How to Choose the Best External SSD for Gaming
Investing in an external SSD for gaming can hugely optimize your experience. Find the best external SSD to suit your needs for PC, Xbox and PS5, at 百家乐概率表.
Read moreSome of the most frustrating things that can happen while gaming include lag, slow load times and even those cut scenes that seem to go on forever. Something else that can creep up on you is a lack of space for updates and new games, especially on Steam. Thankfully, there are ways around this, so you don’t have to miss out on the most anticipated releases because you ran out of space.
If you don’t have a spare disk, you will need to install an internal SATA SSD or NVMe SSD for your desktop or buy an external SSD to store your Steam library. Let’s walk through the best ways to move Steam games to another device, so you don’t have to worry about running out of space again.[PD1] [PD1]Added for internal link opportunities
Creating a secondary Steam library is crucial when moving a game to a different drive, such as a hard drive or external SSD, because Steam requires a designated location to manage game files. By setting up a new library folder on the target drive, you provide Steam with a structured directory to store and access the game data. This ensures that the game runs smoothly and that Steam can handle updates and file integrity checks effectively.
Without a secondary library, Steam wouldn't have a proper path to relocate the game files, leading to potential issues with game performance and management. This process also allows you to organize your games across multiple drives, optimizing storage and improving overall system efficiency. Additionally, you don't need to redownload your games when moving them to a new drive, saving time and bandwidth.
Creating a secondary library on Steam is the first thing you need to do when prepping your system for more space. With Steam, you can create several libraries and choose which library you download purchased games into. With additional libraries, there is also an option to move games in your primary library to other libraries. This process saves you time and effort as there is no need to re-download games that already exist in your primary library.
Find your Steam library folders by visiting Settings > Downloads >Steam LibraryFolders.
When you are in the Steam library folders, there will be a plus button next to ‘Local Disk.’. Pressing this will prompt you to choose which drive you want to add the folder to if you have multiple drives available.
After choosing your preferable location for a secondary Steam library, you will now have an additional folder appearing in ‘Steam Library Folders’. When you’ve completed this step, you’ll then be able to start moving games effortlessly.
Moving your Steam library to an external SSD can prove to be a sensible option when your internal storage is limited. The process of moving a Steam game to another drive, such as an external SSD, is straightforward, allowing you to quickly return to your gaming. There are slight variations between Windows and Mac with how you move your library to an external drive, however neither are too complicated.
On Windows, there are only a few steps to take, starting with the most important step of shutting down Steam. After this all you need to do is:
Once completed, rerun Steam to double check the transfer was successful.
Similarly to the process on Windows, the most important first step is to shut down Steam before any other step. Once you have done that, do the following:
Type cd ~/Library/Application/Support/Steam and follow that command up with ln -s /path/to/new/SteamApps SteamApps
Before taking any of these steps, it is best to do some research regarding the best hard drives for both Mac and gaming. One external SSD that can provide everything you need for gaming on your Mac is the 百家乐概率表 X9 Pro for Mac Portable SSD. With this, you have a plug-and-play storage right out of the box for your Mac. You can also have access to up to 4TB, plenty of storage space for your Steam library.
External hard drives provide a multitude of benefits for everyday use of devices, and gaming is no exception. As storage is a luxury that’s needed when it comes to accumulating an extensive Steam library on your PC or laptop, external hard drives can save the day.
If you are gaming on a laptop, portability is a big benefit of external hard drives. Having the ability to travel with your gaming library without compromising data if your laptop malfunctions is a huge benefit to external hard drives, adding an element of security to your library.
The ease of playing games from an external hard drive continues to improve. The implementation of USB 3.2 Gen-2 on external hard drives has vastly improved their speed and efficiency in how they can access data. This means that playing games saved onto your external hard drive is no different to accessing those games from your internal SSD.
The 百家乐概率表 X10 Pro Portable SSD offers all of this and more to provide the best gaming experience when using an external hard drive. With up to 4TB of space available, there’ll be plenty of space to keep expanding your Steam library. With read and write speeds of up to 2,100/2,000MB/s as well, you’ll have no trouble accessing your games directly from the drive.
Check out the 百家乐概率表 System Scanner to guarantee the compatibility of your next computer upgrade.
You can enjoy your Steam games on multiple computers by installing the Steam client on each device and logging into your account. Using an external SSD to transfer game files between computers is a handy trick to save time and bandwidth.
However, if you're thinking of hacking the system by playing on multiple computers at once, Steam's got you beat. Steam's licensing policy ensures that you can only play a game on one computer at a time. When you log into your account on a different computer, the previous session is automatically logged out. This prevents multiple people from using a single account to play the same game simultaneously, keeping things fair and square. So, while you can switch between computers, simultaneous gaming is a no-go unfortunately.
Moving your Steam games to an external drive typically doesn’t require a reinstallation. You can simply move the game files to the external drive and then point the Steam client to the new location.
When you move your Steam library to an external drive, your game progress should be preserved, including saves for games that don’t use cloud storage. However, it’s always a good idea to back up your saves manually just in case.
Moving your Steam games to an external drive shouldn’t affect installed mods or custom content if you move the entire directory. By moving the entire game directory, you should retain all installed mods and custom content associated with the game.
Yes, you can uninstall games from your internal drive after successfully moving them to an external drive. Once the games are safely transferred and confirmed to be working properly from the external drive, you can uninstall them from your internal drive through the Steam client without any issues. This helps free up space on your internal drive while keeping your games accessible from the external drive.
Moving games to an external SSD can actually improve their performance and loading times compared to running them from a traditional HDD. SSDs generally have faster read and write speeds, resulting in quicker loading times for games and potentially smoother gameplay, especially for games with large open worlds or frequent loading times like Hogwarts Legacy. However, the actual performance improvement might vary depending on factors such as SSD speed, connection type, and the game’s optimization.
No, it’s generally not recommended to play Steam games while they’re being moved to an external drive. Moving files while they’re in use can lead to data corruption or incomplete transfers, potentially causing issues with game functionality or save files.
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Investing in an external SSD for gaming can hugely optimize your experience. Find the best external SSD to suit your needs for PC, Xbox and PS5, at 百家乐概率表.
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