Using a SSD Win8 and HDD to install games, can I play the installed games from the HDD if I boot from the SSD Win8?

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mikeBEZZ

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Jan 25, 2014
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I want to buy a SSD 120GB to increase read/write speed and generally just make my computer load faster, I have a 1tb HDD right now and would still like to use it for storage, I just wanted to know if this would work, I plan on installing my most played online games (BF4, LoL) on SSD but want all of my steam games (I have alot!) to be on the HDD without me needing install an Operating system on the HDD aswel as the SSD and then have to go into the BIOS screen and switch the boot priority everytime I wanted to change between the two to play a different game. This may be a dumb question, if so then sorry :)
 
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Beezy

Beezy

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Nov 4, 2013
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yeah but you should strongly consider doing a fresh install of windows on the SSD (so it is the boot drive, make the operating system faster), then format your TB drive and make that a storage drive. you will have to re-install all games this way, programs too but it will give best performance vs. copying or using the SSD as storage and the HDD as the boot drive.
 
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mikeBEZZ

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Thankyou for response, I will do so. If I do this would I be able to play the games installed on the storage HDD drive even tho I am using the SSD boot drive? Or would I have to move the stored game from HDD to SSD to play? ( I have never used more than 1 storage device in my computer before and just want to make sure I understand)
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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PRINT ME FOR REFERENCE.

I may have made a minor mistake or missed something but here's all the important stuff.

Steam and HDD:
Steam allows you to MOVE all of your game data between drives. There's instructions online, but basically it involves keeping ONLY the "Steamapps" folder and possibly steam.exe as well depending on whether you reinstall Steam.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7418-YUBN-8129

I recommend you follow this rough guide:

1) update the motherboard BIOS if needed
2) backup any critical data (including DOCUMENTS folder to move back game save folders)
3) attach the SSD, then update it's firmware
4) Shut down PC, unhook hard drive (only SSD for drives now)
5) Boot into BIOS and make sure SATA is AHCI
6) Install WINDOWS 7/8 64-bit
7) Install drivers (MAIN CHIPSET driver from motherboard support site, then remaining motherboard/video)
8) Microsoft Updates, other programs
9) reattach hard drive, then boot to the BIOS
10) make sure the BOOT ORDER has the SSD first (or 2nd if DVD drive is first)
11) Make a new folder on the hard drive called "STEAM" (i.e. "E:/STEAM"), then MOVE the "Steamapps" folder and Steam.exe file there
12) DELETE all the other folders you don't need (make sure you got everything you needed); should just have the "STEAM" and "BACKUPS" folders left for now
13) Reinstall Steam (I honestly forget if just double-clicking "steam.exe" in the new folder does this for you, or whether you reinstall Steam then copy the files into that folder. As LONG as you don't delete the "steamapps" folder you can experiment.)

14) Backup Windows once satisfied (backup IMAGE of C-drive, the SSD, to the hard drive to RESTORE in case of problems)

Other:
1) overprovision the SSD (recommend Samsung Magician if Samsung SSD. Samsung 840 EVO recommended.)
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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Update: Games on SSD

An SSD makes much less difference than most people think. It mostly affects the initial game LOAD and later level loads, however this also includes jumping map points and entering buildings (for now, we'll see more data pre-buffered to System RAM in the future).

2x increase in load times is about average.

It does help a game like SKYRIM a fair amount (buildings, map points) but I'm not sure how much a game like BF4 would benefit.

A 120GB, once formatted and overprovisioned has about 90 to 95GB of usable space left. Windows and basic programs might use around 30GB but this varies by whether you use the Pagefile (I cap to 2GB min and max) and Hibernation file (up to same amount of System RAM is reserved but you can disable this feature).

Restore points and other updates, game saves/data/mods eat up more space but things will likely stabilize around 50 to 80GB of space. However, add in a 20GB+ game like BF4 and you may easily run out of space.
 
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Beezy

Beezy

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no the windows OS will recognize all drives connected. you will just click on the HDD when browsing for games instead of C: (the SSD/boot drive). If you create a shortcut of a game installed on the HDD, onto your desktop, that will work too, no problem at all. just make sure you remember to manually change install directories to your liking when installing each game, they will probably want to default install to the main drive (the SSD, which you can install important games and programs too first totally at your discretion-till its full)

 
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Beezy

Beezy

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right and i think OP is aware of that in his first post he just wants faster read write and copy, as well as OS interaction, and boot/load times for programs and certain games. For me, going back to my laptop (5400 rpm HDD) vs my desktop (SSD+HDD) i can feel the difference and its totally worth it for me
 
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