The original post: /r/techsupport by /u/2zo2 on 2024-04-15 12:36:21.

Original Title: Can I install Steam in a separate hard drive, while my main Steam folder is in another, currently unused hard drive?, will it cause any conflicts when I put the main hard drive with the my Steam back?, will I lose anything?

I have been unable to find out a solution for this online, all search results are about installing games in a separate hard drive, but this is not what I am looking for, so I will try to explain the situation in the most clear way possible:

  1. The one and only Steam folder that I have been using for over 10 years now, is located in a faulty hard drive of mine, for some reason, my PC is having problems running hard drives, but run SSDs just fine, as a result, my hard drive is still working (I sent it to repairs, the repairman said that it works normally on his PC, so the problem is with my PC, and not the hard drive), but I prefer to not use it to not complicate anything further, because the drive is quite slow, and sometimes my PC will not even turn on with it, I also have a backup of that hard drive though, so no need to tell me to back it up cause I have already done it.
  2. My main Steam folder in that hard drive has countless games installed, over a decade worth of rare mods, old screenshots, unlisted games, obscure games, and many more extremely valuable Steam stuff.
  3. I have decided that while I cannot buy an SSD to properly backup the hard drive with my Steam on it, I will therefore for the moment install Steam on the current SSD that I am currently using as of now, only to play some niche games with my friends in the meantime
  4. Therefore, when I install Steam from scratch on my current SSD, all of the installed games, mods, and screenshots will not be present.
  5. My plan is that, when I buy the new SSD and transfer the data of my old hard drive, I will uninstall the Steam that I have installed for temporary use, and later everything will be go back to normal, with all my old screenshots, mods, games, and even the Steam logo on the task bar, right?
  6. I live in a country where data storage is extremely expensive, a single 2 TB SSD is one month of my minimum wage paycheck, I just cannot buy SSDs any time that I want, sadly this is not how life works in here.
  7. So yeah, anything that I should be aware of, or should I just install Steam right now, enjoy it, and later on when my main big Steam HD comes back, I will uninstall that temporary Steam, and get all of my old stuff back?

TL;DR: My old hard drive with my decade-old main Steam account and games is faulty, I will thus install Steam from scratch on my current and new SSD to play games in the meantime until I get money to fix the main drive, and I plan to completely uninstall that temporary Steam folder, so that when my main Steam drive works again, everything will be back to normal, right?