Tips to a safe reinstall/migration of steam

[Huggles the Cat]

Hello reader, I'm currently looking to reinstall steam out of my programs (x86) folder but still keep it on my C:drive (since I still don't have a second hard drive). I'm already aware of how to transfer games safely out of that directory but I'm wondering if there are any safe ways to move the entire steam folder out of programs (x86) or reinstall it to a new location without too much hassle.


*Extra details* TL/DR
My main reason for this is moding Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion through Mod Organizer program, which requires launching the game through steam.exe for proper function of (Oblivion Script Extender). Some applications (most with OBSE) don't work properly or at all when run from programs (x86) and I'm worried running games through any launcher still located there (even though the game data folders are outside programs (x86) ) will still cause problems. Best course of action is to just have all of the steam stuff outside the programs folders. Any advice for making this process go smoothly is much appreciated.

[Cathulhu]

This can be done very easy and in a very comfortable way.
1. Copy
2. Paste

Yes, it is that easy. Just copy the whole folder. On the next launch Steam will update the variables in the registry.

[Huggles the Cat]

Cathulhu님이 먼저 게시:

This can be done very easy and in a very comfortable way.
1. Copy
2. Paste

Yes, it is that easy. Just copy the whole folder. On the next launch Steam will update the variables in the registry.

Are you serious? That seems too good to be true. > ~ <

[Cathulhu]

My Steam installation is about three or four windows installations old, just copied to a backup location and copied back on the new install and just run the Steam.exe and voila, everything was back.

[The Giving One]

Cathulhu님이 먼저 게시:

My Steam installation is about three or four windows installations old, just copied to a backup location and copied back on the new install and just run the Steam.exe and voila, everything was back.

Do you also migrate the save folders this way, or do you let the game create new ones and then "drag" your old saves into the newly created ones ? I have done it the latter way but I don't really see an issue with the former either, just curious how you do it.

I am talking about games that store saves in other locations than the game folder, of course.

[Cathulhu]

If you move the Steam folder the others are not really needed to be moved.
To be on the safe side you can use this:
http://www.gamesave-manager.com/

[The Giving One]

Yea, I have seen others that also use the GameSave Manager, but I never have tried it myself. Thanks for that again here, as I may check it out and it is good for the thread also. I usually prefer to do everything manually, but am always up for new idea or way of doing something like this. Thanks again.

EDIT..My post was specifically about a new installation of Windows and moving the folders and Steam from a backup location to the new location and doing the same or not for the save folders.