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Split Steam app folder between 2 HDD?

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As the title suggests I want to find out if there's a way I can split my steam app folder on to 2 drives, specifically an SSD that I will be putting my OS and most used games and apps and a regular HDD for everything else?
 
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I would recommend playing with the command line (that SHiBDiB kindly linked in his post) with a couple of tempory folders until you are happy with the results.

Just make a folder on each drive, put a couple of sub-folders in each, and dump some txt files in these.
 
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Bah that sucks, oh well got a few weeks yet before I get my SSD may just end up putting steam on my HDD :(
 
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Bah that sucks, oh well got a few weeks yet before I get my SSD may just end up putting steam on my HDD :(

To be honest its not that difficult, all the command line does is link a folder to another location, example:

c:\test\folder1 can be linked to d:\folder1

If you click into folder1 on c:\ you are actually browsing the files in folder1 on d:

Here is a link to a GUI based version (I've not tried so best to test on temp folders)

http://code.google.com/p/symlinker/
 
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you could also have multiple installs of steam... i think.. and just install one on each hd
 

I see SPY!

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Actually I think it's rather easy, using Link Shell Extension
Put whatever folder or files you want in the new location, then right-click them and choose "pick link source". Then, go to the Steam folder location where those files/folders should be and paste the symbollic link.
 

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dont take this as flaming because i am interested, but why do this?
 

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so you have one steam game on ssd.

ntfs junctions are reasonably easy to use in my opinion. just use mklink
 

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so you have one steam game on ssd.

ntfs junctions are reasonably easy to use in my opinion. just use mklink

ok so for performance. your SSD is your boot/OS drive and you want the most played steam games on that drive and all the others on your standard 7200rpm drive. that makes sense. :toast:
 
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I just bought a bigger HD

ok so for performance. your SSD is your boot/OS drive and you want the most played steam games on that drive and all the others on your standard 7200rpm drive. that makes sense. :toast:

Seems like an easier deal for most as 7200 rpm hard drives are getting so cheap. Just bought the Seagate 1.5 terrabyte drive from the egg for $59.99. Do we really need more than peak read and write of about 120 mb/sec according to Atto? My Steam Account is way too big for SSD and I'm wondering if there is any benefit during gameplay.
 

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Seems like an easier deal for most as 7200 rpm hard drives are getting so cheap. Just bought the Seagate 1.5 terrabyte drive from the egg for $59.99. Do we really need more than peak read and write of about 120 mb/sec according to Atto? My Steam Account is way too big for SSD and I'm wondering if there is any benefit during gameplay.

none during gameplay. it will load slightly faster though. i mean, if you need to save an extra 5 seconds over the course of an hour of game play then it is the perfect solution.
 

HookeyStreet

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Will the benefits of doing this outweigh the headache?

EDIT: just seen Rhino's post LOL :D
 

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it's 1 command line command.. and made a significant difference for me playing multiplayer games that have fairly quick map change
 
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When will OS manage storage the same way it manages memory. It should know by itself that pron should go to D and BC2 should be on C :)
 

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When will OS manage storage the same way it manages memory. It should know by itself that pron should go to D and BC2 should be on C :)

how does your os manage pron in memory?
 
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it's 1 command line command.. and made a significant difference for me playing multiplayer games that have fairly quick map change

they really are pretty easy, just have the right syntax and replace some words, all set. I have a txt file with the commands to link specific folders saved, so i can just copy/paste after reinstalling windows.
 

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Why not just get one big drive to store all your Steam games? You can then use the free Karen's Replicator backup application to back them up to another big drive.

When you initially install Steam, you simply point it to the drive you want, instead of C. Similarly, moving a Steam install isn't too hard and just involves a client install and a copy operation for the games. I forget the exact details and I'm at work right now, but it's all documented in the Steam FAQ.

I've got many gigs worth of Steam games and this solution works very well for me.
 

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i just have a dedicated games drive, and have no real slow down issues.


sure i bet an SSD would be faster, but a dedicated mechanical drive for just games is the second best thing after a dedicated games SSD.
 
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