Automatic inactive game compression to save drive space

[timestopMachinist]

• I think it would be neat if there were settings to automatically compress games if they are not launched within a user-determined period of time.
  
• There could be settings that determine when to allow this compression (ex: not while games are running, while cpu usage is high, during peak hours, during specific time frame, etc.). It may also be useful to have the ability to allow auto compression only on specific drives, so that a user's drives do not sustain unnecessary use in cases where the user is concerned about drive lifespan.
  
• When you check file sizes in your steam library, it could show the compressed size as well as uncompressed if a game is compressed. If a game is not compressed, the user should have the ability to manually compress it from properties, while listing the compressed size so that users can gauge the impact it will have on their free space.
  
• If a user launches a game that has been compressed, steam would decompress it, with a progress bar and time estimate. There may also be settings for the degree of compression to use by default (like in 7zip), explaining how each setting may impact compression/decompression speed or system usage, as well as file size.
  
• It is also important that nothing is lost if the compression is interrupted, I am not personally knowledgeable enough to understand how this might be possible. If compression is 20% complete when steam is closed or the computer is shut down (or loses power), it should resume at roughly the same place when steam is next opened.
  
  In summary, i would be able to set steam to automatically compress games on my E: drive between the hours of 6:00 AM and 10:00 AM, using "Ultra" level compression, for games that I haven't launched within the past two months.
  
  I think a quality of life feature like this would be useful and appreciated by users, especially as file sizes continue to grow.

[Gwarsbane]

I don't see the point of this, just uninstall the game if you don't play it often.

That being said, as long as I don't even have to turn it on, and can leave my games just like they are, thats fine by me.

[Brian9824]

Just like your other idea this is a nightmare, adds more wear and tear on your drives, leaves your games in an unusable state, and prevents you from playing them without significant time spent decompressing the games as well as increasing the odds of corruption of files.

Better solution is to just develop basic common sense for game management