Help regarding reinstalling windows and Steam

thecremeegg · 2 Mar 2010 at 13:33

I have my steam folder on a separate hdd from my windows installation. I want to reformat today and I'm unsure how exactly to go about ensuring I dont have to redownload all 60Gb of stuff in the Steam folder.
I know that I'll need to back up saved games but what about the game data itself? Do I just reformat and then reinstall steam?

.Simon · 2 Mar 2010 at 13:40

Essentially you need to just backup the 'steamapps' folder in Steam. That is where all your game content is.

Reinstall Steam, then copy the contents of that folder into the one made from the install.

thecremeegg · 2 Mar 2010 at 13:42

Okies, cheers

Shadez · 2 Mar 2010 at 16:58

thecremeegg said:
I have my steam folder on a separate hdd from my windows installation. I want to reformat today and I'm unsure how exactly to go about ensuring I dont have to redownload all 60Gb of stuff in the Steam folder.
I know that I'll need to back up saved games but what about the game data itself? Do I just reformat and then reinstall steam?

If its on a different drive then i dont think you need to do anything.

Just run the steam.exe after you have reinstalled and away you go.

Amnesia · 2 Mar 2010 at 17:14

Shadez said:
If its on a different drive then i dont think you need to do anything.

Just run the steam.exe after you have reinstalled and away you go.

this is correct^^

Tefal · 2 Mar 2010 at 17:16

.Simon said:
Essentially you need to just backup the 'steamapps' folder in Steam. That is where all your game content is.

Reinstall Steam, then copy the contents of that folder into the one made from the install.

no.

Just copy the whole steam folder that way you don't have to reinstall steam and apply all your steam skin settings etc.

all steam will do is a update, no hassle of reinstalling.

But as you've got it on a separate drive you shouldn't have to do anything.

thecremeegg · 2 Mar 2010 at 18:03

Well I just installed the steam exe to the same place as before and its all worked fine

MeMeMeMe · 3 Mar 2010 at 00:26

Shadez said:
If its on a different drive then i dont think you need to do anything.

Just run the steam.exe after you have reinstalled and away you go.

Note for the future - ^^ this is all you need to do.

.Simon · 3 Mar 2010 at 08:45

I only suggested using the installer as it gives the Steam folder full access to all users, something they changed with the Vista release.