Technical Anshu
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🎮 Move Games Not Delete

Move Steam Epic and Xbox Games to Another Drive Without Downloading Again

On gaming PCs the full C drive has a name, and it is a game library. The modern title runs 50 to 150 GB, and two of them will strangle a 256 GB SSD. The good news: you almost never need to delete or re-download them. Every major launcher has a way to relocate a game — two of them properly, one of them with a trick worth knowing.

✍️ Technical Anshu🪟 Windows 10 / 11⏱️ 6 minute read
🎥 Watch the video for the wider cleanup — on a gaming PC this page is usually worth more than every other step combined

The honest headline first: Steam does this best, with a built-in move that takes minutes. The Xbox app and Microsoft Store can move most games through Windows Settings. Epic Games Launcher still has no move button — but its verify system makes a clean copy-and-verify workaround possible, and it is described below without dressing it up as a feature. GOG Galaxy sits between: games can be imported after a manual copy. Whichever launcher, the rule is the same — use the launcher's own machinery so its library database agrees with where the files now live.

Steam — Settings — Storage (example values)
C drive library — 2 games ALMOST FULL186 GB
D drive library — free space MOVE HERE920 GB
Selected game to move98.4 GB

👆 Example values. Steam shows every library folder and its free space in one place, and moves the games you tick — files, saves configuration and all.

1

Steam — the Built-in Move, Done in Minutes

This is the route every launcher should copy:

  1. Open Steam → Settings → Storage
  2. If the second drive is not listed, add it as a library folder with the + button
  3. Select the C drive library, tick the games to move, and click Move
  4. Choose the D library and wait — moving is a local copy, far faster than any re-download
  5. Launch one moved game to confirm it starts; Steam updates its records as part of the move
2

Xbox App and Microsoft Store Games

Store games install into protected folders, which changes the route but not the result:

  1. Open Settings → Apps → Installed apps, find the game, and use Move if the button is offered — many Store games support it
  2. Inside the Xbox app, right-click the game → Manage → Files for its own change-drive option on supported titles
  3. For future installs, set the default install drive in the Xbox app's Settings → Install options so the problem stops growing
  4. If a specific title offers no move anywhere, the honest options are play it from C or reinstall it to D — do not drag its folder; Store games are permission-locked for a reason
3

Epic Games — the Copy and Verify Workaround

Epic has no move feature. What it has is a verifier, and that is enough:

  1. Copy the game's folder from the C library to the new location on D with Explorer, and rename or note the original
  2. In the Epic launcher, uninstall the game — this removes the C entry while your copied folder on D stays untouched
  3. Start installing the game again, choosing the D location — then pause the download as soon as it begins
  4. Close the launcher, ensure your copied files are in the folder the installer just created, then reopen the launcher and resume
  5. Epic verifies the existing files instead of downloading them — expect it to fetch only small missing pieces

It is a workaround, honestly labelled. It works because verification is a real launcher feature; if a future Epic version changes the flow, reinstalling is the fallback.

4

Set the Default Before the Next Install

Moving games fixes the past; defaults fix the future:

  1. In each launcher, set the default install location to the big drive
  2. Keep on C only the game you are actively playing if load times matter to you — and be honest that on modern systems the difference is small
  3. Shaders and save data may still live in your user profile on C; that is megabytes, not the gigabytes you came for
5

What Never to Do With a Game Folder

The shortcuts that corrupt libraries:

  1. Never drag a game folder to D and leave a note — the launcher will show it missing and may start a full re-download over your moved copy
  2. Never delete a game's folder to 'uninstall' it — orphaned library entries and registry data are the tax
  3. Never move a game while the launcher is mid-update — finish or cancel the update first, then move
🔴 A moved game that 'redownloads everything' was almost always dragged by hand. Launchers track games in their own databases; if the database and the folder disagree, the download wins. Use the move, manage or verify routes on this page so both sides change together.

🎥 Watch the Complete Video Guide

See the full cleanup done live on a real full C drive — the scan, the safe deletes and the final free space, step-by-step.

▶️ Watch Full Video
❓ Common Questions (FAQ)

Is moving a game slower than reinstalling it?

Much faster. A move is a local disk-to-disk copy at full drive speed; a reinstall is limited by your internet connection. A 100 GB game might move in ten minutes on the same machine that would spend hours downloading it again.

Will my saves and settings survive a move?

Yes, with the launcher routes. Saves usually live in Documents or the cloud, untouched by the game files moving, and Steam's move carries the game's full folder including its local configuration. The copy-and-verify Epic route likewise keeps the complete folder intact.

Can I play a game from an external USB drive?

You can, and for turn-based or older titles it is fine, but load times and stutter will follow the USB connection, and the drive must always be plugged in with the same letter. Treat external as overflow storage, not a performance home — internal D is the right destination for games in rotation.

This guide is based on the Technical Anshu C drive cleanup video • Stuck on any step? Ask in the video comments — you will get a reply there 🙏