Storing Games on external hd but running them through the internal ssd

[TheJollyRoger69]

Is this possible to do or should I just buy a new internal ssd with more space

[Snapjak]

Purely as storage? Works just fine. Don't forget to copy the .acf file for whatever game if you manually copy over.

[TheJollyRoger69]

Any pages or videos on how to do this step by step

[VaLiuM]

Just save the matching appmanifest_xxxxxx.acf file - where xxxxxx is the AppID - from the game found in C:\Steam\SteamApps\ along the game folder from C:\Steam\SteamApps\common.

Just one example.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition

It's AppID is 435150, so you would save C:\Steam\SteamApps\appmanifest_435150.acf and the game folder C:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Divinity Original Sin 2.

To restore it on any drive, copy the *.acf and the games folder to their proper locations, then you can start Steam, select Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition in your library, click on Install and it should verify all the existing files, if no update has been released in the meantime, it should just check the files and let you play right afterwards.

Oh i almost forgot, the only important thing is that you already have a library folder set from within Steam client on said drive, otherwise create it prior to copying the files back. It could finally look like this:

F:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\
F:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common

[The Giving One]

The .acf file number should be the same number as that which appears at the end of the URL for that game on the Steam store page for it. So go to the store page for a game, and look at the URL in the top left of Steam (if in the client). There at the end of that URL, is the .acf file number for that game.