Using Dual Drives for Games?

[mph0023]

Hi.
I just got a new PC with both a 500GB SSD and a 1TB HDD.
Is there any way to put Steam games on both? That is, can I reserve the SSD for games that would really benefit from it (ie: new AAA titles like Cyberpunk) and the HDD for games where it doesn't matter much, like older games and Indies that run just perfectly on slower HDD's?

Is that even possible? And if not, why not?

I have over 100 games in my library, but only a few are intense AAA games where I really want to use the SSD.

Thanks for any help!

[SagaxRabbit]

It is possible to have multiple locations for your Steam games.

Create an applicable folder on the drive where your Steam client is not installed (for instance, on your SSD when Steam is installed on the normal HDD)
Open the settings panel in your Steam client (Steam > Settings), then select Downloads from the list.
At the top of the window on the right under Content Libraries is a button labelled Steam Library Folders. Click on it and then on Add Library Folder.
Choose the new location where you manually created the folder and close the windows to apply the changes.

When you install a new game you will see the option for the location at the bottom of the first window, if you click on the drop down list you should see both locations. Then choose the SSD as the installation location for any games that you want to place there.

I would've recommended using backup/restore to move any existing games, but there is a problem where you can't easily select the appropriate location for the restoration - instead I would actually just recommend uninstalling the applicable game and then re-installing it to the new location if your Internet data provisioning allows for it.

[mph0023]

Thanks!
It all worked without a hitch.

[Spawn of Totoro]

I think the max is 8 different location, so two should be fine.

I currently have 5, due to getting some smaller SSDs from friends who upgraded, so not much storage on them. Luckily I have a 3TB drive for my main game storage.

[crunchyfrog]

I use multiple drives and have always done so in my 10 years or so with this account.

Currently, I have a laptop, with an internal SSD and mechnical, plus 3 separate USB 3,0 external drives. All have Steam games spread across them. I only have one plugged in out of those three though most of the time. I swap them as I see fit.

There's a couple of points I would make though for smooth running though.

Make sure whenever you use external drives, to ensure they are plugged in and Windows recognises them BEFORE you start Steam as Steam tends to go a bit wonky if you don't do this.

Sometimes you will find that Steam might have a brainfart and not see the drive. It can commonly happen because of the other thing to be careful of - power saving settings (especially if you're on a laptop). Make sure you set said drives to NEVER power down after a period of activity. You'll find general power saving setting under Windows settings, and drive specific power settings under the drive's properties.

Do those and it should be plain sailing.