Steam Machine · Guides
How to Free Up and Manage Storage on Steam Machine
Summary
Use Steam's storage tools first, then clean shader cache and orphaned Proton prefixes carefully. A microSD card or USB SSD is the lowest-risk expansion path.
Valve's Steam Machine page lists 512GB and 2TB models, and Valve's support guide documents the machine's microSD and external-storage paths.
The 512GB model has less usable space after SteamOS and recovery data, so large installs can consume it quickly. The exact free space depends on the current system image and the games you keep installed.
Start with Steam's own tools. Almost everything below that is optional.
Start here: Steam's storage screen
Open Settings, then Storage. Steam's storage screen shows attached drives, installed games, and a category breakdown; it is the safest place to start.
Three things you can do from this screen without touching a terminal:
Uninstall games. Obvious, but the drive-level view makes it much easier to spot the 140GB thing you finished in March.
Move games between drives. Select a game, move it to the microSD card or an external drive. No re-download.
Read the category breakdown. Games and DLC are self-explanatory. The category worth understanding is everything else, covered next.
What "Other" actually is
Steam's storage view lumps a lot into a non-game category, and on SteamOS it is usually two things: shader cache and Proton files.
This category can become large because it includes data that is not the game download itself. The exact total varies by installed games, compatibility tools, and how often you move or remove titles.
Two folders account for most of it:
``` ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/shadercache ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata ```
Shader cache
Precompiled shaders help games avoid compiling everything during play. Steam downloads them per game and hardware configuration; CryoUtilities' storage documentation describes the same shader-cache layout used by SteamOS cleanup tools.
For an installed game, deleting shader cache is normally recoverable because it can regenerate, but the next launch may stutter while it rebuilds. The only cost is that the next launch of an affected game will stutter more while it rebuilds, which is a one-time annoyance rather than damage.
Worth clearing when your drive is nearly full and you have uninstalled a lot of games recently, since cache for games you no longer own can linger.
The safer version of this is deleting cache only for games you have actually uninstalled, rather than everything. A cleanup tool does that in one click, covered further down.
Compatibility data
`compatdata` holds Proton prefixes, one folder per game, named by App ID. Each is a small synthetic Windows environment.
Treat this folder with more care than shader cache. Some games store save files inside their prefix rather than in Steam Cloud. Deleting a prefix for a game with cloud saves costs you nothing. Deleting one for a game without them can cost you your progress.
Before deleting anything here:
- Confirm the game uses Steam Cloud, or
- Copy the folder somewhere first
The Proton Experimental guide covers this in more detail, since switching Proton versions can regenerate prefixes for the same reason.
Uninstalling a game normally removes its prefix. Orphaned prefixes from games you removed long ago are the ones worth hunting.
Using the microSD slot
This is the highest-value move on a 512GB machine, and it costs far less than the jump to the 2TB model.
The slot is UHS-I, so it is meaningfully slower than the internal NVMe. That difference is the whole strategy: what you put where matters more than how much you move.
Keep on internal storage: anything with frequent loading screens, fast-travel-heavy open worlds, or visible texture streaming. Large shooters and open-world RPGs feel the drive speed most.
Move to microSD: indie titles, 2D games, slower-paced games, and anything you have finished but want to keep installed. Most cozy and pixel-art games will not notice.
Valve's support guide is the reference for formatting and using the machine's removable storage. Format the card through Steam's Storage screen rather than externally so SteamOS applies its expected layout.
Moving a game later is non-destructive, so treat this as adjustable rather than permanent.
External USB drives
Steam Machine is a desktop-shaped device with USB ports, so external drives work as they would on any PC. Add them as a Steam library through the Storage screen.
Two things to know:
USB enclosure speed varies enormously. A good USB SSD can outperform the microSD slot comfortably. A cheap USB hard drive will be slower than both.
If you share a drive with a Windows PC, the filesystem matters. Steam libraries on SteamOS want a Linux-friendly filesystem, and NTFS support brings complications that are not worth fighting for a games library.
What about replacing the internal drive
PC Gamer's hardware report describes Steam Machine's accessible M.2 storage design. Treat that report as hardware context, not a replacement for the current Valve service or warranty guidance.
I would not treat community reports about supported form factors as settled. Check Valve's own documentation for the specific size and capacity before buying anything, and understand the warranty implications first. This is the one item on this page where getting it wrong costs real money.
For most people the microSD route achieves the same goal for a fraction of the cost and none of the risk.
Cleanup tools
Optional, and genuinely useful once the manual options are exhausted.
CryoUtilities' Storage Manager can delete shader cache and compatibility data for selected games and clean orphaned data. It is a convenience layer over filesystem operations, not a Valve-supported storage service.
If you use any tool that relocates cache or prefixes, understand where the data lives before moving a game. A missing or unmounted target can prevent a title from launching.
Use a tool like this when you want the uninstalled-games cleanup done safely in bulk. It is a convenience layer over things you could do by hand, not a different capability.
The symlink trick, and why to skip it
An older community approach moves `shadercache` and `compatdata` to a memory card and symlinks them back to their original location, so SteamOS keeps finding them while the space is freed.
A symlink can make an entire library depend on a removable device and is harder to troubleshoot than Steam's own move operation. Unless you have a tested recovery plan, use Steam's move tools or a documented cleanup utility instead.
A sensible order
- Uninstall what you have finished. Free, instant, reversible by re-downloading.
- Add a microSD card and move slower-paced games to it.
- Clear shader cache for uninstalled games.
- Clean orphaned compatibility data, after checking cloud save status.
- Consider an external USB SSD if you want speed as well as space.
- Only then think about the internal drive.
Most people never get past step two.
What is confirmed and what remains unknown
Valve documents the Steam Machine storage options and the built-in storage workflow. The cache paths and cleanup guidance above are based on SteamOS conventions and the CryoUtilities project. Exact free-space totals, game-specific shader sizes, and warranty outcomes after internal-drive work depend on the current system build and your hardware configuration.