New HDD File Transfer

Forgive me, I've been at work for the past 30hrs so my brain is not functioning properly, but I wanted to double check something. I just grabbed a new large HDD mostly to transfer my ever-growing Steam library to. Is there any reason I can't just cut and paste the whole Steam folder and all the games installed therein over to this new drive? Or should I just reinstall them all with the new drive as the destination?

Thanks

Forgive me, I've been at work for the past 30hrs so my brain is not functioning properly, but I wanted to double check something. I just grabbed a new large HDD mostly to transfer my ever-growing Steam library to. Is there any reason I can't just cut and paste the whole Steam folder and all the games installed therein over to this new drive? Or should I just reinstall them all with the new drive as the destination?

Thanks

nosferatu

You can move the entire folder over. Once moved you may need to reinstall the Steam client into the new location but yes, you can move the entire Steam folder and most of your games should work. Some games that use their own updaters (like Tribes Ascend) might need re-installation but the bulk should work fine.

-Byshop

You could try steam mover

There's only one folder you need to copy. The steamapps folder which has all your games. Reinstall steam on the new system and login then quit out and copy the folder back then fire it back up. You'll notice that all your games are still missing start one up and you'll notice it'll be there at 100% and show up as installed.

You could try steam mover

kraken2109

Steammover is now pretty much obsolete. A few months ago Steam updated so you can now download each game to a library on different drives. It doesn't -move- like Steammover, but you can re-download or restore a Steam backup to a different volume.

-Byshop

There's only one folder you need to copy. The steamapps folder which has all your games. Reinstall steam on the new system and login then quit out and copy the folder back then fire it back up. You'll notice that all your games are still missing start one up and you'll notice it'll be there at 100% and show up as installed.

zaku101

As I mentioned in my original post, this will work for -most- games but some specific titles may need to be re-installed such as games that use their own auto-updater.

-Byshop

Ok, that's kinda what I figured but wanted to check. Thanks guys