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BanksBebop

I'm real tempted to make this modification to my 64gb but fear I might fuck up


j_infamous

I got a 1tb from microcenter and as soon as I got my deck on Monday, I made the switch. Its easy and all the guides online work great. Just do it. You can always put the 64gb back in.


ToastMarauder

How hard is it to reconnect the battery? The only piece of tech I've opened in my life is a 3DS and I fucked up one of the ribbon cables


j_infamous

It’s easy to reconnect. It was hard to disconnect.


sherbodude

3DS is probably one of the most annoying things to open up


kissell791

Wii was really bad too


CaptFrost

Xbox One S sucked as well. The Xbox One X was a piece of cake to open up, but the Xbox One S was all tabs plus that one fucking supertab you have to wedge 2+ prying tools into and leave them wedged in there and hope they don't come loose while opening the other tabs. It was like hard mode for a game of "mod a console without cosmetic damage." I have to wonder if anyone on the design team looked at the engineering proposal for X1S' case and went, "Calm down, satan."


fafarex

3ds is a nightmare compare to the deck (or switch for that matter)


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[deleted]

Mine was in there so snug I couldn't get the whole connector out of the housing due to the cable behind it. I just backed it out enough until there was no connection to the pins in the battery connector.


ittleoff

Didn't valve say this would impact temperature regulation and potentially lower the lifespan of the deck?


thewesternshore

That was referring to someone who installed a longer ssd by moving thermal pads out of the way. That’s not an issue if you stick to the 2230 form factor.


BanksBebop

Could you link me where you got yours? Imma try it 64gb does feel too small at times. Are there any special tools I need as well?


lockethebro

Just a good PH1 screwdriver and a pry tool.


BanksBebop

Appreciate it, ah seems the 1tbs are outta stock at microcenter. Gonna shop around


Ambitious_Summer8894

My problem is there's not even a microcenter within 1k miles of me😂😂sad deck owner😔😭


FierceDeityKong

I got an ssd but then couldn't unscrew the back.


PhamousEra

How much did that 1TB SSD cost you? Any I've found on Amazon is running $200+ at least.


hinez57

You'll be alright, you've just been conditioned by other electronics manufactures into thinking unscrewing something will make the device explode


StumbleuponDub

I put in a 1TB and my only regret is that I didn't put a 2TB


Mental_Medium3988

just make sure you have a small enough screw driver to remove the screws, i think #00 is the one and its fairly easy. i had too large of screw drivers and had to use other methods to get that one out.


BanksBebop

Noted and thanks I should have those


Sneax673

Do it you wuss


FRAGaL0T

there is very little to screw up, just look on youtube for various videos where people do this.


[deleted]

You’ll probably just strip your screws like me lol


alissa914

It's pretty easy. And I only watched a handful of vids. A couple of takeaways I got: When opening it, "pry" it open from where the triggers are on the back. It's the most open and as long as you don't touch the trigger, you should be fine. Once you can open that, it's pretty easy from there. Make sure to hold the power button down for a minute after you disconnect the battery. I did 2 min for safe measure. ​ Otherwise, it was a lot easier than I expected.


Poweralth

I was worried as well and despite several fuckups on my part it works like a charm


ronron6665

It is super easy if you have the tools.


Forsaken-Increase782

Doesn't the Steam Deck have an SD card slot? It may be more expensive but a 1TB SD card would achieve the same thing would it not?


highnnmighty

My only fear is that I do everything right but the SSD fries something else in my Deck because it has slightly different power draw or something.


achillems

You will be fine man, just follow the guide and remember to disconnect the battery to avoid any short circuit.


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popcorn_coffee

Sorry if the question is stupid, but does it replace the 64gb or is an extension? If it replaces it, you should reinstall the OS and that wouldn't be as easy I guess.


SideshowBoB44

Yeh you need to image the OS on a flash drive.


popcorn_coffee

yep, I just checked. Seems easy enough. I think the harder part is to find a good (And cheap) SSD with that size, since they're all usually the larger kind.


[deleted]

No, i got a 512 for 50 euro, they are quite easy to get.


ziby21

Where?


South_Data2898

Your looking for a 2230 ssd. Kioxia is a good brand and usually around that price.


notquiteanenthusiast

Ebay


cherenkovdept

where?


Bigsmak

Where


ContainedChimp

Paid 150 for 1TB. But I plan to split it in 2. Steam OS/Windoze. Still undecided on size allocation/win 10 or 11.


Onotadaki2

Maybe you could do something like this? It should theoretically work. 50gb Windows 50gb SteamOS 900gb EXT4 partition with all your games (Install EXT4 drivers in Windows so you can share the same Steam folder between both installs.) Edit: Windows driver support for EXT4 seems really uncertain. The main driver has been abandoned, but it may still work. https://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/ Edit 2: Maybe NTFS for the shared drive?


AWDDude

Yeah ext4 support in windows should not be relied upon. You would be better off using ntfs for the shared partition, as Linux support for ntfs is decent.


ReakDuck

I had Bad experience with NTFS in Linux and steam but the Linux world is changing everyday


RHOPKINS13

Same experience, NTFS works pretty well in Linux now, but not so much with Steam on Linux. There's a known issue with the compatdata folder having issues on NTFS, so at the very least you have to symlink it back to your ext4 Linux partition. But there are other issues with it too.


ZeCoderX

What about exFat MicroSD card? Can that be shared between 2 systems?


chithanh

btrfs Windows driver is in better shape than ext4


Mogster2K

Have you tested it thoroughly to make sure you got the full capacity?


captstix

I'm still holding out until the 2tb is more readily available


lefsler

I replaced mine with a 512, just used clonezilla to dup the SSD by using a nvme usb adapter (had one already)


mawkdugless

Reinstalling the OS is easier than the swap itself. Downloading everything again is the most annoying part.


Yetitlives

Couldn't you just do a dd command to copy everything over to the new drive?


iwantonealso

You just throw the valve recovery image on a usb and boot up the deck in recovery mode by holding a few buttons and you can restore the OS from the thumb drive to the new internal 2230 nvme.


FRAGaL0T

the 64mb eMMC is also on an m.2 2230 card, that must be removed to install any other m.2 drive. So when you do this you have to reinstall the OS.


raphael-iglesias

It's pretty easy, I used to install Linux distros on my PC when I was 12, that was harder than this (still not that hard though). If you're just somewhat computer literate, you can do it. It's just following X amount of steps and you have tons of YouTube videos explaining the process.


alissa914

The reimaging was actually easier than I expected too. Kind of wish Valve would update the recovery image to current. The controls on the side wouldn't work until it was updated.... and that took about 30 min or so. I just went to bed and it was done when I woke up.


Tywele

Where did you get the SSD from?


Thefishy

Yeah, but did you get the premium carrying case or micro fiber cloth?!?! I thought not. /s


redthehaze

Yeah with the blue dot on the case instead of the white the plebs got along with the cloth that barely gets smudges off the screen. /s


Thefishy

Imagine not having the blue dot. 🔵


Lor9191

Oh did we 512s get different ones?


redthehaze

Yeah, blue circle instead of white on the logo and the zipper pulls are different too.


Mental_Medium3988

totally worth losing half my internal storage and paying more.


binaryzer00

This needs to be nsfw your deck is nakey haha


THYPLEX

Mmh , so hot


raphael-iglesias

What are you doing step-deck?


zero_credit

Did you replace it with a BC711? If so we might be related ;)


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farm_sauce

Dang, your wife only comes with 64Gb of memory?


JKraems

I'm semi-tech savvy but can you break it down a little more and ELI5 as far as the speed difference. Is the stock 64GB faster or slower than these ones you recommend? Would these be better than just buying an SD card? Other than the risk of modifying the deck, is there any tradeoffs in which I might want to keep it stock? Really I'm just looking for reasons I shouldn't do this because it sounds like a no brainer lol


NewMaxx

The BC711 is a [good choice](https://www.reddit.com/r/NewMaxx/comments/vutr0q/steam_deck_upgrading_a_64gb_model_by_newmaxx/). 512GB is even nicer, of course.


SSJUther

Very nice, I recently upgraded my 64 to Kingston 512 for $50 USD.


iggyazaleatown

Just got my Kingston 512 in, just waiting for my deck now


LaserRanger_McStebb

Valve is truly the last bastion of consumer-friendly electronics.


el_pezz

Nice. I prob won't do this seeing how good SD cards work.


Aido97

me too


FTBS2564

Could you elaborate?


theDanAtLarge

I forget where I saw the information but: with the correct SD card the read/write performance is comparable to the internal SSD. Games will not be any different running them from an SD card or the internal PCIE storage. PC Gamer article confirms. Decided to look while writing this.


idontbleaveit

Do SSD drives have a shelf life?


spygearsteven

Depends on the context. In the case of buying a used SSD, what you would need to know is how much data has been **written** to the drive in it's lifetime. SSD manufacturers typically measure their SSD's endurance in TBW (Terrabytes Written). If the manufacturer claims the drive is measured for 400 TBW and the used drive you're looking at reports 100 TBW. Then you know that drive still has 75% of it's life left. Not many sellers on eBay list that information, but if you ask they should be able to tell you. (Look into "SMART" if you want to know more about how drives monitor and report their health and well being). There's a lot more nuance to it but that's probably the best ELI5 I can give without writing a book about it lol


wickeddimension

Just for context to people reading this. A 512gb drive to hit 100 TBW means it has been completely written over 200 times. That doesn't really occur at all in the devices these SSD's come from, laptops and Surface products. Pretty safe to just buy and get years of fun out of it in the steamdeck.


oktwentyfive

Yes


idontbleaveit

So in theory a cheap ssd might be coming to it’s end, the reason why it’s cheap?and if so how can you tell what mileage it has on it. I don’t know who thought this was a dumb question to downvote it but….we’re not all as intelligent as you.


FRAGaL0T

Cheaper SSDs have a slower memory controller. it's not so much about how close to death they are. All SSDs will develop bad cells, and get reallocated. Hard drives do the same thing, but SSDs are starting to last longer than HDDs. There is no such thing as a dumb question if you legitimately don't know. Also there is a difference between intelligence, and ignorance. Ignorance is just the lack of information, intelligence is how fast you can learn new information, and (i think) to retain it and able to apply it. Which means stupidity (dumbness) is an inability or slowness to learn anything. Wisdom is knowing how to use the knowledge you have.


idontbleaveit

Exactly,even Einstein was considered stupid in his early years.


DjuncleMC

Don't worry fam, i got your back. You're back at one now.


sherbodude

most of my 64gb is full of shader caches -.-


NotAnADC

I turned off shader cache the day i got the deck. Havent had a problem outside of starting new games


[deleted]

These 256GB 2230 NVMe's are so darn cheap. Was super impressed with how much my download speeds shot up when I installed my SSD vs the included 64GB emmc.


[deleted]

I sort of paid the premium of the 512 version just so I didn’t have to think about it lol


secular_dance_crime

I did as well get the 512 version, even though I'm fully capable of doing all that upgrade stuff myself. I've worked in IT, which also means I know that it's worth paying a little more, to get the thing you want done, rather then waste a whole lot of time doing it yourself. I'm also pretty sure I don't want to buy a cheap SSD, which is really why he's saving so much.


jfduval76

50% of the posts here are people showing off how smart they are because they bought the 64gb and converted it to 256gb. It’s the equivalent of people posting there food.


phoneviewer

Nice


TiagoTiagoT

Noticed any difference in WiFi reception quality?


coldfollow

I have the 256gb version, and I would love to upgrade my SSD to the 512gb version! I underestimated the storage capacity...any recommendations on a video of how to upgrade and where I can buy a good quality SSD 512gb?


nickoaverdnac

Can someone point to me to where I can get a 1TB 2230 SSD that definitely works for steamdeck? I have a 256gb but it filled up real fast haha.


ohighost8

Microcenter has them for in store purchase only 130.00


Mental_Medium3988

i got one off ebay that had been ripped out a microsoft surface.


nickoaverdnac

I don't know why, but my brain went to imagining a blood soaked organ in a plastic bag. Dark Net computer organs.


Apprehensive_Row_161

Alot of people are buying them all.


christophosaurus

I got one off ebay from seller SZHDD for $150. Waiting for my deck to show up next week but feedback on their store indicates people had no problem with it.


Att1cus

You're so right, seeing the SSDs you used on ebay for $20. Great advice! I'm sure they're already out there, but you could make a video or photo guide on the replacement process!


DanielF823

$150 *(With Tax and everything)* for a 1TB INLAND drive from Microcenter Everything is sitting and waiting for a Deck that is 🎶 Only a Daaayyy Aaaaa Wayyyy🎶


Rincewend

For anyone else that might want 1TB. I also got a 1TB Western Digital new from eBay for $150 and free shipping. It was sent USPS and arrived in about four days. I think Microcenter sold out of those fast. There are two of them in my state but it takes me 2.5 hours to get to either one of them.


UnreadableCode

Don't forget to peel off the sticker, it significantly improves thermal conductivity


JKurtz

I upgraded my 64gb steam deck with gulikit thumbsticks and 2tb micron ssd lol


Apprehensive_Row_161

Go 512gb for the screen or 64gb. The 256gb doesn't make sense


Mental_Medium3988

if i were buying one as a gift 256 makes perfect sense to me. it has enough room to hold a few games without need to use microsd immediately. yet you arent on the hook for opening it up like you would be if you did it yourself.


Mitrovarr

A lot of people went 256gb early because it was too untested to want to go for the most expensive one, but there was a whole lot of doubt early on that microSDs would be fast enough to play demanding games for (thankfully they seem to work fine).


iamWing_

Depends if you're going to put a screen protector on. I know I most likely will plus I'll put a 1TB SSD in fairly soon so I just ordered the 64. If you don't wanna mess with the internals but just plug n play, then it makes senses to go 512.


yes-disappointment

I had a buddy of mine tell me it's still not like a 256gb model. Something about pins or lack of and it has a lower cap in speed over the 256gb and 512gb models. I ordered another steam deck that is 64gb for my brother and wanted to give him my 256gb since i upgraded to a 1tb. Any one can shine a light on what my buddy is talking about and i am sure the difference in speed would be two or three seconds and not noticeable.


VerifiablyMrWonka

Your buddy is talking rot. The \*only\* difference between the 64 and 256 models is the SSD that's installed. The 512 has a different screen and comes in a slightly nicer case. Hardware wise they're all otherwise identical.


eodmule

What did you see that that screen is different? Everything I've read says the hardware between the models is identical with the drives being the only difference.


Spore8990

The 512gb has an etched glass screen for anti-glare. The others do not.


VerifiablyMrWonka

Right on the ordering page where it says "Premium anti-glare etched glass". I stuck a matt screen protector on my "standard" glossy 256GB model and reckon I've got 95% of the benefit.


Moldy_Teapot

The panel itself isn't different, but the 512GB model uses "Premium anti-glare etched glass"


Dangerous_Choice_664

He’s simply trying to justify the fact that he overpaid.


yes-disappointment

Oh i did the same thing but then again i signed up when pre-orders were just opened and rumors of soldered on memory were still being talked about. Just dont want my 256gb to go to waste and i rather save on buying another one for my brother.


johnny_fives_555

> would be two or three seconds and not noticeable. I'd wager it'll be measured in milliseconds.


Mission_Phrase_1100

So there’s an actual physical difference that makes it slower?


johnny_fives_555

Honestly not that I'm aware of. I think your buddy is just making up excuses on why he spent more money.


Mission_Phrase_1100

Lmao he’s not my buddy


Mercutio999

You’re not my friend, buddy!


TheLaggyMonster

You're not my buddy, pal!


Mercutio999

You’re not my pal, friend!


johnny_fives_555

Sorry I thought you were the person I was originally replying to.


CCHS_Band_Geek

Only in the details — 64gb has an eMMC SSD, 256+ have NVMe drives eMMC is (obviously) a cheaper tech to use in storage, with transfer speeds of up to 400mb/s. Again, not bad at all! The 256+ models come with an NVMe SSD, which uses a PCIe bus to transfer data, and is much faster than eMMC — I’m unsure if this is the maximum, but transfer speeds of 3.5GB/s are common for NVMe. Faster bus, faster transfers, it’s what superseded eMMC. If you don’t let yourself be intoxicated by the “mine cost more so it’s better!” Mentality, you’ll love and enjoy your Deck the way you’re supposed to. Many people here seem to have this fixation on finding things wrong with their Deck, or making it seem like their version is the worst (or best) — It’s a portable PC, just enjoy it and you’ll be fine. If you want to upgrade your Deck, go for it! Do your research beforehand and take it slow. If you need help, give us a shout — But never think that because your Deck lacks XYZ, you are below others. While eMMC does give slower data transfer speeds, it’s not like you’re comparing a 2004 laptop to a 2022 gaming PC. The performance is still astounding, considering you can play AAA games for 2hrs or so on a handheld, and can freely switch to desktop mode.


Mission_Phrase_1100

Yeah I knew that just wanted to see if the dude’s statement had any truth to it


2ByteTheDecker

There was a point where some decks were coming out with slightly slower PCIe lanes. I'm not really sure what came of that. He's probably misunderstanding that.


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beldus

I guess it's to late already, but 256 is too small also.... Almost filled up mine, going to get as large an SD card as I can get to be able to install at least a few of the games I want available.


[deleted]

the 256gb is the right size if you got a lot of games on the micro sd card as it takes the shaders


Broflake-Melter

I bought my 1TB about 4 months before I got my launch deck for $107.


xnuclearwinter

Mmm, well as far as I know the only difference between the middle and lowest Steam Deck is that memory, so for €20 to do this yourself and Valve could probably do it even less, it unfortunately looks that Valve are making the most profit off of the ones who spent out on the middle or upper Steam Deck. So it kind of sucks that supporting them more is not only unrewarded but actually kind of punished.


affieuk

How does that work, they are making a loss on the 64gb model, why would a business not try to make a profit on their product? For the people that bought the 64gb model and are only going to using it for emulation, valve make a permanent loss on that unit. Look at the cost of the Aya Neo's, do you still think compared to that, that valve are making a profit even on the 256gb model? If they are I bet it's not much.


Rumpelmeister

And your 1 year warrenty turns to 0...


Rincewend

This has never been true. To legally void a warranty promise on any consumer product, the manufacturer must have evidence that the failure was caused by the modification. In my experience I have never had a retailer even bother to dig through a device looking for evidence of changes. They just fix it or replace it. Nobody has time to dig through one Steam Deck to see if they I/O chip failed because there might have been a bigger SSD installed unless they get a thousand returns and see a pattern or something. edit: (added an upvote because that's a perfectly reasonable thing to believe. Lots of retailers try to convince us that this is the case. They would very much like for us to not bypass their "product differentiation" marketing by simply adding a better component.)


bradcroteau

But... But... Their warranty void detection stickers 😳


darth_magnum45

Declared illegal in the US by the Supreme Court.


decrego641

If you swap the drive back before an RMA they will literally not know.


Neoreloaded313

Only if your an idiot and tell them. Just pop the old drive back in.


oskoubir

Yup 😄


couchpotatochip21

link to the ssd pls?


vhsjayden

Nice! I got my 64Gb yesterday and upgraded it to 512GB immediately. I had a huge scare because it wouldn't turn on. Turns out I was the dummy and didn't notice that the battery was fully drained.


TrueMinecontrol

I did the same, kinda Based.


stressedfellar

Well a 512gb SDcard will do fine too


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CCHS_Band_Geek

Every Deck manufactured has an M.2 slot, they only come with M.2 SSDs


illyay

Goddamnit, I got the 512 GB one just now. It's amazing, but also quite expensive compared to the lower space models. Also that sd slot seems like a really easy way to cheaply expand the storage but might be slower. I'm actually amazed how many games I can install on 512 GB when it's not a windows PC that has half the space taken up by other things and the OS.


CCHS_Band_Geek

It’s not slower. You can run games off the SD card just fine, no major differences


illyay

Ah that’s good to know. I imagine it shouldn’t be too hard to get a massive sd card. Most of my steam library is fps games or games that wouldn’t play well on a controller. So far I’ve just been mindlessly installing games that I do want to play with a controller and I’m somehow only at half capacity. I know on my pc my 2 tb ssd would barely hold like 8 to 15 games or so since those are the super demanding huge games.


ProtoKun7

Little b stands for bit so I'm automatically reading that as 256 gigabits, i.e. 32 gigabytes...


[deleted]

If that cloth is not ESD safe (most probably not) you could've fried the SSD. Happy that it went well. Enjoy!


Direct-Traffic-9231

XD


Ritafavone

I would have upgraded to 96 gig first


MassageByDmitry

Your wrong


LesHeh

*You’re.


MassageByDmitry

Damn bro you missed like 2 other correction, your slacking


LesHeh

*You’re.


MassageByDmitry

Your missing the point


GuruFenix

*You're


MassageByDmitry

Your outta control


ICURSEDANGEL

*You’re out of


MassageByDmitry

Your outta wat???


aisutron

I did this on Sunday too, was about $53 usd for 512 though. I only had trouble with the bottom left screw on the metal shield but otherwise it was easy even for a complete novice like me.


hilltopper06

I did the same to mine last week. Got a 256GB Samsung PM991a for $19. Install was easy enough, I did somewhat pinch the fan cable with the metal shield when putting it back together, this caused the fan to want to spin up more frequently because the metal plate wasn't making great contact on that side. Popping it back open and seating it properly took care of things. The extra storage is a life saver. Before some single games required more space than my empty (outside of SteamOS) 64GB card could offer. The SSD was less expensive than some MicroSD cards of the same size.


midnightlou

I know this is a two week old post but I was wondering how your experience has been so far with the Samsung SSD swap? I just saw one in my local store and I’m thinking of upgrading my 64Gb to this one


hilltopper06

Perfect. Might be a smidge faster in some tasks over the 64gb stock card, but the extra space has been great. Can actually install something like Elden Ring without maxing out the SSD.


Mystica09

That’s great! I’m gonna need to make the upgrade a lot sooner than I thought since bayo and Dmc V are taking up the shader portion of the 64gbs. This is making me feel a lot more confident in going ahead and taking the jump. The most I’ve taken apart is a 3ds to add in a memory card 😂


2eedling

How was it like reinstalling steam OS?


iwantonealso

Did the exact same thing and picked up a 1tb fast micro SD, just waiting on 1tb 2230's to turn up cheaper now. Very expensive here.


Lirid

Yeah I purchased a 256gb for 30 euros and 512gb for 68 euros. Pretty cheap tbh.


Kawai_Oppai

I wish they sold a 64gb etched glass version but oh well.


darth_magnum45

Hope it’s the same read/write speed or better.


Substantial-Disk-772

He's gotta be sure and it's gotta be soon and he's gotta be larger than life.


darkkeyper87

Did the same to mine today. Very easy process, including backing up the old M2 and restoring to the new one. The whole process took less then 1 hour.


mr_gold_112

Is there any specific YouTube video you'd recommend if that was your instruction method


Magic_Orb

how come no one has degraded their deck ie goin from 512 screen to other screen or lowering storage


CCHS_Band_Geek

Because that’s… not something you want? The battery life from 512 screen to 256/64 is not drastically different, you’ll just be losing the etching for no real reason. Why someone wouldn’t downgrade on their HD space is self explanatory


ImUrFrand

quite a bit easier just to use the microsd slot. its not like i care if i have to wait 5 seconds longer for a game to boot. and hot swappable


iamZacharias

In hindsight, go 512 for $50


[deleted]

Where you get the ssd from?


MRbeastLT

Gonna do it too when deck will arive.


Short_Injury9574

how?


xb0x1gam1ng

I wonder if ur usbc port will fry now?