How to Move Non Steam Games from HDD to SSD without Reinstalling?

Learn how to move non steam games from HDD to SSD without unloading and reinstalling and make sure it can perform smoothly.

Posted by @Lucas December 17, 2024 Updated By @Lucas May 12, 2023

Why do players move non Steam games from HDD to SSD?

Although Steam has already occupied most of the resources of the market, there are still lots of games controlled by the game company or other platforms. Blizzard and Origin-EA still possess some of their original games like Overwatch, Diablo series, Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare… and Microsoft has Minecraft. Meanwhile, many players are constantly searching for other amazing non-Steam games.

With more and more games installed on the computer, the old hard drives are gradually getting overburdened, which can cause the PC to slow down or even freezing. Moreover, some people install their games in C drive, this even makes things get worse.

Therefore, a new SSD is so attractive that it can not only provide better and smooth playing, but a faster speed of reading and writing compared with HDD, and, of course, more storage to save more games.

How to move non Steam games from HDD to SSD?

For Steam users, luckily, Steam has its own supporting guide to help players move installed games. You can find relevant content by searching in “General Troubleshooting” of Steam.

However, things are not that simple for non-Steam game players. In most cases, high-quality PC games will take up an amount of space on disk, and they will produce more and more data files during the play and update.

Since SSD is a great improvement for gaming, thus, we will list two methods about move non Steam games from HDD to SSD, meanwhile, keep them perform smoothly as before.

1. Move via Windows Settings

Actually, you can move your programs and games by Apps & Features in Windows Settings. You can try this method at first. There are detailed steps:

Step 1. Press “Windows” and “I” at the same time to open Settings, or click Start > Setting.

Step 2. Click “Apps”, then you will see all your installed programs and games in the “Apps & features” list.

Step 3. Select the game you wish to move, click “Move”, select your SSD to save the game, and click “Move” to confirm.

Warning: This method is not suitable for all games you want to move. You may only move games download from Microsoft Store.

2. Move via App Mover tool

If you are the one who has failed to move your games with the Settings, then the second method can save you. Due to so many unknown limits, many users can’t move their games by Windows Settings when they right-click their game in the “Apps & features” list, the “Move” option is gray out

How do I move non Steam games from HDD to SSD? Don’t worry! AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional will help you move your games safely and effortlessly. Its powerful “App Mover” function can move installed programs and games without reinstalling, no matter how big is it, no matter whether it comes from Microsoft Store. Let’s safely move your games with this convenient tool!

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Step 1. Install and run 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.

AOMEI Partition Assistant can also help you deeply clean large files from your PC to release more free space.

In this article, we show 2 ways about how to move non-Steam games from HDD to SSD to pursue a better experience of your games. As mentioned above, indeed, Windows Settings can move games, but there is a risk of failure. But, with AOMEI Partition Assistant, you can move the installed games and programs with simple steps, and make them run successfully. What’s more, you can also use this handy tool to move OS to another hard drive.