CD/DVD backups?

[galandar42]

I recently tried to backup a game (Civilization V) so that I could uninstall it to free up some space on my SSD drive. I do this on occasion because I have built up a library of Steam games and it takes less time to re-install a backup than it does to re-download the game. At any rate, after emailing with Steam support, I find that the CD/DVD option is not in the current Steam client build. I'm not sure if there is a plan to re-incorporate this, but I would just like to take this opportunity to vote for it if it is not in the planning.

[AmsterdamHeavy]

DVDs are nearly as dead as the 8 track.

A much better option is an external SSD these days.

[Tanoomba]

I don't think I understand. If you have a burnable CD/DVD drive, then what's stopping you from moving game data onto discs?

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

No word on if they will bring back that option, no.

[galandar42]

To answer Tanoomba, I guess I could go ahead and burn the game data onto disks; however, I doubt that I could re-install the games directly from the disks. Looking at the file organization of how the Steam client used to create backup folders, each disk folder (Disk_1, Disk_2, etc) consisted of a number of .csd/.csm files and an sku.sis file. This would allow you to load games directly from a DVD drive, putting in one disk after another. In my most recent backup (Civilization V), it created a single folder with 50 .csd/.csm files (5.47 GB, too big for a single DVD) and only one sku.sis file. So yes, I could probably put everything on a couple of DVDs, but when re-installing, I would have to copy all of the files to a single folder, then install from there. I couldn't just re-install directly from the DVDs.

As to Amsterdam's point, I guess I've always been somewhat leery of using external drives for long-term storage. I have some games that I will only play once in a couple of years. If I have them burned onto a DVD, I know I'll have them. If they are on an external SSD drive that has been sitting on a shelf, I'm not so sure.

Thanks for your replies, folks!

[Start_Running]

Yeah no You're not getting installers to download. sorry.
No easy pirate option 4 j00

All joking aside why would you want to?

[galandar42]

Hi Start! Like I said, it was easier to burn a couple of DVDs for re-installing than to mess around having to copy the files back to a single location and run the backup installer. A lot of my games would fit on from 1 to 4 DVDs, so that was convenient. Not sure about the pirate option. I just assumed that the backups were linked to my Steam ID and no one else could use them.

[bacca400-stm]

Tanoomba lähetti viestin:

I don't think I understand. If you have a burnable CD/DVD drive, then what's stopping you from moving game data onto discs?

I'm not sure if OP was referring to a Windows game or not.

Under Windows you need an installer because Windows programs installs all kinds of things in many different directories. That's the bad aspect of shared DLLs. And games can use different versions of all kinds of libraries and they will need just that version to work properly, so you get many versions of library X installed all over the place in the Windows directory. Also, Windows installer programs write all kinds of stuff in many places in the registry and an installer also covers that.

Backup up the game directory will work only if you know for 100% sure which other libraries need to be installed and you get them and install them separately. An installer has all these libraries and does all the installation in one step from a user point of view.

However OP can try to back up only the game dir to an external USB drive, uninstall it from the PC, and recopy the games files to the PC again.

[[N]ebsun]

bacca400-stm lähetti viestin:

Tanoomba lähetti viestin:

I don't think I understand. If you have a burnable CD/DVD drive, then what's stopping you from moving game data onto discs?

Under Windows you need an installer because Windows programs installs all kinds of things in many different directories. That's the bad aspect of shared DLLs. And games can use different versions of all kinds of libraries and they will need just that version to work properly, so you get many versions of library X installed all over the place in the Windows directory.

Backup up the game directory will work only if you know for 100% sure which other libraries need to be installed and you get them and install them separately. An installer has all these libraries and does all the installation in one step from a user point of view.

The option to split to size and burn to CD / DVD existed previously on Steam.
Yes - you need an installer... Steam is the installer - all you need is the game data files, and for Steam to be able to pull those data files from the CDs / DVDs / or any other type of media.

Backing up the data is done from Steam - it is a feature that you can use to create a backup of games that you can then use to re-install the game in the future, which is typically faster than re-downloading.

[Start_Running]

galandar42 lähetti viestin:

Hi Start! Like I said, it was easier to burn a couple of DVDs for re-installing than to mess around having to copy the files back to a single location and run the backup installer. A lot of my games would fit on from 1 to 4 DVDs, so that was convenient. Not sure about the pirate option. I just assumed that the backups were linked to my Steam ID and no one else could use them.

Here's a work around. GGet your self an SSD or HDD , set up a steam install folder on it. Install or transfer the games there.. and youy have something better than a CD/DVD backup. When you need to get the games just plug that badboy mack into your system let steam detetct it and simply tell steam to move the game s to your active drive.

This technically also works with thumb drives.

[galandar42]

Thanks to all for your input!

bacca, I'm only thinking right now about backing up Steam games through the backup option. I play a number of older games on Steam that only took a couple of DVDs to back up, and the old backup function worked really well.

[N]ebsun, thanks! You explained it perfectly.

Start, I've considered doing as you say, and I may end up doing just that. The drawbacks are: 1) If you back up a lot of games to an SSD or HDD and the drive fails (I've had some sad and tearful experiences, the details of which would interest nobody but myself ) you lose everything. 2) It seems to me that data degradation for an SSD sitting on a shelf would be worse than that for a DVD sitting on a shelf for the same length of time. For me, burning DVD backups is a very workable solution, especially since many of my games are older (no concerns about them being updated and thus requiring frequent new backups) and only take from 1 to 4 DVDs, making restoring very easy. That being said, some of my games are totally impractical for DVD backup. My backup for Shadow of War is a whopping 109GB taking up 26 disks! Fallout 4 is 21 disks! Those folders are still sitting on my HDD storage drive, and I don't have any plans to burn them to DVDs. So for those games, yes, I'm going to have to do something other than DVDs. I'm trying to decide whether to put them on small, external SSDs or on thumb drives, but I think the data degradation in thumb drives is even worse than SSDs. My life is so hard !

[Jaunitta 🌸]

DVD is a small size for mosty games but yeah you can backup small sized games as data DVD and include the steamapps for the appmanifest or acf files. Then you simply copy back. However buying a USB drive 5 TB and make a new folder name it Steam Library then simply move your game installating files over to this folder Steam Libray it will creat the right folders such as the steamapps and common.
Then go to the download manager in Steam Settings > storage and add the new library folder you named steam library. make it default for downloads so new games install there then you have everything in your library and more space on your internal drive.
I use a WD 5 TB its fast and very reliable. Replace them every 5 years or so.
My USB library
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3005033138

[galandar42]

Thanks Jaunitta!

[Spawn of Totoro]

galandar42 lähetti viestin:

That being said, some of my games are totally impractical for DVD backup. My backup for Shadow of War is a whopping 109GB taking up 26 disks! Fallout 4 is 21 disks! Those folders are still sitting on my HDD storage drive, and I don't have any plans to burn them to DVDs.

Compress the files using a zip program such as 7-zip or Winzip. Then you can split the file into burnable sizes.

https://www.newsgroupreviews.com/7-zip-split-archive.html

As for HDD or SSD storage, I always suggest a NAS for in-home networks, that way you can easily store and transfer files with in the household. HDD drives are not very expensive these days and hold a lot, especially if you are only looking to store data.

I've often found it easier to move games to the external drive over using the build in Steam Backup as the Backup has always taken a long time for me. Even redownloading was faster for me then using the Backup.

[nullable]

Spawn of Totoro lähetti viestin:

galandar42 lähetti viestin:

That being said, some of my games are totally impractical for DVD backup. My backup for Shadow of War is a whopping 109GB taking up 26 disks! Fallout 4 is 21 disks! Those folders are still sitting on my HDD storage drive, and I don't have any plans to burn them to DVDs.

Compress the files using a zip program such as 7-zip or Winzip. Then you can split the file into burnable sizes.

I would second this. This is was all the CD/DVD backup size options in the Steam backup feature were doing anyway, the backup was just in some proprietary format instead of something more accessible like 7zip.

I'd also agree that a large external drive would be preferable to CD or DVDs. Burning optical media was convenient and hi-tech once upon a time. But those days are over.

I'd also wager the options to select CD or DVD sizes or select a custom size were removed because once you take optical media out of the mix the need to split up games into smaller chunks to archive them is a bit redundant, or has such a niche use that any holdouts are probably better off getting with the times.

[Haruspex]

AmsterdamHeavy lähetti viestin:

DVDs are nearly as dead as the 8 track.

A much better option is an external SSD these days.

No kidding. DVDs are about as old today as 8 track tapes were when DVDs first came out.