[SOLVED] How to copy steam games?

[Insane Potatoz]

Hey everyone, I was wondering if there was a way to copy my steam games to one of my external hard drives. I don't want to move them, just copy them. I want this game on a different drive without having to re-install it.
Thanks!

 

[USAFRet]

Hey everyone, I was wondering if there was a way to copy my steam games to one of my external hard drives. I don't want to move them, just copy them. I want this game on a different drive without having to re-install it.
Thanks!

Do you want ONE copy or TWO copies of the game?

One copy = move. Trivially done.
Two copies...why?, but also trivially done.

 

[USAFRet]

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

 

[USAFRet]

If you just want to 'copy' (again, why?), just find the SteamApps folder and copy that to the other drive.

 

[Insane Potatoz]

If you just want to 'copy' (again, why?), just find the SteamApps folder and copy that to the other drive.

Alright thanks for the help.
And as to why, I’m to lazy to explain

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Sounds like somebody got caught cheating and wants to circumvent a hardware ban. Careful or Steam will lock your whole account and you'll lose everything if you don't.....yawn. Sorry I'm too lazy to explain.

 

[Insane Potatoz]

Sounds like somebody got caught cheating and wants to circumvent a hardware ban. Careful or Steam will lock your whole account and you'll lose everything if you don't.....yawn. Sorry I'm too lazy to explain.

What? I wasn’t cheating. I didn’t even know a hardware ban was a thing.
Long story short, I just want an external drive I can use on different computers when I test them. Is that a bad idea?

 

[USAFRet]

What? I wasn’t cheating. I didn’t even know a hardware ban was a thing.
Long story short, I just want an external drive I can use on different computers when I test them. Is that a bad idea?

Steam games is a poor tool for "testing".

Quantifiable benchmark tools is what you use.

 

[Insane Potatoz]

Steam games is a poor tool for "testing".

Quantifiable benchmark tools is what you use.

Isn’t it nice when flipping a gaming PC to put in the description how many frames per second popular games get?

 

[USAFRet]

Isn’t it nice when flipping a gaming PC to put in the description how many frames per second popular games get?

Too many variables.
What game, what settings, bandwidth from your ISP, etc, etc...

A standard quantifiable tool for graphics performance.
Heaven, for instance.

But, you do you...

 

[Insane Potatoz]

Too many variables.
What game, what settings, bandwidth from your ISP, etc, etc...

A standard quantifiable tool for graphics performance.
Heaven, for instance.

But, you do you...

._.

 

[Math Geek]

i agree with USAF about using the games as benchmarks. it's not a great idea. but then again i do a ton of stuff that is also not a good idea. so i'd like to offer an idea that may or may not be doable. keep in mind this may or may not work, but is something you can try if you wish.

i use a lot of portable apps to allow me to run programs anywhere whether i have admin rights or not. i have not looked into steam as a portable app but i have made plenty of others. i use a program called cameyo to create them.

Application Virtualization | Virtual Application Delivery - Cameyo

Simple, secure application virtualization. Cameyo virtual desktop software delivers your Windows apps to any device. Start your free trial.

cameyo.com

this will watch an install to make note of what it does, then it will pull everything together into a single .exe file you can use to run the program from an external drive. if it works, it will put a steam install, that will run from your external, and should allow you to install games and such just like if it was installed locally. they should then run from the drive no matter what pc its plugged into. (assuming the pc has the specs to run the game!!)

note that you will have to log into your steam account, actually own the game, and will be limited to only one instance at a time just like any other steam install. so you're not gonna be handing this out to your friends thinking everyone can play off one account. not gonna happen nor is it intended to.

you'll need to install steam again for cameyo to do its thing. i usually fire up a vm so i know it's a clean install and nothing old is hanging around to corrupt the process. otherwise find a pc without steam on it at all and go from there. cameyo is portable so it dos not need t be installed either. simply run the exe and tell it to capture an install. (i think that's roughly what the option says anyway)

good luck if you chose to try it