How do i add more storage to a 500gb ssd

[starwars245p]

My second question is, is there a way to add on more storage for your main hard drive or do i need to buy a whole new 1TB hard drive and replace it?

Also how much would it cost, and what would be cheaper to do depending on your answer

 

[boju]

storage drives come in fixed sizes.

Buying a bigger ssd if you want more space or cheaper 7200 hdd to store and help maintain space on your main drive.

 

[JoeMomma]

Short Answer = You can't.
Get a 2nd (3rd, 4th, etc) drive or replace your 500GB with a bigger one.

You don't need everything on SSD. Windows, programs and games only, but games take the most space.
All other data such as documents, video, pictures, music is fine on a HDD.

 

[starwars245p]

Short Answer = You can't.
Get a 2nd (3rd, 4th, etc) drive or replace your 500GB with a bigger one.

You don't need everything on SSD. Windows, programs and games only, but games take the most space.
All other data such as documents, video, pictures, music is fine on a HDD.

But i thought everything is in Program Files(x86), which is in my main drive

Also most of my documents is game related, and i dont have much of songs, pictures/vidoes.

I need space mainly because i dont know where my my storage just disappears and i used cleaner

 

[boju]

Do you use game service like Steam or Origin? Check the size of the folder.

Steam/Origin can relocate games so you can get another 250/500gb ssd and use that as well. Games aren't restricted to only the os/programs folder.

 

[starwars245p]

Do you use game service like Steam or Origin? Check the size of the folder.

Steam/Origin can relocate games so you can get another 250/500gb ssd and use that as well. Games aren't restricted to only the os/programs folder.

I use steam, but then the steam games would be under a hdd instead of a sdd?

or are you saying only put some games in the hdd>

 

[JoeMomma]

Do you use game service like Steam or Origin? Check the size of the folder.

Steam/Origin can relocate games so you can get another 250/500gb ssd and use that as well. Games aren't restricted to only the os/programs folder.

I use steam, but then the steam games would be under a hdd instead of a sdd?

or are you saying only put some games in the hdd>

My setup is a PCIe SSD for Windows and programs.
A 2nd SSD for Games and a 3rd for Steam.
A HDD for all of my data and a giant HDD as daily backup + a few external HDD backups.

You can move / copy your Steam folder and then when you tell Steam to use the 2nd drive, it won't need to download everything. Same with most other programs. Copy them over and they may work without reinstalling. If you do need to reinstall, the install will go faster because it usually skips files that are already there.

 

[boju]

Do you use game service like Steam or Origin? Check the size of the folder.

Steam/Origin can relocate games so you can get another 250/500gb ssd and use that as well. Games aren't restricted to only the os/programs folder.

I use steam, but then the steam games would be under a hdd instead of a sdd?

or are you saying only put some games in the hdd>

Games can easily reach 50Gb+, storage can become an issue depending how many games you have. Keep the ones you mostly play and the others uninstall or put to another drive.

In Steam, under settings > downloads. You can add folders from different hdds/ssds under the content libraries sub field and priorities it, so the next downloaded game would go to that drive you nominated instead.

JoeMomma's method of moving games around is quickest but if you just want to move a couple, keep to the same file structure as Steam on the new drive.

After creating and naming the new Steam folder to whatever name you want on another drive it will create one like this ie; F:\Name\Steamapps\

Steamapps folder will be blank so if you manually move a couple game folders over and they're in the common folder, create common folder first before pasting the game folder. Steam would create the common folder if you downloaded a new game but wont be there yet if you dont.

Once you've move the game over, right click the game in Steam menu and click delete local content. It will uninstall from it's original location and when you go to install it again, choose the location where you copied it to and Steam will detect the files there and wont re-download like JoeMomma said.

 

[USAFRet]

For Steam games and multiple drives:

Steam games location
In the steam client:
Steam
Settings
Downloads
Steam Library Folders
Add library folder

To move an already installed game
Games library
Right click the game
Properties
Local Files
Move Install Folder

 

[rockysealyjr]

You simply cannot add more storage to your drives. By buying a bigger SSD or HDD is how you increase your space. For gaming you should use an SSD over an HDD because SSDs tend to load in faster than an HDD.
I recommend an 850 evo 500GB SSD. And a 3TB Seagate Barracuda. The fastest SSD you can get is probably an Intel 900P Optane.

 

[starwars245p]

So should i put my demanding games in my ssd and i have a 1tb hdd, so put my other games in there?

 

[USAFRet]

So should i put my demanding games in my ssd and i have a 1tb hdd, so put my other games in there?

Mostly, yes.
Just don't fill up that SSD beyond about 75-80%.
So...about 400GB used space, max.