I'm looking to move some Steam games from my laptop to my desktop PC and I'm curious about the best way to do it. Will using an external HDD be sufficient for this, or should I opt for an external SSD? If I transfer the games from my laptop to my desktop, I assume it shouldn't be an issue since my desktop has a powerful SSD. Essentially, I'll be loading the games from my desktop's SSD and not playing directly from the external drive. Is the speed of the SSD really only beneficial for the transfer process? Also, is it common to play games directly from an external SSD without transferring them to the desktop?
2 Answers
Using the Steam Network Transfer feature is definitely the easiest approach. Just go into the settings on both your laptop and desktop, enable it, and then start the download on the desktop. Steam will recognize that the game is installed on your laptop and will transfer it over the network instead. I've used it for games like Baldur's Gate 3 and it works like a charm!
If you’re considering an external SSD, that's a solid choice too. In my experience, I've played many games directly from an external SSD and it usually performs well. Just keep in mind that certain games, especially those that need fast load times like Ratchet and Clank, might benefit from the speed of an internal SSD. But for most games, an external SSD works just fine!
Totally agree! It’s a good way to expand your laptop's storage, especially if you're not transferring too much. Just make sure your laptop can handle the external drive's speed.
That's really handy! I didn’t know you could do that directly over the network—great tip!