If you’re a Linux gamer like me, you’ve probably run into this frustrating scenario: you install Steam, point it to your secondary or tertiary SSD for game storage, and everything works… until you reboot. Next time you log in, Steam acts like those drives never existed. You click through Settings → Storage, and your carefully organized game library has vanished from those drives. Rinse, repeat, rage.
After wrestling with this for a while, I found a simple, permanent fix. It takes about five minutes, and it works because it addresses the real cause of the problem. Let me walk you through it.
Why Does Steam “Forget” Your Drives?
Here’s the short version: on most Linux distributions, drives mounted under /mnt/ are considered temporary mount points. Their exact path can change between reboots, or the system might not remount them automatically at all. When that happens, Steam (and other apps) can’t find the storage location anymore — so they act as if it’s gone.
The solution? Mount your drives to a folder in your home directory (e.g., /home/yourusername/mounted drives). This gives each drive a stable, persistent path that survives reboots — and Steam will reliably see it every time.
Step-by-Step Fix: Persistent Drive Mounts for Steam
Note: I tested this on Linux Mint 22.3, but the steps are nearly identical on Ubuntu, Pop!_OS, Fedora, and most other desktop Linux distributions. The tool we’ll use — the Disks app — comes pre-installed on most major desktop environments.
1. Open the Disks App
Search your applications for “Disks” (sometimes called Gnome Disks or GNOME Disks Utility) and launch it.
2. Select the Problematic Drive
In the left sidebar, click the disk that keeps “disappearing.” If you have multiple secondary SSDs/HDDs, repeat this process for each one.
3. Open the Settings Menu
With the target disk selected, click the gear icon (⚙️) at the top-right corner of the window. This opens the drive’s configuration options.
4. Disable “User Session Default”
Look for an option labeled “User Session Default” (or similar wording depending on your distro). Uncheck/disable it. This tells the system not to use the default temporary mount behavior.
5. Create a Dedicated Mount Folder
Open your file manager or terminal and create a new folder where you want the drive to live. For example:
mkdir ~/mounted-drivesYou can name it anything you like and put it anywhere, but keeping it in your home directory (~) is simplest. (Tip: avoid spaces in the path to prevent potential permission headaches.)
6. Copy the Folder Path
Copy the full path to your new folder. For example:
/home/yourusername/mounted-drives7. Set the Mount Point in Disks
Back in the Disks app’s configuration window, find the field labeled “Mount Point” (or “Mount Path”). Replace whatever is there before the final forward slash with the path you just copied.
For example, if the default was /mnt/disk1, change it to:
/home/yourusername/mounted-drives/yourdrive(You can append a short name after the slash to distinguish between multiple drives, e.g., /home/yourusername/mounted-drives/ssd2.)
8. Save the Changes
Click OK or Apply to save the configuration. The Disks app may prompt you to authenticate with your password — that’s normal.
9. Repeat for Additional Drives
Go back to step 2 for each additional SSD/HDD you want Steam to recognize. You only need to create the parent folder once — just make a new subfolder or suffix for each drive (e.g., /home/yourusername/mounted-drives/ssd2, /home/yourusername/mounted-drives/ssd3).
10. Reboot
Restart your computer to ensure the new mount points take effect.
11. Add the Drives in Steam
Open Steam → Settings → Storage. You should now see your secondary and tertiary drives listed as available library locations. Click Add Library Folder and point it to the mount path you set up (e.g., /home/yourusername/mounted-drives/ssd2).
Done! Now when you reboot, Steam will always find your drives — and so will any other apps that need persistent access to them.
Bonus: This Fixes Other Apps Too
Because the root cause is a system-wide mounting quirk, this fix also resolves issues with:
- File managers not showing mounted drives after sleep/reboot
- Drag-and-drop operations failing from
/mnt/-mounted locations - Media players, photo managers, or game launchers (like Lutris or Heroic) that can’t reliably access files on secondary drives
No Disks App? No Problem.
Most Linux distributions include a graphical disk utility, but if yours doesn’t, search online for “how to mount drives to a folder on [your distro]” and follow those instructions to create a persistent mount point. The core principle is the same: avoid /mnt/ for anything you want to survive a reboot.
Wrapping Up
Linux gaming has come a long way, but little quirks like this can still trip us up. By giving your secondary drives a stable home outside /mnt/, you eliminate the guesswork — and Steam (plus the rest of your system) will stop “forgetting” where your games live.
Happy gaming — and may your SSDs never vanish again! 🎮💾
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