Have you run out of room on drive C for your games? Is your life in need of saving?
What you need is a program called " Link Shell Extension". It's super easy to use, and with it you can move anything ( that can be moved) from anywhere to anywhere, and it will still be found by whatever is looking for it. It does this by creating a 'Symbolic Link" in the place you moved the file from. The link itself has no size, and is only a glorified shortcut.
I moved all my games and most other programs to drive E some time ago and it works seamlessly, I've never had a problem.
NOTE; In some of the links given below the directions given make it sound more complicated than it really is. On the download page scroll down the directions page until you come to " SymbolicLink with
Vista and Windows7/8/10 ", this is the one I used, not the "Junction" or anything else.
How I did it;
1. Copy and paste the folder you moving to where you want it.( eg. "Bethesda Softworks/Fallout 3" from drive C to Programs (or whatever) drive E.
2. Remove "Bethesda Softworks" completely from drive C folder.
3. Right click on the new drive E "Bethesda Softworks" folder and select "Select Link Source".
4. Go back to where "Bethesda Softworks"
' was located in drive C, in this example; C:\Program Files (x86). Right click inside this folder and and go to "Drop As" ....left click "Symbolic Link". and you are done.
You should now have a link with a blue shortcut arrow and the same name as the moved folder. Try a test on a small folder with files before doing anything significant to make sure you are doing it right. As always do a backup in case something is not right.(Don't rename the folder, or you are in trouble).
http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/linkshellextension.html
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/complete-guide-to-symbolic-links-symlinks-on-windows-or-linux/
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/294557-32-guide-move-software-games-drive-reinstalling
https://youtu.be/Ej7RPaA0Qbg
https://youtu.be/ujDJcDRdZxg
Comments
I did that with the USERS folder as soon as I got my current machine. Programs get installed on the C: drive (SSD) for fast loading, but saves etc. automatically go to D: (regular HDD)
Games that insist on putting everything - code and data - in one folder, get installed to D;/Games, so that the protection of the Program Files folder doesn't cause pain. Newer games are less likely to do so, but having a separate Games folder also helps when upgrading, as you can often just copy that folder across to the new hardware.
I moved virtually everything; My Docs game files, and all Program game files. I didn't notice any difference in load times, though most of my games are so heavily modded, they take a bit of time to load anyways. Insofar as gameplay goes, the best one I have to gauge speed is Skyrim, and it runs at a steady 60fps.