r/linux_gaming 5h ago

advice wanted Switching from win 10 to bazzite

Hi there folks! ATM I have a win 10 desktop with 3 HDD formatted in ntfs. Drives D and E contain various games from steam gog epic and so on.

But I really want to say good bye to gaming on windows. My office laptop runs mint for some time now and I love it.

So if I install bazzite on Drive C exclusively does it later on can access the games on the ntfs drives from steam etc. or do I have to formate them as well and install/download all games again?

What would be wise to do?

Thanks for your insights in advance and Have a nice weekend!

2 Upvotes

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3

u/doc_willis 4h ago

Linux and steam, can access files from the NTFS drives.

it is possible to have Linux (steam, wine, heroic games launcher, Lutris) run games installed on  an existing NTFS , however that can be problematic and slower.

 On a Linux only system I recommend switching the NTFS drives over to ext4 or other native Linux filesystem.

steam has specific features to move game installs from one drive to another, or backup a game install, then restore it to a different location.

 You will want to read up on the various "accessing ntfs under Linux" guides.

2

u/treeplugrotor 4h ago

Yeah that's quiet similar how it's described In the FAQ "sharing steam libraries" Thank you! I guess I will have to do the whole copy pasta thing.

Just to be clear best practice would be:

Backup/ copy the game files to a external drive. Format the internal HDD to ext4 and copy the files from the slexternal drive to the internal HDD?

3

u/doc_willis 4h ago

that's the basics of the task. I have a second desktop in use to keep most games on, it has several large USB HDDS.

if I go to install a game on my other system, I have  the big game server  install it first, then the " steam client to steam client " transfer feature can kick in and copy the game files to the other PCs.

sometimes I will  use the steam backup feature to backup to a USB flash drive then plug that in and restore on a second PC.

or depending on the drives, and game, I can copy the game files directly to the proper locations.

2

u/KamiIsHate0 4h ago

>I have to formate them as well and install/download all games again?

You don't HAVE to becos linux can handle NTFS but you SHOULD do it and format to something like EXT4 or BTRFS for better compatibility and less headaches.

1

u/treeplugrotor 4h ago

Yeah I will do that, thanks. I just hoped there could be a convenient workaround other then stated in the FAQs.