I'm thinking about making the switch to Linux, particularly using the Mint distribution. My primary concern is about my gaming drive, which currently has all my Steam games on it. Should I reformat this drive to ext4 before moving to Linux? I want to ensure I can easily access my SteamLibrary once I reinstall Steam on the new OS, ideally without having to redownload all my games—just a few small programs and my non-Steam games.
3 Answers
You definitely should reformat your gaming drive, since NTFS won't perform as well under Linux compared to ext4. You can reformat during the installation process, but be warned: this will erase everything, so you'll need to redownload your games afterward. If your internet is slow, a better option might be to back up your SteamLibrary to an external drive first, then copy it back once you have Linux up and running.
You can't keep the data when you reformat, so do it during the install, not before. Switching to ext4 will help with any issues you might have with Steam. If you can, move your Steam folder to another location before formatting and then transfer it back once everything is set up.
I recommend using the migration page for tips—it's super helpful! Just keep in mind that you'll need to install everything new, including Steam, and transferring the games is a little tricky if you don't have another drive to back them up on.
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