Moving my Steam/Steam Apps folder from Drive C to Drive D?

[Zahnrad]

Title is a TL;DR

I recently found out that Steam has been sending all Steam related stuff into my C drive (475 GB and is almost full) with everything taking it up being from Steam's folders. and I have a D drive with a 1.8 Terabyte of storage.

I was hoping there is a quick (relatively) and easy, painless method I can use to transfer it from the C drive to the D drive.
I came across this thread on google which I was about to follow but apparently it's now obsolete according to comments.
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/558749824441239395/

So how am I meant to go about this?

[Forcen]

Yeah, that guide isn't really relevant now when we can install games on any drives.

First of all you should create a Steam library folder on that drive, this will let you install games on that drive instead of the normal Steam drive. I would recommend you keep Steam on C just in case, you can move all games to that other drive and still keep Steam where it is. Some games can have issues on other drives so it's good to have the default thing there as an option.

This guide explains how to create new library folders: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7418-YUBN-8129
The guide also tells you how to move your entire Steam installation but this guide below is easier and you can always do the full move later instead if something acts up.

This solves the issue about where to put the games, now you can start moving them.
Here is the trick to doing this manually: Only move the Steamapps folder and ALL it's contents, let Steam create everything else. That includes steamlibrary folder and the Steam folder itself.
That folder is important so you might want save a backup of it on that large drive before trying to put it another location.

Now, just do this to move alll games in one go:
You already told Steam to create a Steamlibrary folder right? Make sure you did this.
Exit Steam.
Move the Steamapps folder from where it is currently to your new Steamlibrary folder
Start Steam.
Make sure steam finds all the games and verify them if needed.
If any games stop working then verify, try to move them back individually(explained below) or do the basic stuff here: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2274-IFLV-5334
But it should be fine.

Steam has a built in methods for moving individual games between libraries, this is good to know if any game has problems running and you need to move them back. You do this if you go to properties>Local Files and just select another drive and Steam handles it for that game.

PS: Steam and the website can be a bit wonky now because it's tuesday and that means maintenance. Use this site to see if stuff is offline: https://steamstat.us/

[Zahnrad]

Thank you! I've done it individually for some high memory using games and I've already cleared 100GB

[Forcen]

Great! Moving games individually is easier but takes more clicking.
Only problem is it might be impossible to merge two libraries without moving all the games manually, moving all of them is easier.

[x537t]

STEAM MOVER program
I have used this program, it's simple easy no pain.
http://www.traynier.com/files/SteamMover_v0_1.zip

[Forcen]

is that thing really needed though? Junktions might be more problematic for inexperienced users.
If you can deal with doing it one by one then Steam is the best, then you can actuallly see what drive the files are located in in Steam and keep track of it all from there.

[Retroburn]

Originally posted by Zahnrad:

I was hoping there is a quick (relatively) and easy, painless method I can use to transfer it from the C drive to the D drive.


So how am I meant to go about this?

Here's my "How to Move Steam Library Game Folders to Multiple Folders in Different Drives" video guide if you want a video how-to:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1435522921

I made this guide yesterday as I couldn't find any guide about distributing an entire Steam library across multiple drives—the guides already up are all about transferring the odd game or two to another drive.

ADDENDUM: And no, the guide above only uses in-Steam features to transfer your Steam Library and/or divide it across multiple folders.

Quick. Easy.

I also added a bonus tip (how to move that odd game or two to another drive) just to be on the safe side.