Playing off an external ssd?

[colecr12769]

I'm thinking off getting an external ssd, and moving the entire steam application (games, client and all) to the ssd, so I can play on my PC at home and my laptop when travelling - both have 3.1 so speeds should be fine.
What i'm worried about is some kind of anti-piracy feature, where if you plug the ssd into a computer that wasn't the one the game was installed on, it refuses to run. Does anyone know if this sort of thing exists on steam?

[Omega]

You can move games between computers without any issue.

Why would you play games from a external SSD? Those things are expensive, have limited storage and your save games will not be stored on the external drive.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

No, it will work fine on as many PCs as you like.
What you need to ensure when doing it this way is that the External Drive's "Drive Letter" does not change. Whatever that is (you can manually change it) on a single PC, then ensure that does not change prior to running Steam Client, as Windows will have that tied to the app location in the Registry. And Steam will look at that as well for the Steam Library and where the games are installed.


Don't buy an actual external drive; instead buy a standard SATA SSD, like say Samsung 850 EVO series, and then buy an External Enclosure that is SATA-III Inside and USB 3.0 Outside. Then install your SSD into that; it will be cheaper this way.

[Azza ☠]

Right-click any steam game > properties > local files > move install folder

[colecr12769]

Originally posted by Bad_Motha:

No, it will work fine on as many PCs as you like.
What you need to ensure when doing it this way is that the External Drive's "Drive Letter" does not change. Whatever that is (you can manually change it) on a single PC, then ensure that does not change prior to running Steam Client, as Windows will have that tied to the app location in the Registry. And Steam will look at that as well for the Steam Library and where the games are installed.


Don't buy an actual external drive; instead buy a standard SATA SSD, like say Samsung 850 EVO series, and then buy an External Enclosure that is SATA-III Inside and USB 3.0 Outside. Then install your SSD into that; it will be cheaper this way.

What I've done is actually just yank the SSD from my PC, and get an USB to SATA cable and connected it to my laptop when I'm not at home. Now to test whether I can plug it into my work computer and play off there!

[Bad 💀 Motha]

No "test" needed; of course it will work. Steam is very flexible.

[colecr12769]

Originally posted by Omega:

You can move games between computers without any issue.

Why would you play games from a external SSD? Those things are expensive, have limited storage and your save games will not be stored on the external drive.

I'm using an internal SSD, and a USB to SATA cable to connect it to my laptop, which has limited storage.
Can you elaborate on what you mean by save games not being stored on the drive? Surely the save game is somewhere inside the steam folder - in common/ userdata etc.?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by colecr12769:

Originally posted by Omega:

You can move games between computers without any issue.

Why would you play games from a external SSD? Those things are expensive, have limited storage and your save games will not be stored on the external drive.

I'm using an internal SSD, and a USB to SATA cable to connect it to my laptop, which has limited storage.
Can you elaborate on what you mean by save games not being stored on the drive? Surely the save game is somewhere inside the steam folder - in common/ userdata etc.?

Well that is fine and does work, but overall you really should not do it that way. While there is no exposed PCB on the SSD or moving parts, they can still get hot during heavy reads/writes, also with you being on the go, your run the risk of breaking the sata connector on that SSD. External Enclosures are not expensive, I strongly suggest buying one and installing the drive into that. A slim one made to support Notebook Drives should be fine, it won't need a fan. And the SSD will sit securely inside always connected to that SATA connection, then you'll have an external connection on it that is USB. Again just ensure the enclose it made for SATA-III drive support and that its USB is 3.0 and/or 3.1

[colecr12769]

Originally posted by Bad_Motha:

Originally posted by colecr12769:

I'm using an internal SSD, and a USB to SATA cable to connect it to my laptop, which has limited storage.
Can you elaborate on what you mean by save games not being stored on the drive? Surely the save game is somewhere inside the steam folder - in common/ userdata etc.?

Well that is fine and does work, but overall you really should not do it that way. While there is no exposed PCB on the SSD or moving parts, they can still get hot during heavy reads/writes, also with you being on the go, your run the risk of breaking the sata connector on that SSD. External Enclosures are not expensive, I strongly suggest buying one and installing the drive into that. A slim one made to support Notebook Drives should be fine, it won't need a fan. And the SSD will sit securely inside always connected to that SATA connection, then you'll have an external connection on it that is USB. Again just ensure the enclose it made for SATA-III drive support and that its USB is 3.0 and/or 3.1

I'll be sure to look into them, thanks!

[Vince ✟]

Many save files are located in your user documents. Some in the userapps. If you play different PC make sure to copy over your mods and saves

[DonJuanDoja]

If that’s your main os drive it won’t work.

[tacoshy]

Originally posted by DonJuanDoja:

If that’s your main os drive it won’t work.

of course it will. You just shouldnt boot via it but then you see the OS drive used as external just like you see it in your computer. AN OS drive is not a different drive it works as every other drive just that the OS is installed on it too.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by DonJuanDoja:

If that’s your main os drive it won’t work.

He wasn't referring to doing that; just having Steam + Games on an external. Yes that can work just fine. But yes games will save their game options and saved games on your C Drive, not where the games are stored.

[RatticusDeathicus]

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

No, it will work fine on as many PCs as you like.
What you need to ensure when doing it this way is that the External Drive's "Drive Letter" does not change. Whatever that is (you can manually change it) on a single PC, then ensure that does not change prior to running Steam Client, as Windows will have that tied to the app location in the Registry. And Steam will look at that as well for the Steam Library and where the games are installed.


Don't buy an actual external drive; instead buy a standard SATA SSD, like say Samsung 850 EVO series, and then buy an External Enclosure that is SATA-III Inside and USB 3.0 Outside. Then install your SSD into that; it will be cheaper this way.

Sorry but I don't know what drugs you're on.
The EVO costs $107 flipping dollars for 250GB whereas a Samsung T5 250GB is about 79$. Not cheaper for the internal.

[Omega]

Originally posted by Ciaru:

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

No, it will work fine on as many PCs as you like.
What you need to ensure when doing it this way is that the External Drive's "Drive Letter" does not change. Whatever that is (you can manually change it) on a single PC, then ensure that does not change prior to running Steam Client, as Windows will have that tied to the app location in the Registry. And Steam will look at that as well for the Steam Library and where the games are installed.


Don't buy an actual external drive; instead buy a standard SATA SSD, like say Samsung 850 EVO series, and then buy an External Enclosure that is SATA-III Inside and USB 3.0 Outside. Then install your SSD into that; it will be cheaper this way.

Sorry but I don't know what drugs you're on.
The EVO costs $107 flipping dollars for 250GB whereas a Samsung T5 250GB is about 79$. Not cheaper for the internal.

JANUARY 4th 2018

Back then the Samsung T5 250GB costed over $110 and the 850 Evo around $80. Only recently in September did the Samsung T5 250GB recieve a massive price drop.

Today the 860 Evo costs around $50 and the T5 $70+. The T5 is still a horrible purchuse.

[miguel]

However, what about installing the steam app and also the games on an external ssd?
Cause i saw many people had issues with this?

Its better to install the steam app on the ssd, or just leave the app on the main hard drive and just move the games on the external SSD?