#+date: <2020-01-26>
#+title: Linux Gaming Tweak: Steam on NTFS Drives
#+description: 


* Auto-Mount Steam Drives

If you want to see how to install Steam on Linux, see my other post:
[[../linux-software/][Linux Software]].

Are you having trouble launching games, even though they've installed
correctly? This may happen if you're storing your games on an
NTFS-formatted drive. This shouldn't be an issue if you're storing your
games on the same drive that Steam is on, but some gamers prefer to put
Steam on their main drive and game files on another SSD or HDD.

To fix this problem, you'll need to try a few things. First, you'll need
to install the =ntfs-3g= package, which is meant for better
interoperability with Linux.

#+begin_src sh
sudo apt install ntfs-3g
#+end_src

Next, you should set up the =/etc/fstab= file to automatically mount
your drives on boot. To automatically mount your drives when the
computer boots up, you'll have to create the folders you want to mount
your drive to first. I store mine in the =/mnt= folder using names that
I'll recognize, but you can create your folders wherever you want.

#+begin_src sh
mkdir /path/to/folder
#+end_src

For example:

#+begin_src sh
mkdir /mnt/steam_library
#+end_src

To automatically mount drives upon system boot, you will need to collect
a few items. The UUID is the identification number connected to
whichever drive you're using to store Steam games.

Drives are usually labeled similar to =/dev/nvme0n1p1= or =/dev/sda1=,
so you'll need to find the line in the output of the command below that
correlates to your drive and copy the UUID over to the =/etc/fstab=
file.

#+begin_src sh
sudo blkid | grep UUID=
#+end_src

Next, you'll need your =uid= and =gid=. To find these, run the following
command:

#+begin_src sh
id -u && id -g
#+end_src

Now that you have collected the necessary information, open the
=/etc/fstab= file:

#+begin_src sh
sudo nano /etc/fstab
#+end_src

Each drive you want to mount on boot should have its own line in the
=/etc/fstab= file that looks similar to this:

#+begin_src config
UUID=B64E53824E5339F7 /mnt/steam_library ntfs-3g uid=1000,gid=1000 0 0
#+end_src

Now all you need to do is unmount your drive and re-mount it. You can
unmount the drive by doing this (be sure to use the correct drive name
here):

#+begin_src sh
sudo umount /dev/sdxX
#+end_src

You can re-mount all your drives by executing the following:

#+begin_src sh
sudo mount -a
#+end_src

If you don't know what your drive name is, or you're nervous about
unmounting and re-mounting, simply reboot your computer, and it will be
done for you automatically.