Some advice for anyone out there about to make the same dumb mistake I did. If you have a micro SD card inserted, take it out before doing this. Everything in the video went fine until after reimaging and noticing the SD card storage wasn't there. It had somehow slightly ejected and after snapping the back in place it also snapped my micro SD card in half. Getting that other half out of the micro SD slot was not a fun time.
I ordered the 64gb version with the intention of upgrading down the road. The upgrade itself looks pretty straightforward! Thank you for this video showing the 64gb model
me too. I actually think I will be quite satisfied with a 64GB and a 512GB SD card. And if the need for larger/faster internal storage arises (several years down the line), well then perhaps 1TB or even 2TB 2230 drivers will be as cheap as 512GB is today. :)
You may need to upgrade sooner than you think, reports are that even with everything being installed on an sd card, the shader cache for each game automatically goes on to the internal memory. Lots of people stating they have 4/5 games downloaded on their sd card and their internal memory is full without having a single game installed on it
Have been using a 500GB SD card with my Deck and it's been working well. Load times are good. But, having the option to change internal components is good too and should be available.
Just upgraded mine with the Micron 512gb. Literally took minutes great guide took me longer to find my screwdrivers than do it. I would advise everyone to be really careful with the power connector if you slip you can possibly damage the mobo. I used the pointy end of a guitar pick and carefully pushed the wide end. There is a ridge you can locate it in. Thanks for the video
@@gjwestonable I've heard a few reports of people switching out the SSD, beginning goes okay but in the middle of the reimage, their steam deck dies and never turns on again. Some of them smelled smoke, sounds like they did everything correctly but nobody could figure out the issue. They all sent them back to valve for repair and none of the technicians could find the root of the problem. I wonder if this is the issue.
@@crazierthorn10 it's very possible. My deck used to reset if you tapped the back. I would take it apart and the fault went away. I then noticed the really thin cable was under the shield. I couldn't see a break. I was very lucky. Since moving the cable it's worked perfectly.
Thank you very much for this guide. As far as I can tell this is the best on RU-vid. I watched a bunch before this one. The specifics you cover are spot on. I was able to upgrade my 64gb eMMC to a 1 TB SSD easily. Performance difference is very noticeable. I went with a SABRENT Rocket 2230 NVMe 4.0 1TB and it works flawlessly.
I just wanted to say thank you for this Video. I’m a trucker that loves to game Steam Deck was a no brainer but with your video I got 1tb nvme and 1tb as card. You made it easy.
Thank you so much! I was so scared to do this, but your guide was perfectly detailed and was incredibly comforting to follow along with. Now I've got a 1tb ssd and a 1tb sd! :D
I ordered the 512GB first then realized its such an easy upgrade and ordered the 64GB instead and upgraded to 512 GB by following this video. Saved about 225! Thanks!
@@Gamespotfan1 I know for a fact that that only let you pre-order one and you couldn't change it until after it was released. After that you'd be in q4+. So you're lying. Please don't do that. It just makes you look silly to those informed. I know I ordered a second one.
@@cgwworldministries83 ummm you do know that you can make a second account with a different email and shipping address right? Maybe you should stop being so sure of yourself? Also, I didn't mention did I, when did I put in my original order or my new one? So you'll be the one assuming that I just put it in? I just replied to this video saying thanks that it was an easy instructional video, not that I placed an order after I saw this video
I've got my 64GB Steamdeck arriving this week and was hoping to find a basic tutorial to be able to swap out the eMMC drive. This tutorial is perfect, thank you! Have a sub :)
@@kyrinky definatly upgrade internal even if it just 256 gb nvme you upgrade to . I got 64 gb and withing a month I had no room due to shaders so I had to upgrade internal .
Thank you so much. I upgraded my steam deck. Advice to others doing it, make sure your deck is full loaded before. The OS reimagine took about half an hour for me (it goes up to around 6 GB installing)
Tip: cover exposed PCB with some paper and tape to hold it in place while removing and installing screws. After unplugging battery hit the power button for 10 seconds to ensure capacitors are fully discharged. They are tiny screws that you will drop at least once.
Probably should make it clear not to tape directly to PCB. Cover the left/right side with long sheets of paper cut to fit width wise and wrap them around taping to front of device. Blue painters tape is good about not leaving residue.
Thanks for the video. I switched my pre-order from the most pricey to the 64GB myself. I hear the MicroSD cards are nearly as fast as the built in storage anyway if you buy a decent card. I will pop the trunk and do what you've done here if need be down the road. Thanks for this video.
@@R.L._Stine_88 Oh, I'm still waiting. I have gotten to place the order though. My buddy had ordered the 512 and got it last week about 5 days after ordering. I am not a power gamer. I bet, with a memory card, I'll be fine with the smaller storage for a while. I will look to upgrade at some point in the near future though.
The only real problem with the 64 gigs model is that it fills up incredibly fast with shader caches from games. So even if you have a 1tb sd card you will be very limited on the number of games you can install. I upgraded my 64 gigs model after just one week because with only 5/6 games installed the internal storage was already full! Luckily it is very easy to upgrade and even with 256 gigs you should be good for a very long time.
In hindsight, a removable door with easy access to the SSD via a single screw would have been a nice feature for the deck. People who don't care would never be bothered by it and people who want to upgrade wouldn't have to void the warranty. Also makes replacing a dead/malfunctioning SSD easier because you don't have to disassemble your Deck.
At least in the US, it does not void your warranty at all. Pretty much any warranty void if removed sticker is not legally binding, not that the steam deck has one of those anyways.
Its honestly the way to go, the only real reason I would see getting the 512 gig version is for that etched glass screen & not have to worry about upgrading the storage right off the bat. I love tinkering and know linux really well so I got the 64gb version and upgrade it myself when I get mines in Q3.
@@cameronsharp2022 It is possible to buy the matte screen from iFixIt and install it in a different model other than the 512gb. It's not easy but it's possible.
🤦♂️ I totally forgot to remove the battery because I got all excited when I saw the m2… So far, the steam deck *seems* fine? Praying it keeps being fine lol. Great guide!! And to everyone else reading don’t forget to remove the battery, I’ll try not to forget next time lol
So far the SSD is working, and I removed the MicroSD before doing anything else thankfully… so far the deck is still ok! Yeah it seems like a pain but… better safe than sorry? Lol I kinda get why the video recommends it, when you’re handling the deck if you’re not careful your fingers might hit the power button accidentally? I hit the volume button a few times while it was disassembled and had a few mini heart attacks lol
it's **so easy** thanks for the tutorial, needed confirmation that the shield was wrapped around the m.2 chip even on the 64GB eMMC and you have confirmed what I needed to know. I'm supposed to be getting mine tomorrow, and I am going to slab a 1TB into the internal and another 1TB in the microSD slot. SO READY HNNNNGGGGH
@@djdeznyc for micro SD Card SanDisk Ultra 1tb (Cheap, 140€, good read speed but bad write speed) or the SanDisk Extreme 1tb (220€, good read and write speeds). the Samsung Evo Plus 512gb SD Card has really good read&write speeds for cheap 55€.
Thank you for this guide. I saw some other asshole go through the whole thing of installing the ssd but didn’t show the software side of things. Thank you sir.
Yea I thought $250 extra for a 512gb SDD was a little steep so that why I got the 64 gb verison. I planned on just using micro SD cards but finding out I cod upgrade the hard drive was just the cherry on the cake! It's good they didn't announce this until after pre-orders went live or I'd probably be Q3 or more instead of Q2!
This is cool, and I was planning on doing this when I ordered the steam deck a year ago. But now that I have it - in the intervening year there are fast as hell micro sd storage. It's just not worth the teardown for what is only minor improvement over what can be had now. Still, cool as heck and thank you for the video
Great guide, doing mine right now. I've been putting it off because I read some horror stories on Reddit. Some people were done with the hardware part, and in the middle of reimaging their deck, it powered off, and never turned on again...this happened to a few people in this group. They all sent their steam decks back to valve for repair, and none of the technicians could determine a cause. I'm guessing there was some type of short...either they used a double sided 2230 drive, or didn't insert their power cable back in correctly, or some wire was crossed or something. Looks very straightforward in your video though. I'm glad you put in the part about holding down the power button after disconnecting the battery, I'm wondering if this step was missed by the people with the short, and there was some latent power in the deck or something weird. Anyways, wish me luck! Not a big upgrade going from 64gb to 128, but my deck is literally out of storage and I don't even have any games installed on the emmc drive. Hopefully this solves my issue. Thanks again!
How'd it go? I constantly heard it was super easy everywhere until very recently seeing all the horror stories and now Im getting nervous to do it when my Deck arrives lol.
Anyone trying to see desktop come up after inserting USB, please know it took about 5-10 minutes for me to see the desktop. YMMV, I was using PNY usb 3 drive, one end with a regular USB connector and another with a USB C connector in a same drive.
Thank you m8!! Im in fact considering changing to that precise SSD, i was wondering did you notice time improvment? like in downloads and loadings overall? Im not sure if that one being so cheap will have the same speed as the high tier NVME that the other models bring, what are you thoughts on that? Subbed and liked :D thank you!
This is exactly why I bought the cheapest model, as they make -anti-glare screen protectors, so I saw ZERO reason to grab the 512 model. As stated, this is pretty much saving $200 which I could put to some Steam purchases, or maybe even a 512 micro SD card. So for pretty much what the $530 256gb model cost, I can upgrade the SSD & the SD card on my 64gb for just about the same cost, and I'll have 1tb to show for my troubles, not to shabby. And I'll still have 64gb emmc drive I can use elsewhere or sell off, not bad for what amounts to the cost of the middle tier Valve offering(with 4x more memory). I'm guessing Gabe and his crew was thinking the same, as they were all shocked the 512gb model was the best seller, as most PC guys I know would never pay so much extra for something they could do themselves.
@@dylandetaeye And your the exact person Valve didn't see coming, which is cool as well. Changing out the memory isn't normally my cup of tea either, as I've built 2 PC's in my life and 1 of them I never even used. The fact that some bought the best model without much thought to changing the memory shows they got some console types or consumers they didn't think they would, and that's good for all of us.
The "Exclusive Steam Community Profile Bundle" is kinda attractive to me. But I have no idea whether I can get it with an upgraded 64GB machine. So I'm still hesitating
One thing that I was unclear on: when going into boot menu, HOLD the volume down button and CLICK the power button, then let go of the volume down button at the chime. Had me worried because I wasn’t getting the boot menu holding down the power button.
Interesting watching this to remind myself where everything was (been a while since I have done mine) and my sons which I just got has a number of layout differences in the fan, motherboard (and heatsink) and the shield over the mobo.
So here is my experience in case someone runs into what I did. For me to boot, I had to press and hold the power and minus and let go of the POWER button instead of the minus to boot into BIOS, pick my drive and start the recovery process.
I also went with the 64GB version and bought a 512Gb nvme for 70€.. i first looked for micro sd card but it costs almost the same so it doesn’t make sense to me..
Hello, im kind of new to these SSDs here. Why do most ssds i found in my local stores are slightly bigger than the one showed in the video or the deck’s? I would appreciate an answer.
@@harolrvez7124 just look for nvme 2230 its compatible with the steam deck.. 2230 means 22mm wide and 30mm long.. i guess you find the most common 2280 which is 80mm long.. the 2230 nvme is a bit rare but you’ll find it online..
I did this on a brand new 64 GB version and did it all when the battery was empty thinking that was safer when taking it apart. I then went to install the OS while it was charging forgetting that it was charging using the same USB C port that I needed to install the OS..... Not a big deal, but just add an extra hour of waiting if you do the same that I did.
Thx for your video. Quadrupled my internal for $19 with a 256GB SSD off eBay, lol. Got 1TB on the SD. Still not enough space but it is ok for now. Just waiting for those 2TB 2230 size Micron 2400 M.2 SSDs to launch soon, probably under Crucial brand.
And there are a few companies working on 2TB microSDs as well. About 3.7TB total space since manufacturers market a byte as 1000 rather then the correct 1024.
Thanks for the video tutorial 👍however when I changed my SSD to 1 TB capacity, I lost my micro SD card library! yet the games are still in the micro SD card, do you have an idea to display the lost library ?
Man I recently did this with a 1tb ssd, not super hard, but I wouldnt do it again in a hurry. Idk if it was my screw driver being shite, but the screws on the metal plate inside(top & bottom) are a fking pita to remove. Both got stripped, i needed to use small pliers to turn them. The amount of cracking & shit dismantling the plastic casing gave me a heart attack aswell.
I reserved a 256GB model in mid February. Now I'm wondering if I should cancel and get the 64GB version. How many months do you think that would delay me getting my deck?
@@HawkBoss If you are in US or EU at least it only voids the warranty if your device is damaged by you, so replacing the ssd and not breaking anything is fine
It took forever to my Steamdeck to load the slow ass usb pendrive. If you are using an old usb drive, just give it some time to steamdeck load the files (you will be stuck in a black screen for a while). Otherwise, use a decent usb drive like the author did in this video.
But they said you can't replace the 64gb EMMC by a nvme SSD when they first presented the Steam Deck back then... They said it's not possible to upgrade the 64gb version... I guess they changed their stance...
thanks for the tutorial, only one issue, nobody says anything about that sometimes it will not boot onto the usb stick from the first try, i am trying my second time now. it only shows the mouse arrow on a black screen for a few minutes now. hope it will work.
Is disconnecting the battery absolutely required? How about running the battery down to zero instead? I've had bad luck with breaking these battery flap/connections in other handhelds in the past
I'd advise to just be gentle and take your time with the battery cable. Perhaps only use plastic tools. In this very video you'll notice he didn't rush to remove the cable. Personally, I'd never skip the step of cutting of the power source in a hardware swap. It's simply too quick and easy of a preventative measure.
I waited days for my 50$ kioxia from ebay to arrive and when it does i fucked up the last screw on the backplate and was unable to remove it. After hours and hours of trying everything from oil to rubber bands the black plate popped off and i saw the plastic ring that held the screw broke lol time to buy a new back plate and screw set. Note for people who want to try this: get a 000 philips.
