Is it possible to play steam games that are installed on C: on f:?

Shaun98 · Jun 15, 2015

Basically, i have bought an SSD and got it up and running however before i had the SSD i used a 2tb hardrive and installed loads of programs and steam games on it

My SSD doesn't have enough storage to hold all my steam library so i am wondering if i can play my games that are installed on my original hardrive on my SSD without transferring any of the games to the SSD.

to put it simply i want to play games from my HDD C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam

but on my SSD that i boot from which is F:

Is this possible and if so how would i go about getting all my other programs back aswell?

Also i have another question, My original HDD has windows 8 installed on it but i want to delete the OS off it and just use it as storage without loosing any of my files off it apart from the actual windows files as i now use my SSD as my primary boot drive. Is this possible or are the anyways around it?

People are saying clone the HDD to the SSD but the SSD doesn't have enough space so that is not an option

Many thanks!

USAFRet · Jun 15, 2015

Are you booting from the SSD? Why is it the F drive?
I think you may need to restart the whole thing, and do it properly.

SethJPC · Jun 15, 2015

How does anyone with a small SSD play games? With a larger HDD! Of course you can play them

, verify the local game files on Steam and it will register that the games are installed. If it does not work, you may have to format the HDD and re-install the games on it

For example, I use a 64gb primary SSD for the OS but use a 3tb for all my games.

rowdymoody · Jun 15, 2015

I don't think it is possible. Even if you could, the game is not stored on the SSD so your load times would not be improved because they aren't on the SSD. So it would be pointless, really.

EDIT : I thought you meant you wanted to stream games through your SSD to get improved load times haha.
SethJPC has it right.

gaborbarla · Jun 15, 2015

Yes you can move some of your currently installed games on steam to your hard drive using steamtool.

http://www.stefanjones.ca/steam/

Once you move a game it will still remain on your steam but it will bind it to your harddrive instead of your SSD. You can move you games that you are currently bored of to your HDD from your SSD and vica versa, without backing up or anything fancy.

Question 2:
If your boot drive in your bios is set to your SSD, then you should be able to just simply delete everything on your original HDD which had windows 8 installed.

You are conflicting yourself though. You say that your SSD is your primary boot drive. This means your SSD has windows on it. Then you say "People are saying clone the HDD to the SSD but the SSD doesn't have enough space so that is not an option"
this makes no sense because you already have the windows files on the SSD.

Try this. Unplug your HDD completely. Boot your PC. If it works, then you can delete anything form your HDD.
If it doesnt boot, you still using your HDD to boot.
Gabor

Shaun98 · Jun 15, 2015

USAFRet :

What is the correct way to do it? i have local Disk C: and SSD F:

and yes i am booting from the SSD

USAFRet · Jun 15, 2015

Shaun98 :

Ideally, you do a fresh install, with ONLY the SSD connected.
That will end up as the C drive.
We can proceed from there...

rowdymoody · Jun 15, 2015

Unfortunately, the "proper" way of doing it would be to format your SSD and HDD and then install windows on your SSD. In which case your SSD would be C:/ and your HDD would be F or G or whatever.

Shaun98 · Jun 15, 2015

gaborbarla :

My bad all this gets a little confusing. what i mean is my SSD has enough space for windows 8.1 but i also have a hardrive with windows 8.1 on it that i used before i got my SSD, so now that i have my SSD as my boot device and im not booting from my HDD anymore i want to delete all the OS off the HDD but still keep other files like downloads, music ect.

In short - I only want the 2Tb HDD for storage not as a Boot device but formatting is not an option for me because i dont want to loose all my other files

rowdymoody · Jun 15, 2015

The only way to achieve that would be to backup everything you wanted from your 2tb drive to some other external drive, and then format the 2tb drive and set it up as a storage drive. THEN copy everything back from the external drive to the 2tb drive again.

SethJPC · Jun 15, 2015

Shaun98 :

Just backup the files you need on a USB drive and format it? re-installing games shouldn't be a problem?

Shaun98 · Jun 15, 2015

rowdymoody :

Thanks for the help

How would i go about making it a storage device just not install windows on it after formatting it?

And is there anyway to change the SSD to C: without having to completely remove the HDD out of my system. Could i not just format the hardrive to unallocated space and then reformat the SSD to C:?

Sorry if i don't make much sense, Im fairly New to PC's

madmatt30 · Jun 15, 2015

Make a new directory on your old hard drive named documents,backups or whatever you like.
Move all your files that you want to keep to this directory using windows cut & paste (including the steam directory with all your games)
Once done delet everything apart from the new directory you made.

Shaun98 · Jun 15, 2015

madmatt30 :

Thanks this sounds like the best way to do it! once i get to this point is there anyway i can make the HDD F: and change the SSD to C:?

USAFRet · Jun 15, 2015

Shaun98 :

Not easily, no. ALL of the current shortcuts and Registry entries are pointing to the OS as being the F drive.
If you install the OS with ONLY the SSD connected, it WILL be the C drive.

madmatt30 · Jun 15, 2015

^ this - you can't change the os drive letter - it named it as f: because you installed windows while you had the old drive connected.

The old drive you can change to whatever letter you like.

Shaun98 · Jun 15, 2015

madmatt30 :

So if i do what you said in the last post, backup my files on a different partition and delete the others, then take out my HDD and just keep the SSD in and reinstall windows on it so it becomes C:, then reconnect the HDD and change the Volume letter on it will that work?

USAFRet · Jun 15, 2015

Shaun98 :

Depending on what you mean by "change the Volume letter on it will that work", probably.

Steam games can live on whichever drive you want.
All other applications will probably need to be reinstalled.

Shaun98 · Jun 15, 2015

Yes, i don't mind about other applications, Thanks alot for the help. Got some work to do tomorrow now haha

Is it possible to play steam games that are installed on C: on f:?

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