How to Transfer Games to an External Hard Drive | Game Moving Tool

Games can take up a lot of space on your PC, leading to a full internal drive. To free up space, using an external hard drive for game storage is a common solution.

You can enjoy all the gaming power without having to work on the inside of your computer. Simply plug in the external hard drives and move PC games to an external hard drive in two ways.

Ways to Move Games to External Hard Drive (Automatic & Manual)

Here are two reliable methods to help you save time and avoid hopping from page to page:

If you prefer a hassle-free game migration, you can click "Qiling game mover" on the table, which is an automatic solution. Alternatively, if you prefer a manual approach, you can choose "Manual Ways" on part 2, which allows you to save games on an external hard drive without using third-party software.

How to Move Games to External Hard Drive with Free PC Game Mover

Moving games to an external hard drive is a straightforward process that can be achieved using PC game movers like Qiling Disk Master Free. This tool allows you to easily move games to an external hard drive, making it a convenient solution for managing your game library. With Qiling Disk Master Free, you can change the program install location for free, making it a 100% effective solution for solving the problem of how to move games to an external hard drive.

Download this software to help you move games or apps from a PC to an external hard drive. Simply launch the software to get started.

Step 1. Connect your external hard drive to your computer and open Qiling Disk Master. Select "Backup and recovery > File sync" to proceed with the process.

Step 2. Find and choose the applications (marked as "Yes") that you want to transfer. You can select multiple apps. 

Move apps to external hard drive by clicking the triangle icon and selecting the external hard drive as the destination.

Step 3. Moving programs to an external hard drive involves backing up files, identifying programs to move, and using software to transfer them to the external drive. This can be done using built-in Windows features or specialized software like Qiling Disk Master or PCmover.

• Free Download
• Windows 11/10/8/7, 100% Secure

The difference between playing games on a hard drive and an external hard drive is that games installed on an external hard drive will not be able to run as smoothly as those installed on the internal hard drive. This is because the internal hard drive is connected directly to the motherboard, making data transfer faster.

The external device tends to load slower than the internal hard drive, and if it's randomly disconnected from the PC, game data can be lost.

Read also:

How to Transfer Games to External Hard Drive PC Manually

However, the method of copying and pasting games from PC to external hard drive using Qiling Disk Master may not be 100% reliable in transferring games, as it sometimes works but not always.  

Here, I'd like to take Origin/Steam/Blizzard games for example. In the end, we also introduce a general method to move games to an external hard drive in windows 11/10.

Transfer Installed Origin Games Between Hard Drives
How to Move Steam Games to External Hard Drive
Move Blizzard Games to a Different Hard Drive
How to Move a PC Game to Another Hard Drive

Case 1 - Transfer Installed Origin Games Between Hard Drives

Step 1. To create a folder on your external hard drive for storing games, open Windows Explorer, navigate to your external hard drive, right-click on an empty space, select 'New' and then 'Folder' to create a new folder. Name the folder something like 'Games' or 'My Games' to keep your games organized.

Step 2. To move a game from your Origin folder, navigate to the folder containing the game you want to move, copy it to the new location, and then delete the old files from the original location.

Step 3. To change the game library location in Origin, go to "Origin > Application Settings > Installs & Saves", click the "Change location" button next to "Game Library Location", and direct it to the desired folder on your new hard drive.

Close the origin completely, including any background processes, and only affect newly installed games, leaving the current library intact.

Step 4. To reinstall the game, go back to your "My Game Library" and click the "Download" button.

Instead of re-Origin will detect the existing files and make minor changes, allowing you to play the game as usual after downloading.

Case 2 - How to Move Steam Games to External Hard Drive

Step 1. Connect your external hard drive to your PC. Open Windows Explorer, create a new folder on the external hard drive, and then copy the files you want to back up into this folder.

Step 2. To add a library folder on Steam, open the Steam client, click on "Steam" in the top left corner, then select "Settings". From there, click on "Downloads" and then "Steam Library Folders".

Step 3. To move a game in Open Library, select the game you want to move, right-click it, and choose Properties.

Step 4. Choose the Local Files tab > Move Install Folder 

The steps provided only work for moving one game at a time. If you need to move multiple games or want a more efficient method, you can refer to the article on how to move Steam games to another drive.

Case 3 - Move Blizzard Games to a Different Hard Drive

To move Blizzard games to an external hard drive, the manual solution involves uninstalling and reinstalling the games, which can be time-consuming due to the redownloading process. Alternatively, we also provide multiple fixes for moving Blizzard games to another drive.

Step 1. To uninstall a game from the Blizzard Battle.net desktop app, open the app, select the game icon, click on "Options" and then choose "Uninstall Game".

Step 2. In the Blizzard Battle.net desktop app, choose "Install" and then click on "Change" under the "Install Location" section, followed by selecting "Start Install".

Case 4 - How to Move a PC Game to Another Hard Drive (General)

Case 4 applies to move games on all game platforms to an external hard drive. By default, installed games are stored in the location C:\Program Files\Windows\Apps, regardless of the games being installed.

Step 1. Connect an external hard drive on your computer.

Step 2. To copy and paste your games to another drive, follow the default path which typically involves navigating to the directory where your games are stored, selecting the games you want to copy, right-clicking on them, and choosing the "Copy" option. Then, navigate to the destination drive, right-click, and select "Paste" to transfer the games.

Even though the method of copying files from PC to external hard drive is workable, it has a major drawback: it can't copy hidden files, which can cause game failures. To avoid this issue, a more reliable option is to use Qiling Disk Master to transfer games from PC to external hard drive.

Games Can Be Transferred, So is File and Account!

This PC transfer tool is a data migrating software that enables you to transfer your data, applications, and account settings from one PC to another with just one click.

• Transfer applications, Windows accounts from one PC to another, such as moving Microsoft Office.
• Transfer or back up data from one PC to another
• To transfer Steam to an SSD or move other games to a different drive, follow these steps: First, ensure your computer has an available USB port for the SSD. Then, install the SSD and format it.
• Recover data from a dead/unbootable PC
• Free up C drive space, and clean up junk files

• Free Download
• Windows 11/10/8/7, 100% Secure

FAQ about Moving Games to External Hard Drive in Windows 10/11

What are the most common questions users ask about a game besides "How do I move?"

1. Can I Use an External Hard Drive for Gaming?

External hard drives are easy to use, plug-and-play devices that can be used to install games on multiple computers without needing file formatting.

2. How Do I Move Games From C Drive to D Drive?

• Choose "App Migration".
• Select the games you want to transfer.
• Choose D drive as your destination.
• Click "Transfer" to start.

3. Can you run apps from an external hard drive Mac?

Macs don't discriminate where programs are launched from, so you can run them from an external drive without any issues.

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