[3 Ways] How to Move Epic Games to Another Drive or A Disk
To get more free space or better performance, you can learn how to move Epic games to another drive or disk in this post. Here are 3 ways help you easily change Epic games install location without data loss.
Why do you need to move Epic games to another drive?
Epic Games is a well-known game developer with popular titles like War Machine, Bulletstorm, and Fortnite. It also operates its own game distribution platform, similar to Steam and Origin, where users can buy and download games from Epic and other publishers. By default, all Epic games install to C:\Program Files\Epic Games[Game Name].
As you install more games, your C drive may fill up, causing storage issues and frequent low-space warnings. Some users may want to stop installing the game to C drive, or also prefer to move their games to a new SSD for faster loading times and better performance. In such cases, moving Epic games to another drive, such as D, E, or F, can be a good solution.
How to move Epic games to another drive?
Epic game install location change used to be a hard job because we couldn’t simply copy the games to another location which caused boot files loss. So, in the next tutorial, you’ll learn several secure methods to do it without any data loss.
Way 1. Use a reliable to move Epic games to another drive
How do you move Epic games to another drive safely and ensure it can launch normally? Simply copying and pasting won’t work because the program won’t run after being relocated. To ensure a smooth transfer while keeping the programs functional, AOMEI Partition Assistant is the best solution.
Its "App Mover" feature lets you move multiple programs at once, detecting all related files and transferring them together. This ensures the programs will still work after the move. You can also transfer applications between drives with different file systems. With just a few simple steps, you can move or restore your programs easily.
For those running out of space on their C drive, AOMEI Partition Assistant is especially useful for moving large files like games, software, or even Steam applications to another drive or an external hard drive.
The Best Windows Disk Partition Manager and PC Optimizer
Step 1. Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant, click "Free up” then select the “App Mover” function.
Step 2. In the new window, you will see all details about the disks, the number and size of installed programs on every partition will also be displayed. Select one partition that you want to move games from and click "Next".
Step 3. Choose games or programs you want to move and select the target location, then click "Move”.
Step 4. In the new pop-up window, you need to confirm forcibly closing running applications when moving starts. Click "OK" to begin the process.
Way 2. Try 2~3% download trick
If you’re still wondering how to change Epic games install location, then, you might as well try doing some changes to the Epic launcher itself without using other tools.
Step 1. Take a backup copy of the Steam game you wish to move.
1.1 Navigate to the game’s install directory. It’s should be C:\Program Files\Epic Games\[Game Name] by default.
1.2 Copy the game’s folder to another location on your computer.
Step 2. Launch Epic. Then hit “Library”.
Step 3. Locate the game. Hit the 3-dot button by its side and click on “Uninstall”.
Step 4. Once the game is uninstalled, click on it in your Library to install it and select the new install location where you hope it to be.
Step 5. Once the download begins, wait until 2~3% gets finished, and then, hit the 3-dot button besides the game’s name and click on “Cancel Install”.
Step 6. Navigate to the new install directory you previously chose and paste the backup game folder to it. When prompted to replace any duplicate files, simply hit “Replace” to proceed.
Step 7. Restart the installation. After the files get verified, you should be capable of starting the game without any hitch.
Way 3. Use Command Prompt
If you’re a pro user, you can create a symbolic link with Command Prompt to transfer Epic games to another drive.
Step 1. Shut down Epic Games Launcher and any game that is running.
Step 2. Transfer the game’s folder to another location.
Step 3. Run Command Prompt as an administrator.
3.1 Type “Command Prompt” in the search bar on the desktop.
3.2 Right-click on the result and then, select “Run as administrator”.
Step 4. On the popup window, type the command line mklink /D “#” “*” and hit “ENTER”
Note: # refers to the original location while * refers to the new location. To make it clear, please check the following image.
Further reading: How to move Epic games to another disk
If you not only want to free up space but also seek better game performance, AOMEI Partition Assistant offers a Clone Disk feature to help you move Epic Games to a new disk. It makes an exact copy of your drive, including games, files, settings, and programs, and moves everything to a new hard drive or SSD. If you're switching to a smaller SSD, it copies only the used space.
If you need, this multifunctional software also lets you convert from FAT32 to NTFS without data loss, which is useful for upgrading your game drives. This tool saves time and effort compared to reinstalling everything manually.
The Best Windows Disk Partition Manager and PC Optimizer
Note: Before started, please ensure there is at least 1 piece of unallocated space in the target drive, if not, please delete or shrink the partition to create 1.
Step 1. Open the installed AOMEI Partition Assistant, click "Clone" in the main interface, and select "Clone Disk".
Step 2. Choose the hard disk that you need to clone as the source disk like SSD and click "Next".
Step 3. Select the destination disk to store the data on the source disk, and then click "Next".
Step 4. Then, you can check the source and destination disk in the next window or change to "Sector to Sector clone", and click the "Confirm" button to continue if there is no problem.
Here, you can also click the "Settings" button to adjust the partition size on the destination disk or tick "4k alignment" to Optimize the performance of SSD if the target disk is an SSD drive.
Tip: If you want to clone Windows to a smaller drive, the "Clone without resizing partitions" button will be greyed out. Then, a Note about how to boot OS from the destination disk will pop up. Read and keep it in mind.
Step 5. After returning to the main interface, check the pending operation and click "Apply" and "Proceed" to commit the operation.
Now, navigate to the folder where the games are and check whether those Epic games can be normally launched.
Conclusion
How to change install location Epic games? Here, I listed 3 pragmatic methods for Epic games change game install location. Each method has its own distinction and I can’t say which one is the best. As for me, I prefer way 3 – AOMEI Partition Assistant for its user-friendly and intuitive UI and fast transfer speed. Meanwhile, you can also try more features including partition split and allocation of free space.