Hard Drive Transfers: Snake Needs Your Guidance

[Solid Snake]

So your Friendly Neighborhood Snake who y'all respect and admire and privately adore is upgrading his PC, because that's what Snake's doin', and now his PC is going to be super-turbo-ultra charged to play games like Dragon Age: Inquisition in the most aesthetically sensual manner possible.

Radeon R9 290 be all like "Welcome to the PC Master Race Snake, you never chillin' with them console peasants again [*well actually just until Uncharted 4 comes out...]"

Snake's also getting a 3TB Hard Drive because aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwww yeah an immense library of imminently accessible content is the way to be, but now there's an issue.

The issue is simple: Snake's keeping the old 500 GB hard drive with Windows but he wants to move all Steam and Origin related content from the old drive to the new. Like we're gonna have a C drive and a D drive intertwined up in this business, but lots of content on that C drive needs to make a clean break. But not all the content! Documents and iTunes and even GOG.com content is probably staying with the OG HDD.

But, how precisely should this be done? How to ensure that Snake doesn't lose his precious save data? We're talking hundreds of hours of content that simply can't be lost unless you want to make Snake cry.

Is there some sort of guide on the Interwebs to assist folks with this process? Or, better yet, are you Human enough to assist Solid effin' Snake with incredible advice? Are you?

ARE YOU?!?!?!?!?

[Nikose Tyris]

Transferring your steam library can be a real pain in the ass.

TECHNICALLY you can just copy the folder over, point steam at the drive and say "hey, acknowledge this as a steamapps folder" but it's glitchy and not super user friendly.

http://www.stefanjones.ca/steam/ This is.

Don't know shit on origin tho.

Edit: Gee Nik could you maybe double check what you paste before you paste it, you shitnerd?

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7418-YUBN-8129

[Krylo]

First, take a high-power magnet and rub it over your old hard drive in a circular counter clockwise motion making sure to place it on the top of the HD. This will pick up all the old data. Now you simply run it clockwise over the new hard drive to deposit it. Delete unnecessary information on the classic manner and you are done.

[Solid Snake]

So my understanding is: First I uninstall Steam from my C: drive, then I reinstall Steam, tell it to install onto the D: drive, and hopefully I can then install my games library to that location?

...Which is awesome if that'll do the trick, but it leaves me with one gaping hole: Saved games that aren't on the Cloud. They're in some separate location on my C: drive, right? And I probably can't keep them there if I'm moving Steam to D:.
How do I make sure to transfer all those files?

...Also Krylo you are mean

[Krylo]

...Which is awesome if that'll do the trick, but it leaves me with one gaping hole: Saved games that aren't on the Cloud. They're in some separate location on my C: drive, right? And I probably can't keep them there if I'm moving Steam to D:.
How do I make sure to transfer all those files?

There's two places games will generally save on your C drive.

The first you go into your Program Files/Steam/SteamApps/Common and hey there's all your games. Just move them someplace and then toss them in the same place in your new Steam install. This will make installing much faster too (you'll still have to tell steam to do it, but instead of downloading, steam will just spend a couple minutes realizing you already have the game).

The second is in your documents, in which case you're fine.

There's a third place as well, which is the Steam Cloud, which you don't have to worry about at all either way.

[Solid Snake]

Will I also have to uninstall all the individual games before uninstalling Steam, or will uninstalling Steam also uninstall all Steam games on my C: drive?

And, here's a crucial question: When I install Steam onto my D: drive, will it still default all saves to those C: drive folders? Like, as I'm reinstalling my Steam library onto D:, if I then attempted to play a game on my D: drive, and I saved my progress, is it defaulting to C: or creating a new folder in Documents with an identical name in D:?

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

It can be a time consuming process, but if you want to keep your steam stuff then bear with me on this one.

Firstly install a program called Teracopy. It blows the everliving shit out of windows in terms of sheer speed and effectiveness at moving stuff quickly. While not intrinsically required it'll save you a fuckload of time. Get you some.

Directions straight from steam itself: The following instructions are a simple way to move your Steam installation along with your games:

Exit the Steam client application.
Browse to the Steam installation folder for the Steam installation you would like to move (C:\Program Files\Steam by default).
Delete all of the files and folders except the SteamApps folder and Steam.exe
Cut and paste the whole Steam folder to the new location, for example: D:\Games\Steam\
Launch Steam and log into your account.

Steam will briefly update and then you will be logged into your account. For installed games, verify your game cache files and you will be ready to play. All future game content will be downloaded to the new folder (D:\Games\Steam\SteamApps\ in this example)



If you encounter any errors during the move process or when Steam is launched from the new location, it may be necessary to perform a more thorough process:

Exit the Steam client application.
Browse to the Steam installation folder for the Steam installation (continuing the from the last section example, this would be the new location of D:\Games\Steam\.
Move the SteamApps folder from the Steam installation folder to your desktop.
Review the Uninstalling Steam topic for instructions to uninstall Steam (this must be done to remove your old Steam installation settings from the Windows Registry).
Review the Installing Steam topic for instructions to re-install Steam to the desired location.
Move the SteamApps folder into the new Steam installation folder to copy all of your downloaded game content, settings, and saved games to the new location.
Start Steam and log in to your existing Steam account to confirm that the move was successful.
For installed games, verify your game cache files and you will be ready to play.


Important:

If you are moving your Steam installation to a new hard drive and want to keep game saves/profiles for third party games that are not saved on Steam Cloud most of these can be found in your Documents folder: ~\Documents\[username]\My Games\. Moving this folder to the same location on your new hard drive will maintain your saves/profiles.

[BB]

You must must must transfer your steam games BEFORE you hit the Uninstall button on steam itself. It takes the whole ship with it if there's any games still installed.


Previous quotes and links mention it, but I wanted to reiterate it in big bold letters because missing that step is the least fun thing ever

[Solid Snake]

Wow, okay, we're takin' some detours.

So the good news is that both parts are installed and one -- the new GPU -- is fully operational. A little noisier than I anticipated and I'm going to have to get used to this new tone of hum that emanates from the machine, and I haven't really tried anything intensive as a test to see how well it works under pressure, but it's cool, I think.

The bad news is the hard drive. It's in there, there's a free port for it. But it isn't plugged in. I need to purchase something called a "data sata cable from motherboard to HDD." I have no idea what this is, but whatevs. The technician was very polite and showed me exactly where I'd need to plug it in, but daaaamn I'm still nervous about the likelihood I'll be doing this myself.

Everything -- like the Internet and whatnot -- is a tiny bit slower but I imagine that's because there's all these new kinks with the GPU, it's got a program that starts up automatically called "GPUTweak" that seems to monitor performance.

EDIT: I hope this new noise is something you get used to after hundreds of hours with your PC because, fuck, if it ain't, I'm going to be getting lotsa new headaches.

[Nikose Tyris]

One sec I'll get you a picture of the exact cable you need Snake

edit: http://www.primecables.com/p-305111-cab-sata-7p-7p-sata-data-cable-18-inch15ft-7p-7pred?gclid=CNfrzP_Xv8ICFQaEaQodtQwA1w

Note the connector has an iiiiiiitty bitty L shape in it. Both ends will have that. You should be able to get it for a buck or less.

[Solid Snake]

Thanks Nik.

Is there usually like a temporary issue with memory slowdown in the imminent wake of a new GPU install? I'm trying to figure out why everything from websites to programs (Steam, Origin, etc.) is taking an extra split second to load. It's not a huge deal I guess, just kind of weird in the wake of what I've presumed would be an upgrade. Windows Task Manager has CPU usage varying between 12% and 40% and Physical Memory pretty consistent at around 44%, with Total Physical Memory at 8173, Cached at ~4700, Available at about ~4400 and Free at close to zero.

EDIT:

I figured out the cause of the slowdown.

Every time I boot up my computer now it's automatically starting with two new programs associated with my GPU. "GPUMonitor" tells me all kinds of fun things about my GPU, like the fact that my GPU temperature is apparently now 43* C (that seems hot), GPU Fan Duty is at 20%, GPU fan speed at 4400, etc.

Then there's GPUTweak. GPUTweak lets me change GPU base values? GPU Clock is set at "1000", Memory Clock at "5040" (both in MHz) and Fan1 Speed % is at 20.
So if I set these to lower values, will that lessen the noise my GPU is making?
Furthermore, is there a way I can set these values to change automatically whenever I start a game? That'd be the obvious workaround.

[Krylo]

If you don't know what you're doing with them, it's probably best to just let them handle things autonomously. There should be checks for that somewhere within the programs (I'm not particularly familiar with those two programs specifically) that just lets the fans speed up or slow down depending on how much the GPU is being used, etc.

They're great tools if you're a more advanced user and excellent for troubleshooting if something goes wrong.

Also, don't worry about the temps too much unless they get around 90C or greater, or you notice that your idling temperature has increased by a noticeable amount (in which case, clean that shit--which you should do anyway). GPUs tend to be the hottest running part of the computer.

[Solid Snake]

I've realized the one thing I can change with GPUTweaks is like a switch from an automated "Gamer" setting to "PowerSaver," which does reduce noise a little bit, but it's still much noisier than what I'm used to. (And I now feel bad for my roommate, who's already commented on the noise.)

Also, daaaaamn, Can You Run It? now has me in the 100th percentile for GPUs. Awww yeah it's time to gloat
...Bizarrely, Dragon Age Inquisition doesn't auto-set every possible graphics setting to highest values, vast majority are Ultra or even "Fade-Something" but a couple which I assume might be more CPU or memory dependent are simply "High"

EDIT: Shit, GPU heat spikes up to around 85C while playing GPU-intensive games. Fortunately, average appears to be around 70 and temps drop below 50C within a few minutes of stopping play.

[Nikose Tyris]

This might be a little outside your skill level, but Here's a walkthrough on essentially putting a better heat sink on that card. (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/r9-290-accelero-xtreme-290,3671.html) There's plenty of other options out there, and this is just one of the first ones that felt clear and understandable that I google'd up. Read through the article, and make your own informed choices.

[Solid Snake]

This might be a little outside your skill level, but Here's a walkthrough on essentially putting a better heat sink on that card. (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/r9-290-accelero-xtreme-290,3671.html) There's plenty of other options out there, and this is just one of the first ones that felt clear and understandable that I google'd up. Read through the article, and make your own informed choices.

I'd really just rather not void the warranty right away.
(Perhaps more importantly, I can't afford to spend more money on my PC for the next few months.)
But I'll definitely look into it once it becomes a viable option financially.

---------- Post added at 08:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:18 PM ----------

...This kind of bullshit is why people choose consoles over PC.

I paid for a SATA cable and installed it, why the fuck isn't my PC recognizing a second hard drive present? I paid for a professional to install this, this doesn't make any fucking sense. The damn hard drive didn't even come with an instruction manual.

---------- Post added at 09:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:52 PM ----------

Oh, oh. I figured it out.

Damn, on a 3TB hard drive nearly 900 MB is apparently inaccessible? Wuuuuuuut

---------- Post added at 09:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:00 PM ----------

Hold on, hold on. A 3TB hard drive has two separate unallocated spaces? One is about 2TB and the other is about 750MB?

---------- Post added at 09:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:01 PM ----------

So here's the issue.

"Disk 0" is my new Hard Drive. It has not yet been initialized or partitioned or whatever you gotta do to get it running.
It reads at 2794.52 GB of free space -- I imagine the other 200 or so isn't usable for whatever the hell reason that's true of hard drives.

But it's divided into two unallocated sections. I can create a 2048.00 GB D: drive with one segment of unallocated space. The other 746 GB is listed as unallocated and available but I can't do anything with it?
Why can't I combine them?

---------- Post added at 09:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:11 PM ----------

Ohhh I had to convert it to a GPT Disc for some reason, OK.

---------- Post added at 09:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:15 PM ----------

Browse to the Steam installation folder for the Steam installation you would like to move (C:\Program Files\Steam by default).
Delete all of the files and folders except the SteamApps folder and Steam.exe

...Why exactly do I have to delete all files except SteamApps and Steam.exe before transferring it over? Why not just transfer over everything that's in there?

---------- Post added at 09:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:21 PM ----------

"22 Hours remaining," to transfer via Steam, Christ on a stick.

---------- Post added at 09:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:32 PM ----------

So, after I finish the Steam downloading process. Then I can Uninstall Steam on my C: drive, right? And that won't influence anything on D:. And once I delete Steam on my C: drive, all the games will automatically be deleted off just that drive too, right?

...And then I gotta change my desktop icon so it drives me to the correct D: drive.

Can I also do the same transfer process with Origin, I wonder...

[synkr0nized]

You paid for a professional to attach a cable inside your case? :( It's a shame none of us is nearby to have been of help in person. It's a really simple job. Maybe in the future, if you have the patience for it, give it a try yourself? You might find some computer upgrades are easier than others, and sometimes people get a sense of satisfaction having done it themselves that makes it more fun!

But it may also just not be your thing, which is totally fine. Just don't spend too much money hiring others to do that kind of thing if you can avoid it.


It reads at 2794.52 GB of free space -- I imagine the other 200 or so isn't usable for whatever the hell reason that's true of hard drives.

But it's divided into two unallocated sections. I can create a 2048.00 GB D: drive with one segment of unallocated space. The other 746 GB is listed as unallocated and available but I can't do anything with it?
Why can't I combine them?

---------- Post added at 09:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:11 PM ----------

Ohhh I had to convert it to a GPT Disc for some reason, OK.

Your drive is reading within the OS as 2794.52 GB because that is its actual size in bytes. Counting on computers is done in binary (base 2), so 1 MB = 2^10 bytes kilobytes, or 1024 bytes kilobytes, and so on up through sizes.

However drives are typically marketed using the common decimal system (base 10) that we all know. Here 1 MB = 1000 kilobytes.

To be more detailed, even, the latter is technically correct for "Megabytes", "Terabytes", etc. The binary MB is technically "mebibyte", with the suggested abbreviation MiB (and tebibyte with TiB, for example). But no one really uses these abbreviations in practice, so, like, there's the potential confusion when you buy a 3TB drive and see 2.7-something TB when using your computer.

But rest assured the "~200 or so" has not disappeared. 3000 GB (3TB) in base10 = 2793.9677238464355 GiB (base2)


As to the GPT -- Until recently, most hard drives were partitioned using a Master Boot Record in Windows. I think MBR has a limit of 2 TB for partitions. So your 3TB drive had to be split into a 2 TB plus whatever else. With Windows 8, GPT was provided as an alternative/growing replacement for MBR, and it can handle larger drive sizes. So that's why you were confronted with two separate partitions/unallocated spaces that you were not able to combine until you swapped to GPT.

---------- Post added at 11:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:00 PM ----------

Oh, the part where Valve says to delete everything but Steam and the Steamapps folder -- briefly, I think what they are going for there is removal of all of the various config and helper files internal to Steam. That way when you run it in the new location it is forced to rebuild itself (and any links/registry settings it needs within Windows), but it will notice the new location and update appropriately.

By leaving the Steamapps folder unscathed, all of your games have come along for the ride already and don't need to be re-downloaded.


If you just copied everything and ran it, perhaps it would not update everything appropriately and still attempt to load games and files from the old location. I haven't done this, so I cannot sit here and claim that is what happens.


I see you on Steam now, though, so I am guessing this is all academic at this point.

---------- Post added at 11:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:17 PM ----------

Also I am still not getting how a new GPU is making your Internet browsing and/or application opening functionally slower. That strikes me as abnormal, even if another background process is in the picture.

[Solid Snake]

Thanks Synk. I'm in the process of attempting to confirm that I'm now running Steam and all my Steam games off my new drive.
...Then I'm probably just going to uninstall and reinstall Origin the 'traditional' (slower) way, since it's only two games, and I don't think my saved content will be affected.

---------- Post added at 01:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:33 AM ----------

Damn. I actually have somehow lost a few saves in the transfer process. A few games seem to have worked out just fine (Skyrim, Civ 5) and a few others retained some information but not others (Analogue: A Hate Story has a few auto-saves and has retained my cleared games bonus content, but none of my manual saves survived), while I lost practically all my progress in Bastion, which somehow had over 600 files either corrupted or missing during the transfer process.

[synkr0nized]

Oh, wow, I am very sorry to hear that. :(

[Solid Snake]

Fortunately, I have some backup data from about six or seven months ago, so in terms of lost content it's really just Transistor (strange that two games by the same company were affected; at least I had my Bastion save backed up), Analogue and some Tropico 5 data.

And, here's a bizarre addendum: I've lost all my manual Analogue save data but still have all available start conditions saved for Hate Plus? Which is...weird?

Anyway, almost done transferring and Installing stuff, I gotta do Origin later today and install a couple lingering Steam games and I'm pretty much set. (Not going to bother transferring my GOG.com games content; they're small enough not to bother with, and old enough that they probably won't benefit by being on my new, faster-loading hard drive.)

EDIT: Meant to ask. Can I link up GOG.com and/or Origin games to load from my Steam account?

[Nikose Tyris]

Fortunately, I have some backup data from about six or seven months ago, so in terms of lost content it's really just Transistor (strange that two games by the same company were affected; at least I had my Bastion save backed up), Analogue and some Tropico 5 data.

And, here's a bizarre addendum: I've lost all my manual Analogue save data but still have all available start conditions saved for Hate Plus? Which is...weird?

Anyway, almost done transferring and Installing stuff, I gotta do Origin later today and install a couple lingering Steam games and I'm pretty much set. (Not going to bother transferring my GOG.com games content; they're small enough not to bother with, and old enough that they probably won't benefit by being on my new, faster-loading hard drive.)

EDIT: Meant to ask. Can I link up GOG.com and/or Origin games to load from my Steam account?

I think yes on GOG; I know that GOG gives you steam codes at least which implies some cross-compatible friendship.

[synkr0nized]

Even if they don't have Steam codes, you can create shortcuts in Steam so that the Steam overlay will be present and your friends will see that you are in the game. I do that for several games (e.g. things from Blizzard, ArenaNet, some older games I have) so that I can still chat on Steam easily and folks can see I may be busy.

You do it from the Library screen -- click "Add a Game" at the bottom-left and then select "Add a Non-Steam Game". It will let you put a shortcut to the game that can be placed into whatever category or section of your library you want (if you use tags and the like in your Steam library), and it will use whatever name/abbreviation you give for the shortcut to report "<player> is in Non-Steam Game <game name>".

[Solid Snake]

Even if they don't have Steam codes, you can create shortcuts in Steam so that the Steam overlay will be present and your friends will see that you are in the game. I do that for several games (e.g. things from Blizzard, ArenaNet, some older games I have) so that I can still chat on Steam easily and folks can see I may be busy.

I believe I've gotten this feature to work with GOG.com games, but I can't seem to figure out how to do it with Origin content.

[synkr0nized]

Since Origin is a similar kind of application and service as Steam, it may not ever work. You could point Steam at a game, but it might just cause Origin's UI to launch anyway to then launch the game.

I do not have Origin, however, so I cannot advise directly.

[Solid Snake]

Yeah, I wouldn't bother with Origin at all if not for Bioware's titles.

(Actually debating on whether to purchase DA: O and DA2 on Origin or Steam when I purchase the PC versions.)

[Glass Pencil]

I recently went through a similar procedure with some upgrades I made to my rig. I decided to do the job thoroughly, complete drive wipes and a windows reinstall, followed by downloading everything again. Took a few hours, but it runs smooth like butter now.

As to seeing slowdown in applications being related to a video card upgrade, this strikes me as highly unlikely. Web browsing and general computing aren't terribly graphically intensive actions, its either your processor or RAM I'd assume. Not sure what other hardware you're using though.

In terms of temperature, you've got the current radeon flagship, enjoy your new room heater lol. 85 under load is fine, but that fan noise probably won't ever get better. If you feel like going crazy some day get a custom water block for it and put it underwater. the 290 is just a hot ass card though.

Also, make sure you've got an appropriate power supply to run that thing. If you just shoehorned a man-sized gpu into a petite sized rig you might be right up against the power supply operating headroom, which might possibly be causing your slowdowns, but if you're not seeing any graphic card failures or shutdowns you're probably ok.

I'd suggest running your card at performance settings though, nobody should buy a high end graphics card and the neuter it with power settings. What you need is MOAR POWER.

(invest in a nice headset, won't help your roommate any but will block out the fan noise lol)