STEAM DECK
Upgrade your Steam Deck SSD
Neil Mohr asked hardcore PC gamers Tony Polanco and Katie Wickens to upgrade a Linux device – what could possibly go wrong?
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OUR EXPERT
Neil Mohr only gets to see his Steam Deck once in a while through the sweaty grip of a six-year-old playing Lego Batman.
YOU NEED
Steam Deck
2230 NVMe SSD
Tweezers, plectrum or pry tool
PH1/0 screwdriver
8GB USB-C drive (or USB-C adaptor)
NMVe adaptor (clone option)
Before we start, a warning: opening your Steam Deck and upgrading it invalidates your warranty. You do so entirely at your own risk. Linux Format cannot be held responsible for any damage – or frankly anything ever. On a less legalese level, it is a good idea to wait until your warranty has expired, but otherwise, let’s continue!
The Valve Steam Deck has transformed
Linux into a handheld gaming success story.
While the base model is an affordable £350,
its 64GB storage is easily swamped with
even vaguely modern game installs. Sure,
you can expand it via the microSD slot, but its
speeds are much slower than internal storage.
With solid-state storage costs plummeting, the
good news is that if you don’t mind opening up your
Steam Deck (and invalidating any warranty), you can
pretty easily swap the internal storage for a 256GB NMVe 2230 drive for as little as £30, quadrupling your
storage. Many people go for 1TB but that’s about £100.
Upgrading the Steam Deck SSD might seem scary,
but it doesn’t have to put you into a spiralling panic, or
even be super-time-consuming. Before you embark on a Steam Deck SSD upgrade, the first step is figuring out whether you want to reimage your Steam Deck (easy) and start from scratch, or whether you need to fully clone (more involved) your Deck.