What Is Steam Storage Manager and How to Use It

If you’re a passionate gamer, the chances are high that you regularly add new games to your collection. However, with each addition, the storage space occupied by games on your computer also grows. That’s where Steam Storage Manager comes into action.

So, what exactly is Steam Storage Manager, and how can you make the most of it? Let’s find out in this detailed guide.

What Is the Steam Storage Manager

Steam Storage Manager is an exciting feature released by Valve Corporation for the Steam gaming platform. This new storage management system makes creating and managing game libraries easy.

With Steam Storage Manager, you gain more control over game installations and their storage usage on your computer. It also enables you quickly transfer game files between different storage devices without the need to uninstall them beforehand.

The transfer feature is particularly helpful for users who constantly grapple with storage issues on their computer. It provides a hassle-free solution for clearing storage and using multiple storage devices effectively. This remarkable feature improves the gaming experience and gives you more control over your game library.

How to Use Steam Storage Manager

Now that you have a brief understanding of Steam Storage Manager, let’s check out how to use it. However, knowing how to access Steam Storage Manager in Steam is essential.

There are two ways to access the Steam Storage Manager. The first method is using the Steam settings. Let’s check out this method in detail:

Step 1: Press the Windows key to open the Start Menu.

Step 2: Type Steam in the search bar and press Enter.

Step 3: Click Steam at the top-left corner and choose Settings.

Step 4: Select Downloads from the left sidebar and click the Steam Library Folders button in the right pane.

Another way to access the Steam Storage Manager is through the Steam download page. This method will be helpful when you want to quickly access the feature from the download page. Here’s a step-by-step instruction to access the Steam Storage Manager through this method:

Step 1: Launch the Steam client and click the Downloads option at the button.

Step 2: Click the Gear icon at the top-right corner.

Step 3: Choose Downloads from the left sidebar and Steam Library Folders from the right pane.

You’ll see the Steam Storage Manager window on your screen. Let’s check out different things you can do using the Steam Storage Manager.

Add a New Location to Steam Storage Manager

The Steam Storage Manager offers the flexibility to add a new drive or create a new folder within the same drive. Let’s begin by checking out how to add a new drive:

Step 1: Open the Steam Storage Manager window (check steps above).

Step 2: Click the Plus icon (+) next to the already available drive.

Step 3: In the ‘Add a new Steam library folder’ window, click the drop-down icon and select the drive you want to add.

Step 4: Click the Add button.

If you want to add a particular folder or location, you can do that too. Here’s how:

Step 1: Access the Steam Storage Manager in the Steam client (check steps above).

Step 2: Click the Plus icon (+) next to the already available drive.

Step 3: Select the ‘Let me choose another location’ option.

Step 4: In the ‘Create or select new Steam library folder’ window that crops up, select the folder and click the Select button.

Set Default Drive or Folder in Steam Download Manager

Steam lets you choose the location where you want to install the games. However, if you prefer to avoid selecting the location every time you install a new game, you can set a default drive or folder. Here’s how to do that:

Step 1: Launch the Steam client and click the Downloads option at the button.

Step 2: Click the Gear icon at the top-right corner.

Step 3: Choose Downloads from the left sidebar and Steam Library Folders from the right pane.

Step 4: Click on the drive or folder location you want to set as default.

Step 5: Click the three horizontal dots next to the progress bar and choose Make Default.

A star icon will appear beside the drive name, indicating the default game installation drive.

Move Steam Games to External Hard Drive

A highlighting feature of the Steam Storage Manager is the ability to transfer game folders to external hard drives. This is an excellent way to free up space on your local drives. However, before you can move Steam games to an external hard drive, you need to add that hard drive to the Steam Storage Manager. Check the previous section for the steps.

After you add the external hard drive, you’re ready to move the game. Here are the steps to move games to an external drive using the Steam Storage Manager:

Step 1: Launch the Steam client and click the Downloads option at the button.

Step 2: Click the Gear icon at the top-right corner.

Step 3: Choose Downloads from the left sidebar and Steam Library Folders from the right pane.

Step 4: When the Steam Storage Manager opens, select the drive in which the game is installed.

Step 5: Check the box next to the game you want to transfer and click the Move button.

Step 6: In the Move Content window, select your external drive.

Step 7: Click the Move button.

Steam will now begin transferring the game. The process might take some time, depending on the game size and your external drive read and write speed.

Repair Folder Using Steam Storage Manager

It’s common to face issues on Steam that prevent you from installing a new game to the default location. Such situations mainly arises due to corruption in the default installation location.

Fortunately, the Steam Storage Manager comes with a repair feature you can use to detect and remove corruption from the default installation location. Here’s how to use this feature:

Step 1: Launch the Steam client and click the Downloads option at the button.

Step 2: Click the Gear icon at the top-right corner.

Step 3: Choose Downloads from the left sidebar and Steam Library Folders from the right pane.

Step 4: When Steam Storage Manager opens, select the default installation drive.

Step 5: Click the three horizontal dots next to the progress bar and choose Repair Folder.

The repair window will appear and remove any available corruption from the installation folder.

Remove Drive From the Steam Storage Manager

For any reason, if you want to remove a drive from the Steam Storage Manager, you can do that too. To do that, follow these steps:

Step 1: Launch the Steam client and click the Downloads option at the button.

Step 2: Click the Gear icon at the top-right corner.

Step 3: Choose Downloads from the left sidebar and Steam Library Folders from the right pane.

Step 4: When the Storage Manager opens, click on the drive you want to remove.

Step 5: Click the three dots next to the progress bar and choose Remove Drive.

Manage Steam Games

Steam Storage Manager is an incredible feature that makes managing games a cakewalk on Steam. You can use it to uninstall games, repair folders, and much more. Let us know in the comments which Storage Manager features you liked the most.