So we’ve all been there, gone a little overboard during the sales, or picked up one too many titles than it’s humanly possible to play! Can’t decide whether you want to buy Among Us or Blade & Sorcery so instead you buy 20 titles for the price of Starbuck’s Latte … we’ve all been there! PC’s can be complicated beasts when it comes to storage and getting to grips with SteamVR can be a bit of a nightmare.
Most PCs have many different options for storage and yet when it comes to moving your games from one place to another, nine times out of ten, you’ll corrupt it or make it unplayable in SteamVR. No point owning SuperHot if it gets super lost on your hard drive somewhere now is there!
Thumb drives, external hard drives, partitioned hard drives, and SSD drives are all available options when it comes to PC gaming but knowing how to move files from one to another and still have them function correctly can be a nightmare.
Moving Beat Saber from your C: drive to your D: drive might seem like a good idea at the time to free up some space but when it stops working in SteamVR it’s a real pain in the neck! Steam knows to check certain paths for your games and moving them can cause plenty of problems. A Steam file manager then is a much-needed solution and it’s finally a viable option for all of us. So you want to play Half-Life: Alyx from a novelty Mickey Mouse USB thumb stick? Time to find out how. Let’s get into it!
Steam Storage Manager
Photo from Wikimedia Commons
The storage manager is not a new concept but this might be the first time you’ve heard about it. Released quietly back in 2021 as a beta for some select users, the manager has since gone through many improvements in its short life span. So much so, that later the same year, it was released to all users (again quietly). Getting to grips with storage, management is quite easy and it provides a more clear visual presentation for moving and deleting content.
Your used storage is represented across the top in a line broken up into different colors. Your games, apps, and media each have their own distinct color and it’s clear to see even at a glance how much storage you’re using up and what you have free or remaining.
Your VR games and non-VR games are then in list form below and deleting one or two is as easy as ticking a box and clicking delete. You’ll see that lovely colored line drop down and feel your soul being cleansed a little! Just like when you delete the excess from your Sky Box or Directv box! Getting to grips with the new Steam Storage Manager is easy too, and we’ll detail all your options here in one place to get you fully acquainted with how it works.
Opening Through Steam Settings
The Steam settings menu itself doesn’t exactly jump off the page when you first look. Navigate to the top left corner and click the following to get into your folders: Steam > Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders. This will take you to your storage manager and all the files and games you can play around with.
Opening through the Downloads Tab
You don’t have to go to settings to get to your storage manager. If you happen to be on the downloads page, then simply click the cog icon at the top right. From there you can click Steam Library Folders and you’re exactly where you need to be to manage your own storage.
Adding from A New Location
Being neat and organized is a great way to know where everything is. Adding your own labeled folders with content tailored around your mindset is important for many users. Good news then! Once you’re in the Steam Library Folder, you can tell Steam where to look on your PC for your VR games. If like me, you’ve got a separate hard drive or external plugged in full of games, then you will want Steam to check that drive too when populating your game collections.
By clicking the plus symbol, you can now browse your PC and select a folder to be added to your Steam library. In fact, you can add as many folders from as many locations as you want. This means you aren’t restricted to one hard drive or one storage location. As long as you’ve told Steam where to look, it will find your VR games and other Steam games and present them in your library.
You can even select an entire drive to be scanned for Steam content. Simply select the root folder on your drive and add it!
Adding a New Folder
If like me, you like to be neat or perhaps like to sort your VR titles by Genre or favorites, then you can also choose to ‘add new folder’. This will allow you to pick the folder title and it will add to your Steam collection. On creation, the folder will be empty but by being organized, you’ll know where exactly to copy and paste future content that you want to add to your newly organized folders.
Set a Default Folder and/or Drive
It’s important also to choose a default folder for all future downloads. This means that every time you buy a new VR title or non-VR title on Steam, you know exactly where it will download to. No point downloading Bonelab if it disappears into the unknown right? Everyone is different but I like to have all my games on one storage device like a different HDD drive or external drive and I leave all my system stuff and boring apps on the C: drive. Everyone is different though, just know that whatever location you choose, will be used for all downloads unless you specifically change the destination for each one.
To choose your default folder or drive, simply click the drive or folder in Steam Storage Manager, select the three dots at the top right for more options, then select ‘make default’ from the drop-down menu. That’s it! You can usually set it once and never have to think about it again.
Moving SteamVR Titles to a New Folder
Now for the juicy stuff. In the past, if you tried doing this manually with file explorer or a third-party app it would end in disaster. Most of the time, you move the files and then they disappear from your library as Steam has no idea where they are. Well, fret not because Steam Storage Manager makes the process relatively simple and pain-free even for beginners.
All you need to do is select the game or games you want to transfer by clicking the checkbox on the right side of each game. Once you’ve made your selection you will see both the ‘Move’ and ‘Uninstall’ buttons are now clickable. Click the ‘Move’ button and select the drive or folder you want to transfer your game.
Overall – Managing your SteamVR Library
Working with PCs in general can be a bit fiddly and knowing where your downloads are going or how to move your files can be half the battle. The Steam Storage Manager won’t set the world a light but it is effective and does the job well. You should be able to collate and organize your content in a way that suits you.
Also, now that there are plenty of storage options available on the market, you have no excuse for not keeping all your amazing and ever-expanding library of Virtual Reality games right at your fingertips. Whether it’s hacking through zombies in The Walking Dead : Saints & Sinners or entering your zen-like mind palace with the help of Tetris Effect, you really can have it all.
Now you have all that optional storage space, why not fill it full of the best free games available on SteamVR right now? You can check out our guide here.
