MacBook makes me redownload the sims every time the hard drive is removed

[cbollettieri]

So every time I eject my hard drive and then put it back in, Origin makes me redownload the sims 4 (its downloaded onto the hard drive). This is extremely annoying especially considering the wifi where I live is so bad it takes nearly a whole day to redownload the game and all the packs. I just accidentally unplugged the hard drive and am currently in this situation again. What can I do to fix this?

[Bluebellflora · Accepted solution]

@cbollettieri

If it's installed on an external drive you always have to make sure you have that drive plugged in before opening Origin too.

[Bluebellflora]

@cbollettieri

It shouldn't be downloading again, but rather checking the install and repairing it. This takes time and bandwidth and aways happens after you have unplugged the drive, nothing you can do to fix it as it isn't broken, it's a verification process. The only way to stop it is to either not unplug your drive or install on your internal drive.

[cbollettieri]

That’s what it did at first, it repaired it- which I expected. But then it started downloading again. Not sure why, but I’m redownloading it onto the internal drive this time!

[Bluebellflora · Accepted solution]

@cbollettieri

If it's installed on an external drive you always have to make sure you have that drive plugged in before opening Origin too.

[gloriaheroin]

Hello, I also have the same issue for the first time after transferring my game on my external hard drive (using all the great info from this forum, thank you so much!!).

So just to make sure I understood correctly: the hard drive needs to be plugged in before opening Origin to avoid it redownloading the whole thing? Or will it happen everytime? I also have terrible wifi at home sadly, and it takes ages to redownload and I don't want to do this every time I want to play

Thank you!

[Bluebellflora]

@gloriaheroin

Yes! If you load Origin and the drive isn't plugged in it will change the game library location to the default location of ~/Applications. It will therefore find no game there so will re-download it.

[annatullie]

Hi! this problem has also been happening to me. I followed all the instructions and have it linked to my hard drive in application settings. I also created a symlink. Unfortunately every time  I open sims it redownloads the whole application as well as all of my packs instead of pulling them from my hard drive.

[Bluebellflora]

@annatullie

Can you please provide a screenshot showing the game library location in Origin and of the base game and Sims 4 Packs folder on the external drive, showing the file path at the bottom of the Finder window.

The symlink is completely separate from the game installation location and not relevant at this point.