Question "Moving" installed games from one Drive to another

[rbogomolec]

I know it's 2024, but I've been installing my games on a HDD till now. I never cared about longer loading times, but recently I realized that in newer games the in-game textures also load slower. So I bought and installed a 1TB SSD.

Now, I got like 10 games on my HDD where I don't wanna lose my save file and my config file (for the graphical settings). I was wondering if there's a way to just "Move" the installation folders from one drive to another, so that my config and save files stay where they are, the games on the new SSD disk finds them automatically and I can uninstall the games on the HDD without losing those save folders with them.

Or is my best bet to just look for every single save and config folder and just back them up and then put them back in their directories after deleting the games on HDD and re-installing them on SSD?

 

[USAFRet]

I know it's 2024, but I've been installing my games on a HDD till now. I never cared about longer loading times, but recently I realized that in newer games the in-game textures also load slower. So I bought and installed a 1TB SSD.

Now, I got like 10 games on my HDD where I don't wanna lose my save file and my config file (for the graphical settings). I was wondering if there's a way to just "Move" the installation folders from one drive to another, so that my config and save files stay where they are, the games on the new SSD disk finds them automatically and I can uninstall the games on the HDD without losing those save folders with them.

Or is my best bet to just look for every single save and config folder and just back them up and then put them back in their directories after deleting the games on HDD and re-installing them on SSD?

If they are Steam games, that Move function is built in to the client.

Or, you could clone everything from the HDD to the new SSD, and swap drive letters.
The OS will not know the difference except for the speed.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

I don't wanna lose my save file and my config file

the majority of newer games use a common location for these files;
like, "C:\Users\..."
"C:\ProgramData\..."
the games will normally auto check these locations.

but, @USAFRet offers the best advice for your situation in cloning the current HD to the new SSD and just replacing the drive.
all registry entries, etc will still point to the same location.

afterwards you can reinstall the HD and set a new drive letter to use it for other storage/backup/etc purposes.

 

[hotaru.hino]

For most games made since 2010, their save files and settings are stored in either:

• C:\Users\[username]\Documents
• C:\Users\[username]\Saved Games
• C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local
• C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming

For the games themselves, you can copy/move the contents of the HDD over the SSD, assuming that it's not an OS drive, then change the drive letters as necessary as mentioned.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

is my best bet to just look for every single save and config folder and just back them up

you should be doing this anyway.

drives fail and you never know when it may happen.
all important data should be stored in a separate location, optimally 2x separate locations.

 

[punkncat]

Steam is the only launcher that actually makes this easy. If that is the only one you are using there are tons of good resources online to walk you through it.

Other launchers cam be anything from annoyingly difficult to nearly impossible, if at all. In those cases on some of the launchers you can start the download in the new directory, pause the download and physically move the files into the new folder created, then resume and a good portion of the time it will work.

 

[stonecarver]

An also to add to the conversation as far as your steam game save are in ---Steam---userdata--

But when you go in there all the folders have a string of just numbers as the title of each folder.

But there easy to figure out but you need to have Steam opened up to your game library and for whatever game you own that your looking for say Doom 2016 open games store page from your game library to Doom 2016.

Up on the left there will be a web address and in that address is a string of numbers. Those numbers are your file # in your Steam userdata to Doom 2016 game saves.

 

[USAFRet]

To move a game in the current Steam client:

Library
Right click the game
Properties
Installed Files
Move install folder, Click this
Move Content, select the target location

 

[hotaru.hino]

In those cases on some of the launchers you can start the download in the new directory, pause the download and physically move the files into the new folder created, then resume and a good portion of the time it will work.

You can do this before "installing" the game and most launchers will realize the files are there.

 

[punkncat]

You can do this before "installing" the game and most launchers will realize the files are there.

It varies, of course...but will say that having my ISP offer a plan that had no data cap made this far less important a consideration to me. In the period where I was on a 1TB cap I was using one drive for nothing else than game file backup/storage. I busted out at Christmas since sales are often so enticing then.

 

[USAFRet]

You can do this before "installing" the game and most launchers will realize the files are there.

Right.
And you can make some drive other than C as the Default install location.

 

[stonecarver]

Yeah the information I add was just that an FYI. Not that you need to do anything with those game saves just where they are and how to figure them out if you ever needed it.