaded C Cleaner and paid for the professional version so I could see what was eating up my disc space, and 90% of it are "other files." I uninstalled some applications and deleted some duplicate files, along with these "other files" that the internet told me were ok to delete. I won't delete all of my local files for my game, instead I am going to just delete old saves that I don't play on anymore. For context, I am referring to Baldur's Gate 3. Thanks y'all!!