The official way to move an installed Steam game to another drive is to open Settings > Storage in the Steam client, create a Steam Library folder on the target drive with the '+' button, then select the game and click Move. Steam Support says existing games can be moved without uninstalling them. Copying a game folder by hand is not a documented procedure, so this guide does not recommend it. Everything here was checked on September 30, 2026 against Steam's 'Moving a Steam Installation and Games' page, and menu names can change with client updates. If you are moving games because recordings keep running out of space, how to reduce game recording file size covers that side.
Bottom Line: Move for a Few Games, Manual Steps for All of Steam
Use Move in Storage when you only want to relocate a few games, and follow the manual whole-installation procedure (cutting and pasting the Steam folder) only when you are moving all of Steam. Move needs a different Steam Library folder to exist, so adding one is always the first step. Steam says it does not recommend installing Steam or its games on an external hard drive because of performance issues, so an internal drive is the safer destination. If the space you free up is meant for recordings, the PUBG recording storage guide continues from the recording side.
From Adding a Library Folder to Moving
- 1Create a Steam Library folder on the target drive — In the Steam client, open the Settings menu and go to the Storage tab. It shows your default installation drive, and the '+' button at the top lets you create a new path on the drive you want to move to. The default game install folder is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\, and the official page says you can create an alternate location on any drive. Once it exists, future installs can go there too.
- 2Select the game in Storage and click Move — On the same Storage tab, select the drive where the games you want to move are currently located. Choose the games you wish to move, then click Move. The official page only describes this as moving a game's installation folder to a different location on the same computer. It does not state how long it takes or how much free space the destination needs, so this guide does not either.
- 3Check the game files after the move — Launch the game to confirm it runs. If something is wrong, right-click the game in your Library (or click the gear icon on its Library page), choose Properties..., open the Installed Files tab, and click Verify integrity of game files. It can take several minutes, and Steam says one or more files failing to verify is normal for most Steam games and can be ignored. Do not run it during system-intensive tasks such as defragmenting or virus scans, and do not run it for several games at once.
- 4The procedure for moving all of Steam — This separate procedure is only for moving the Steam installation itself, not a single game. First back up your steamapps folder. Exit Steam, go to the default Steam folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\), and delete all files and folders except steamapps, userdata and steam.exe. Then cut and paste the whole Steam folder to the new location (the official example is D:\Games\Steam\), launch Steam and log in. If errors occur, the page gives a more thorough process: move steamapps to the desktop, uninstall Steam, reinstall it where you want it, and move steamapps back into the new Steam folder.
- 5Reconnect games that appear as not installed — If a game's folder is still in the proper location, trying to launch it prompts a download that lets Steam recognize the existing files. To add a previously used library folder, open Steam > Settings > Downloads, click the Steam Library Folders button to open Storage Manager, and click the '+' button to add the folder. Installed games then appear in your Library. If they are still not recognized, the official page recommends reinstalling.
Official Methods by Situation
| Situation | Method in the official page | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Move one installed game to another drive | In Settings > Storage, select the drive the game is on, choose the game, and click Move | A destination Steam Library folder must already exist |
| Change where future games install | Use the '+' button at the top of Settings > Storage to create a new path | Once created, you can pick it for future installs |
| Move the whole Steam installation | Exit Steam, delete everything except the steamapps and userdata folders and steam.exe, then cut and paste the Steam folder to the new location | Backing up steamapps first is strongly recommended; verify installed games afterward |
| A game shows as not installed | If its folder is still in place, launching prompts a download that lets Steam recognize the files, or add the folder with '+' in Storage Manager | If it is still not recognized, the page recommends reinstalling |
| You want to keep games on an external hard drive | The official pages do not recommend it | Reasons given are performance issues and a drive that may disconnect |
What to Check When It Does Not Work
- Confirm you created a Steam Library folder on the target drive with the '+' button before trying Move.
- Confirm the drive selected in Storage is the original drive where the game actually is.
- Make sure Steam was not force-closed. Steam warns that forcing it closed while it writes to disk may corrupt library and installation information.
- Check that the drive is not an external hard drive or one that may disconnect. Steam says to install Steam and games to an internal drive in that case.
- Check whether a third-party app is stopping Steam from writing essential information. Steam lists this as a possible cause.
- For a whole-installation move, confirm you have a steamapps backup. Without one, a failure means reinstalling games individually.
Where Drive Space and Game Recording Meet
The drive space you free up by moving a game is also where recorded video ends up. DOR is a free Windows app that detects supported games automatically and records the full match as an mp4 into its in-app library, so on a PC with a large game library it helps to plan install size and video storage together. For PUBG, DOR records the full match and also creates kill highlight clips automatically. If your PC has an NVIDIA graphics card, DOR uses NVENC hardware encoding by default and captures game sound and microphone together, so after you rearrange your library it is worth checking that the drive holding those videos still has room. DOR does not move Steam games or solve disk space problems, though. Moving is done with Steam's Move as described above. For the recording workflow itself, see how to record Steam games.
Official Sources (Checked September 30, 2026)
Checked on September 30, 2026. The move procedure comes from Moving a Steam Installation and Games, file checking from Verify Integrity of Game Files, and the not-installed case from the Steam Support page on installed games that appear uninstalled. The pages describe the Settings path differently, as Storage in one and Downloads > Steam Library Folders in another, so follow whichever entries your client shows. Menu names can change with Steam client updates.
