If you install Steam on your SSD, but don't want to put your games there, you can create a symbolic link for the steamapps folder. It essentially creates a "shortcut" that allows you to put the physical folder in a separate place. I just installed Steam completely on another drive though.
Thank you, thank you, thank you so much! I use a program that insists on storing 25+GB of data in the 'C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore' location and I wanted it to be moved to another location. Never thought of looking up
this as a possible feature. (Although I knew Windows supports it since that is how the Documents/Videos/Music etc. folders work)*
For the OP, copying your Steamapps folder will work great. When you launch the actual games,
most games will insist on redownloading various runtime files (VC++, DirectX etc.) and may take a few seconds to create registry entries etc. But yeah, it should be fine.
*If you must know what program, it's
this one. Never actually read any of the articles, I just use it for general amusement to look at 40 years worth of print ads.