whats the best way to backup my games ? through steam or my backup software ?

[Tristan]

whats the best way to backup my games ? through steam or my backup software ?

i downloaded some stupid offer game
and it turn out to be a virus

so i would like to reinstall windows
my games still run good

thanks

[_I_]

best is to install steam to another folder on the drive (not in progfiles)
ex. c:\games
then if/when you need to reinstall the os it will not be lost, and is easy to find/backup

also grab gamesavemanager to store all game saves when transfering to a new system
steam cloud kinda works, but has no direct backup/save option and isnt supported by all games

[emoticorpse]

All you need to backup are saves. Installs are backed up on Steam servers.

[Tristan]

thank u for ur help

so i install steam on new drive and then what ? how to transfer my games ?

[Tristan]

emoticorpse eredeti hozzászólása:

All you need to backup are saves. Installs are backed up on Steam servers.

im not worried about my saves all i want to do is NOT to reinstall every thing ( every game again )

is there a way to avoid this ?
i am on Limitted download , thats my problem

[Spec_Ops_Ape]

If you have the spare space or another drive copy the steam folder located by default at c:\program files (x86)\steam, as long as you don't have the games installed elsewhere they will all be there.
Once finished with the new Windows install copy the entire folder back into the same location and then run the steam.exe from within.

[Tristan]

Spec_Ops_Ape eredeti hozzászólása:

If you have the spare space or another drive copy the steam folder located by default at c:\program files (x86)\steam, as long as you don't have the games installed elsewhere they will all be there.
Once finished with the new Windows install copy the entire folder back into the same location and then run the steam.exe from within.

THANKS

so this is the only place i should back up ?
and i should not worry about DOCUMENT FOLDER ?

[_I_]

user docs are a good thing to backup if you need them

gamesavemanager can grab saves for most games

[Tristan]

_I_ eredeti hozzászólása:

user docs are a good thing to backup if you need them

gamesavemanager can grab saves for most games

ok thanks

[Spec_Ops_Ape]

If you have anything in them - music/pictures/videos/documents. Export your browsers bookmarks to html, not sure if you can backup your saved passwords from within the browser but someone may know another way.

Download your network drivers before reinstall, would be unusual for Windows to not automatically pick the NIC up but you never know.

[Spec_Ops_Ape]

Spec_Ops_Ape eredeti hozzászólása:

If you have the spare space or another drive copy the steam folder located by default at c:\program files (x86)\steam, as long as you don't have the games installed elsewhere they will all be there.
Once finished with the new Windows install copy the entire folder back into the same location and then run the steam.exe from within.

Minor correction, reinstalling Windows will format the drive so copy the steam folder to another drive.

[Tristan]

Spec_Ops_Ape eredeti hozzászólása:

If you have anything in them - music/pictures/videos/documents. Export your browsers bookmarks to html, not sure if you can backup your saved passwords from within the browser but someone may know another way.

Download your network drivers before reinstall, would be unusual for Windows to not automatically pick the NIC up but you never know.

MANY THANKS

[Laz]

Hello all,

Indicating what Capri_Sun asked when re-installing Steam after their new Windows new Install. I want to ask 3 questions and check to see if anyone might consider anything to my issue.

1. Capri-Sun, did you end up wiping everything from your PC, i.e. files folders and all, backing up to a separate storage device?

2. If backing up to another device, even creating a new folder either to your documents or wherever, if placing back into your drive, did it resolve the issue, leaving all games in tact and without re-installations?

3. My issue, I had done something similar, but had backed up my games into another device, with my games in their own folders via, c:/ desktop/ sys x86 /steam/ from here I created a new games folder with my common apps in tact original files moved over, copied them over into my commons.

Result:
I had upgraded my motherboard, everything was still pretty much the same, as far as my back up went, Oddly all my personally purchased games were in tact, although, the games I had shared years before "family sharing" became a thing, would show the games there, although could not boot unless requesting to "borrow". Even checking in my "authorized family shares," it shows all the previous exchanges and so forth. I had tried everything, and found out it has to do from the PC desktop source name the games were shared on, not being able to function the same with my new desktop name which, I guess, I could try to re-name it.

Yeah,if anyone could shed some light on this, it would be highly appreciated. Thank you,
P.S. My friend has since been A.W.O.L. and has not been around, nothing serious as far as missing, just rather out of my life kinda thing...lol...not into game taking, if they are continuing to use mine, which I had yet blocked them from, and really, do not seem the need to. Also, I see they have yet done that to me.

[Tristan]

Hi Laz

No I havent touched any thing / and for the same reasons u mentioned brought me to ask before i do anything

all i did was used my backup software and backed up C:\Program Files (x86)/steam

to a newer HDD , But did not uninstall windows yet

[Laz]

Gotcha, thanks for the update. For my issue,seems like regardless if I were to have a previous authorization, it will not transfer that to a second build, even if it is using practically the same hardware and components.

If you have placed your files into another drive practically identical to your other one, I believe all my games were transferred easily. Only be sure to also copy the save state or "Logs" into your new HDD drive. When I did it, aside from the shared games mentioned, all the games that were installed right before I made PC changes, were there. But I noticed, my files if not had placed a Steam cloud save, nor an internal file for a game was missing.

All in all, i think you pretty much got it. Good luck!

[Tristan]

Laz eredeti hozzászólása:

Gotcha, thanks for the update. For my issue,seems like regardless if I were to have a previous authorization, it will not transfer that to a second build, even if it is using practically the same hardware and components.

If you have placed your files into another drive practically identical to your other one, I believe all my games were transferred easily. Only be sure to also copy the save state or "Logs" into your new HDD drive. When I did it, aside from the shared games mentioned, all the games that were installed right before I made PC changes, were there. But I noticed, my files if not had placed a Steam cloud save, nor an internal file for a game was missing.

All in all, i think you pretty much got it. Good luck!