running steam off separate partition/hard drive??!

[alexxshadenk]

right now i am running xp, but i plan to install windows 7 on a separate partition and dual boot.

If i create a separate partition just for my steam files, and move my steam files there, can i access my steam games from my xp and 7 partition, even if i never officially installed steam onto the windows 7 partition?
thanks

 

[Lonyo]

You will need to install Steam on your 7 partition, but you can simply install it to the new location and it will then pick up all the existing installed games, and run from that location.

 

[Ben90]

Steam doesn't need to be on the same partition as your OS. Mine isn't. The only thing in steam that isn't self contained is you now need the steam client service.

Steam used to run fine without that service, but I think they changed that. So all you would have to do is reinstall steam right over top of the current installation for the Win7 install so you get that service (It might even add upon execution of the steam client)

 

[crownjules]

My W7 OS is installed on the C partition.

Steam is installed on the D partition. No problems with this setup at all.

 

[PuppettMaster001]

My W7 OS is installed on the C partition.

Steam is installed on the D partition. No problems with this setup at all.

Mine is setup the same way and have had no issues at all. C = Windows; D = Steam

 

[HeXploiT]

You will have to reinstall steam on the new OS but once it's installed into the old steam directory it will automatically pick up all the games there.

 

[skace]

I just moved Steam from 1 partition to another without even re-installing. Once I launched it from the new location it automatically updated all it's registry keys.

 

[Jesusthewererabbit]

Steam is really pretty adaptable. I've had the same folder moved across two operating systems, three hard drives, and five partitions, and never had any problems.

 

[simonizor]

You will have to reinstall steam on the new OS but once it's installed into the old steam directory it will automatically pick up all the games there.

This.

All of your settings in your games will remain. I'm pretty sure that steam's settings stay, too so you should be auto logged in.

I did this when I "upgraded" from XP to Windows 7 recently. I installed Windows 7 on a separate partition ( H : ) from everything else and installed Steam over my install from XP ( C : ) which was on a separate partition ( D : ) from both of the OSes.

Steam is really pretty adaptable. I've had the same folder moved across two operating systems, three hard drives, and five partitions, and never had any problems.

I've also done this a couple of times. Copy the folder to and install steam to that directory. For all of the hate steam gets, it's a pretty damn good program,

 

[Aikouka]

Same as others, my Steam is on my E drive where my OS is on C. I prefer it that way since I don't want to stick Steam on a SSD given the large amount of data all the games take up (although, I could swap games in and out, I guess).

 

[schneiderguy]

Same as others, my Steam is on my E drive where my OS is on C. I prefer it that way since I don't want to stick Steam on a SSD given the large amount of data all the games take up (although, I could swap games in and out, I guess).

I install Steam on my SSD then use a symbolic link to point the game data to my regular hard drive. That way Steam starts up fast and I don't fill up my SSD.

 

[Modular]

As others have said, Steam is pretty good when it comes to moving things around. I've literally copied old folders from one hard drive to another and the games still worked fine.

 

[Homerboy]

As others have said, Steam is pretty good when it comes to moving things around. I've literally copied old folders from one hard drive to another and the games still worked fine.

So, as I'm about to do a fresh install of Windows and hardware, you're saying if I keep my old HDD, hook it up to the new PC and literally copy over the entire /Steam directory from old to new, everything will jive? I assume I need to install the actual Steam client on the new PC first, then copy over the old folder?

 

[veri745]

I install Steam on my SSD then use a symbolic link to point the game data to my regular hard drive. That way Steam starts up fast and I don't fill up my SSD.

I do something similar, except I have symbolic links to individual game directories. That way I can have all the games that benefit from SSD on it, but all my older games and/or games that take up too much drive space are located on my secondary HDD.

 

[Jesusthewererabbit]

So, as I'm about to do a fresh install of Windows and hardware, you're saying if I keep my old HDD, hook it up to the new PC and literally copy over the entire /Steam directory from old to new, everything will jive? I assume I need to install the actual Steam client on the new PC first, then copy over the old folder?

That's exactly how I do it. You can probably copy the old folder then install the client, but it takes me so long to download a 6GB game that I was always afraid to do it that way, and kept a backup just in case. The only thing you have to watch for is the odd game that keeps save games somewhere not in the Steam folder, like in My Documents. Steam is really, really resilient and I think you'd have to try pretty hard to mess it up.

 

[Gothgar]

I transferred my steam folder a while back the easy way, shift+move for the win