How to backup Steam Games to external hard disk..?

[Arzangel]

Hi all...
Can someone help me here..?
I want to backup my Steam Games in my PC to external hard disk so i can play the games in other devices without download them again...
What should i do or what are the steps to backup Steam Games to External hard disk
Thanks :)

[HLCinSC]

You can use the built in back up feature or manually copy over your Steam common folder

[Arzangel]

In Steam folder>Common Folder..? Copy all in that folder..?

[HLCinSC]

Originally posted by ArzAngel:

In Steam folder>Common Folder..? Copy all in that folder..?

Steam\steamapps\common is what you want. It contains the game folders. If you are worried about your saves, the ones that are not in the steam cloud are likely in your my documents folder

[Arzangel]

Originally posted by CharlestONE:

Originally posted by ArzAngel:

In Steam folder>Common Folder..? Copy all in that folder..?

Steam\steamapps\common is what you want. It contains the game folders. If you are worried about your saves, the ones that are not in the steam cloud are likely in your my documents folder

Ok then, Thanks a lot :)

[Ogami]

That works BUT dont forget to copy all "appmanifest" files from steam/steamapps too, since without those files, Steam wont recognize those games as installed when you copy them back later.

[Strauss]

Method 1 : Direct copy game folder
-----------------------------------------------------
- Copy the game folder usually in folder SteamApps\Common
- Paste the folder into the next PC
- Login to your account and install the game that you just copy
- Point the install location to the same location you paste the folder to make Steam detect previous copy
- Let Steam check integrity of the file, if all good you ready to play if not, wait for download

Drawback : Sometime it need to download again from 5%-50% of the game size.

Method 2: Back up System
------------------------------------------------------
- Go to Steam - Back Up and Restore Game
- Choose "Backup Currently Installed Game"
- Pick One or Many of the game you want to back up
- Choose the type of file Size
- Wait for and copy the result the external hdd
- On the other machine, still the same Steam - Back up and Restore Game
- Choose "Restore Previous Backup"
- Point the location of backup on you external HDD
- Wait for it when done you ready to play
Drawback : Other report have some bug in this feature, as for me so far so good

[Arzangel]

That's so help me... Thsnks a lot ^^

[deported mexican]

Did it work for you? I asked for an activation code at the time of making the backup on the other pc

[Teksura]

Originally posted by Barsinso:

Did it work for you? I asked for an activation code at the time of making the backup on the other pc

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7418-YUBN-8129
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8794-YPHV-2033

[Efferri]

Originally posted by Strauss:

Method 1 : Direct copy game folder
-----------------------------------------------------
- Copy the game folder usually in folder SteamApps\Common
- Paste the folder into the next PC
- Login to your account and install the game that you just copy
- Point the install location to the same location you paste the folder to make Steam detect previous copy
- Let Steam check integrity of the file, if all good you ready to play if not, wait for download

Drawback : Sometime it need to download again from 5%-50% of the game size.

Method 2: Back up System
------------------------------------------------------
- Go to Steam - Back Up and Restore Game
- Choose "Backup Currently Installed Game"
- Pick One or Many of the game you want to back up
- Choose the type of file Size
- Wait for and copy the result the external hdd
- On the other machine, still the same Steam - Back up and Restore Game
- Choose "Restore Previous Backup"
- Point the location of backup on you external HDD
- Wait for it when done you ready to play
Drawback : Other report have some bug in this feature, as for me so far so good

Im getting two format options, CD and DVD, DVD is much larger and I'm wondering if it is just compression. I have the space to do the larger option but does it make a difference?
(edit realising this is over 5 years old so may not get a reply)

[⛤ . shzk178 ˚⊹]

"external hard disk" is a terrible choice

1. buy normal ssd or hdd, not "external"
2. buy adapter: usb to sata
3. and that's it. it will be much cheaper and you could buy 2 ssds, copyy the same data / files

[Satoru]

Originally posted by Chez_balls:

Im getting two format options, CD and DVD, DVD is much larger and I'm wondering if it is just compression. I have the space to do the larger option but does it make a difference?
(edit realising this is over 5 years old so may not get a reply)

the cd/dvd thing is more a hold over from when backups were being sent to those media. Today its not really necessary so you can just ignore that option. Its only useful if you wanted to split the backup across cd/dvd but really who does that anymore

You can choose those options, but it doesnt really change anything other than you get a bunch of smaller files to deal with per-game rather than one big file. Its still gonna take basically the same amount of time to backup and restore the game.

[تمساح]

good1