I currently use Steam, GOG, Big Fish, and have some games from Shiny Loot. I have games downloaded, some of which I've played and some I have not yet played. Let's say I have a hard drive problem and need to replace it. (Just looking ahead.) What happens to those games? If those sites show that I already have the games downloaded I would not be able download them again right? But I also wouldn't be able to uninstall them because they wouldn't show on my new hard drive right?

Thanks.

I have games on Steam and GOG. I bought a new computer I reinstalled Steam and all my games showed up... but you then have to download them again onto your new computer... same thing with GOG.

All those sites allow you to redownload.
You just have to log in to access your account.
Steam and Big Fish will require you to have their clients installed.

OK, but if I have not Uninstalled them from an old computer (or a dead hard drive) will they show up available for download on a new computer (or a replaced hard drive) or will they show that they are already downloaded (because they had never been Uninstalled?

Can one game be downloaded to 2 different computers at the same time?

On GOG's site:
https://www.gog.com/support/website_help/downloads_and_games


The situation is probably similar with ShinyLoot, as long as you get a game from them that is labelled "DRM-free." They also sell games which are not DRM-free, and those might have limited activations depending on the publisher agreement. From ShinyLoot
http://www.shinyloot.com/faq


Steam will probably track installations with their client software.
However they don't limit the number of times you can download and install. They just need to know that it's you downloading, and if you download using a computer on the other side of the world from your usual computer, they will get suspicious.

Big Fish allows multiple installs on multiple computers. I've never heard of anyone having a problem redownloading from them as long as their client was working properly.

You should look at the FAQ on the site you're interested for details.

also oldbroad if you want to save yourself a lot of hassles and if you don't own an External Hard Drive, now would be a good time to get one, they are relatively cheap now and you could do an Entire Image Backup of your Hard Drive, this way should your HD crash you can then use your EHD to transfer all your OS and games, etc. to your New HD.

OK, thanks for the info!

Actually, I'm getting a second computer soon so (hopefully)I'll be able to test out the one scenario.

So, since my 2nd computer is hooked up with my 1st computer through a router, the Steam games that are already installed on computer 1 will stream to computer 2 if I have Steam open on both computers. If Steam is not open on computer 1 or the computer is off, it appears I can download those same games to computer 2. I thought I would have to uninstall them first from computer 1 but I guess not.

I did hold my breath for quite some time while entering in the 3 different codes I had to enter before Steam let me in to my account. Whew.