Deleting Games From Steam/Hard Drive

PalmerEldritch · 07-23-2012, 11:02 AM

I need to delete some games to free up some space on my hard drive and so was wondering -

does following the process where you right click on a game in your steam library, go to properties then delete local game files - actually fully delete the game from your hard drive ie. do you save all the space you took up when you first installed the game? If not then what is the point of doing it? Also was wondering if your saved game files are retained although I'm not too bothered about that.

I realize this may vary from game to game. Thanks for any help.

TeKraken · 07-23-2012, 11:31 AM

Yes it will remove the game files, if in doubt do it via windows 'programs and features' (OS dependant).

Some saves are in 'my documents', there is a sticky about that in help and tips section:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...d.php?t=840657

There may be a newer version of the above but it will give you the general idea.
Also some games are cloud enabled - check the store page to check.

roguekiller2323 · 07-23-2012, 12:03 PM

yes they do delete, right click on the steam folder in your install directory (you can find out where it's installed by hovering the mouse over the steam icon, or right clicking it and selecting 'open file location' right click in the folder, proporties, this will tell you the size of the folder.

uninstall the game you wish to and then check the proporties again to see if it's been removed, sometimes steam leaves behind a load of files which you can then find and delete.

remember that windows 'system restore' can make backups of what you uninstall so you might find that you didnt clear as much space as you thought, disableing and re enabling the system restore will resolve this.

07-23-2012, 11:02 AM	#1
PalmerEldritch Join Date: Jan 2011 Reputation: 0 Posts: 5	Deleting Games From Steam/Hard Drive I need to delete some games to free up some space on my hard drive and so was wondering - does following the process where you right click on a game in your steam library, go to properties then delete local game files - actually fully delete the game from your hard drive ie. do you save all the space you took up when you first installed the game? If not then what is the point of doing it? Also was wondering if your saved game files are retained although I'm not too bothered about that. I realize this may vary from game to game. Thanks for any help.

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07-23-2012, 11:31 AM	#2
TeKraken Join Date: Nov 2011 Reputation: 4620 Posts: 6,067	Yes it will remove the game files, if in doubt do it via windows 'programs and features' (OS dependant). Some saves are in 'my documents', there is a sticky about that in help and tips section: http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...d.php?t=840657 There may be a newer version of the above but it will give you the general idea. Also some games are cloud enabled - check the store page to check.

07-23-2012, 12:03 PM	#3
roguekiller2323 Join Date: Sep 2009 Reputation: 4 Posts: 186	yes they do delete, right click on the steam folder in your install directory (you can find out where it's installed by hovering the mouse over the steam icon, or right clicking it and selecting 'open file location' right click in the folder, proporties, this will tell you the size of the folder. uninstall the game you wish to and then check the proporties again to see if it's been removed, sometimes steam leaves behind a load of files which you can then find and delete. remember that windows 'system restore' can make backups of what you uninstall so you might find that you didnt clear as much space as you thought, disableing and re enabling the system restore will resolve this.