Should I install Steam on my SSD?

Moothead2

Moothead2

Moothead2

Soldato
Joined
23 May 2011
Posts
10,463
I know it's not usually the best of ideas but I've just ordered a new SSD (Crucial M4 128GB for 140 quid :D) and was wondering if I should install it on it. I'd have the OS (<30GB?) and a couple of other programs such as IE and Microsoft Office (Couple of GB?) and the current size of my Steam folder is around 60GB. That leaves about 30GB free after you take into account the space you can't use (which I really don't understand :p).

I rarely buy games on Steam unless they're in the sale so they're usually older games that are a couple of GB tops and maybe one of two games a year that install through Steam such as Portal 2.

Should I do this or not?
Thanks.
 
I say no.

Install Steam on another drive and move the games your playing at each moment in time across as you need them.

You can use a program like GameSaveManager to do it pretty easily, there's other ways of doing it in the Steam FAQ. :)
 
Well if your only installing smaller games, then it makes sense to install on a quicker drive.

EDIT: orderoftheflame knows better:p Listen to him. :)
 
Moothead2 said:
I think I might just uninstall the games I'm not playing at the moment which should reduce the size of the Steam folder shouldn't it?
Click to expand...

It's up to you, but if you decide to play a few games with big installations at the same time, you could run out of space pretty quickly. If you don't have that many games/only play older ones it might not effect you so much.

Tbh, it's easily enough to move Steam in it's entirety if you change your mind. So no big loss no matter where you install it. :)
 
Thanks a lot everyone, Think I'll try it on Steam and move it over if it begins to take up too much space. Do you have any other programs where putting it on an SSD will be very beneficial other than those mention (IE, Office etc)?
 
No, install it on your other hard-drive then download an app called Steam Mover, what that does is copy a game of your choice over to the SSD then it creates a symbolic link between the two folders, so when a game updates or when files are changed/added or deleted on your drive where steam is installed it will then sync those files onto the SSD

http://www.traynier.com/software/steammover
 
tang0 said:
No, install it on your other hard-drive then download an app called Steam Mover, what that does is copy a game of your choice over to the SSD then it creates a symbolic link between the two folders, so when a game updates or when files are changed/added or deleted on your drive where steam is installed it will then sync those files onto the SSD

http://www.traynier.com/software/steammover
Click to expand...

Cheers, that sounds like the best steam mover program mentioned. Will do this :).
 
My steam folder is 264gb, and thats only 86 of 120 odd games installed :( eek! my terabyte drive does me for games
 
Well some of that is taken up by Windows surely? :p

As said, unless you're prepared to only install a small selection of games and constantly keep deleting them and reinstalling them, or you have a very large SSD (which you don't), its always going to be better to install it on a regular HDD and use GSM to move stuff across that you think will genuinely benefit from it.
 
A 128GB SSD will be plenty for the games you'll want to have on Steam.

If you install Steam on the SSD, you won't be able to move any Source games using GameSave Manager or other utilities but these games are pretty small in size unless you install all of them.

The benefits of having Steam on SSD will probably be not worth it unless your HDD is pretty slow and Steam takes a long time to open.

Now with games it's another matter, I found SSD to significantly improve overall experience in a handful of games, it helps a little in Shogun 2, helps a lot in GTA IV, possibly helps with ARMA 2 (never had it installed on the HDD really), Oblivion, does help greatly with loading times in BFBC2 and with a few other games.

Basically if a game reads a lot of data from the HDD and does it relatively slowly, move it to the SSD and see if it makes a difference.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom