Why I Install My Steam Games on a Portable SSD

Over the years, the Steam client has become extremely flexible in managing game files, including installing games on external drives. It's as simple as connecting the drive and adding it as a library in the Storage section of Steam settings.

“But why do this?” you're probably asking, and that's why I want to introduce you to the wonders of portable SSD game storage for Steam.

Portable Gaming Freedom

I have several old SSDs that used to act as internal drives. but not suitable for my new computers because they are too slow by modern standards. This includes SATA SSDs and PCIe NVMe drives. While they may be slightly outdated for internal use, they are still fast enough to hamper a USB port, and there are plenty of games that performs no better on a fast internal NVMe drive than via USB on these older storage devices.

Photo: Sydney Lowe Butler/How-To Geek

So why let these drives go to waste? I have several gaming PCs and with portable SSDs I can move my library between them while gaming. Not to mention I can switch between different libraries on the same computer. I especially like the ability to move drives between the PDA and the main gaming laptop.

Increased speed compared to hard drives

Samsung 850 EVO SSD with M.2 SSD and SATA HDD.

Like internal hard drives versus SSDs, external SSDs many faster than internal or external mechanical drives. That's why I use USB SATA SSD like a PS4 game disc on my PlayStation 5. This is at least 4-5 times faster than the spinning rust option. Using my old NVMe drives in external enclosures, I achieved gigabytes per second transfer speeds, which is twice the speed of an internal SATA SSD, and that's enough for the vast majority of games, even some current-gen games that aren't open world and rely on streaming.

Solving the storage problem

I think this should be obvious, but if only I had enough internal drive space to store all the games I wanted to have on hand, I wouldn't need to use external drives at all. Sure, SSD prices have come down significantly, but I can't just let my old SSDs rot in a drawer with all those juicy gigabytes unused.

This is especially true for my MacBook Pro M4, which doesn't allow the internal storage to be upgraded, and also for my Lenovo Legion Go Pocket PC, which can be upgraded with a new internal SSD, but frankly, it's more trouble than it's worth at this point. Wait, I said my piece Poppy?

That's right, I like to play on my Macnose Baldur's Gate 3 And Cyberpunk 2077 installed on the main drive, half my storage is maxed out, and I have a long list of games that I love to enjoy on my ultraportable living happily on a 500GB Samsung SATA external SSD drive that was originally intended for video editing, but now that we've moved into the 4K pipeline, it's been too slow. Here's a snapshot of the games in question on Steam for Mac.

Steam makes the process simple

The only reason I've even considered using external SSDs quite extensively for Steam games is because it's all so simple and easy to do. Just add the external drive as a library in the Storage section of Steam settings and install a few games on it. Then remove and disconnect the drive, connect it to another Steam computer, and add the library again. This time, however, it will recognize and add existing games, provided they match the logged-in user's license.

Steam storage showing the contents of the SSD.

You can even take your drive to a friend's house or to any computer with Steam installed, log in with your credentials, and immediately play your games from your external drive. It's that simple.

Several compromises

Apparently it's not all about sunshine and shotguns – there's some compromises. This is why you need to be selective about the types of games you store on these drives. Anything designed for a mechanical hard drive or that doesn't list an NVMe drive as a minimum requirement should work well and, at worst, be reproducible.

It's also less elegant and convenient. Especially with pocket PCs and to a lesser extent with laptops. Additionally, you need a fast enough USB port to do the SSD justice, and if you're running your own external SSD using an enclosure, it's important to know that they're not all created equal. Extremely cheap ones can cause problems such as stuttering or slower overall transfer speeds, so do a little research before just buying the one that costs the least money.