I recently switched from Windows to Linux Mint 22.3 and installed Steam. Before downloading any games, I'd like to set up my storage in a clean, understandable way. On Windows, I usually created an obvious folder such as "SteamGames" on a secondary drive, but I'm still learning how Linux's filesystem and mount points work and don't want to put anything somewhere that could cause problems later. My second SSD is currently unmounted. Is it fine to let Steam manage its default folders, or should I mount the drive at a location such as /mydata and create a dedicated Steam library there? Also, after formatting and mounting the drive, Steam appears to report roughly 47 GB of existing non-Steam data. What might account for that?
3 Answers
In Steam’s settings, add a library on the second SSD and let Steam create and manage the folders inside it. You can choose a simple location such as /mydata/SteamGames or /mydata/steam; there’s no need to manually organize each game beyond that.
Keeping games on a separate partition or drive can be useful because large game files won’t get mixed into your personal files or included in backups unnecessarily. A single folder named Steam on the dedicated games partition is usually enough; Steam will create the rest of the directory structure.
A common setup is to permanently mount the second SSD somewhere like /mydata, then create a Steam library at /mydata/steam. Linux programs can use directories anywhere as long as the drive is mounted consistently and your user has permission to access them. Guides on adding and permanently mounting a disk can help with the initial setup.
That points me in the right direction. I’ve mounted the drive and added it to Steam, but Steam reports about 47 GB of non-Steam data. Could that just be filesystem overhead, reserved space, or files created during formatting and mounting?
So the main idea is to choose a clear mount point and library folder, then let Steam handle everything underneath it? That sounds like the simplest approach.