this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2023
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Steam Deck

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Have you upgraded your internal storage? How did it go? Did you reinstall steamOS from scratch or clone the original M.2/eMMC?

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Before even using the deck I updated it, pre-downloaded the steamos onto a usb drive.

The install was very straightforward, highly recommended the upgrade. My only regret is is didn’t get the 1Tb drive

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Exactly what I did. I went for the 1tb though. The storage prices for the deck are pretty outrageous and upgrading is pretty easy. So a 64gb deck + 1tb card comes out to be about the same as a 256gb deck.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Outrageous is a bit strong... There are companies charging way more than that for the same increase in storage...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, a certain fruit company comes to mind.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I decided it wasn't worth it.

I bought the 256 GB deck. That filled up fairly quickly obviously and I looked at the alternatives. It turns out that if you buy the right SD Cards they're basically the same speed as the SSD, so I just bought a 1TB Samsung EVO and it's been great. Also, I didn't have to lose the existing 256 Gb of space that I had and it was zero effort.

Maybe one day I'll upgrade to a 2TB internal, or maybe I won't.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

While game loading times are about the same, I definitely notice a big speed difference when installing games on the SSD vs microSD.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I did upgraded mine from 64gb to 1TB. Apart from almost stripping a screw, the whole process was pretty easy. I reinstalled SteamOS because I didn't have much on my deck anyway

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

No i didn't bother. 512gb plus my 1tb micro sd has been enough really. Besides, i have a full PC with shit loads of storage.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thought about it but it was honestly pretty easy to throw a 512gb sd card in and cheaper. Plus most if not all of the stuff on the deck is saved in the cloud not a big deal if it fails.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yeah most games that work on the deck will be fine coming from a modern microsd card. Even Skyrim really would be fine. I've read reports that upgrading to some drives is causing too much heat, and tbh as much as I love tinkering - deck is perfectly made IMO. I'll just swap out cards, even then I haven't really needed to.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I have a 512. I've heard it's still worth it to upgrade, but I can load dozens of games with no issue and it's less effort. If I have a large game I want to play (100gb+) I'll probably upgrade.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Same. I installed a bunch of games from my backlog, including a few big ones, but I still have more than 100GB left, both on internal and SD card. You're fine as long as you uninstall the ones you're done with for the time being. Just uh, check if Steam Cloud works for the saves, Dark Souls games for instance say it works but it doesn't. Then again, maybe OP has a 64GB, in which case, he probably should.

Definitely buy an SD card though, it's a quick upgrade.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Same. I have many installed games and play a couple of them at most at a time. I travel a lot and connection isn't always guaranteed so I bought a large SD card to offload games I may want to keep with me, I ended up barely using it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I've been considering it, but tbh the 256+400GB SD card has been more than enough so far.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I replaced my 64 gig with a 1tb sabrent rocket. The speeds alone are worth it no matter what. Going to desktop and back is like magic. I always install from scratch though, more steps for less hiccups is the way I always look at it

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I upgraded my 512 to a 2tb sn740 by using an external nvme enclosure and rescuezilla to clone the original drive. Had zero issues.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

No need, 256GB is plenty when you've got fast enough internet to download things when you need them. Plus I don't usually tinker with my devices until they're old and actually need it!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I bought a 64gb and upgraded it to 512gb. I did the full re-image from a micro sd card. The whole process of swapping and reinstalling was about 20 minutes in total.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I'm on the verge of updating my 256GB to the 1TB Corsair MP600 Mini. I've done a lot of tweaking over the year I've had my deck, so I'm planning to try cloning the drive instead of doing a fresh install.

Just wanted to hear everyone else's experiences with it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I got the 64gb veraion and upgraded it within a week of owning it, would've done it sooner if the SSD had arrived quicker

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I got the 64gb because I want to upgrade the storage myself. I just need to get it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yes, I upgraded from 64 GB to 512 GB. I also replaced the fan. I reinstalled SteamOS from USB I flashed with the steamOS recovery image. I used a USB C thumb drive, but I think a regular thumb drive would work if you have a dock with a USB port. It was very simple, I thought.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I upgraded my 64gb version is a cheap 256gb drive. The process was pretty straightforward and I just reinstalled the OS since I only had it for a few days.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

All I waited for was a decent deal on a 1TB ssd and it went smooth, aside from not plugging the battery back in fully the first time. I cloned as I didn't want to bother with setup again.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Upgraded because shaders were taking too much room for 64. Felt like a great investiment!

Too many games to choose from :/

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I just got the 64GB version and I plan to replace the SSD soon. I'll reinstall steamOS, and before that I need to figure out what's the best way to have encrypted data on it (e.g. credentials for communities etc) or even have Full Disk Encryption. Haven't settled my mind on this but generally it'd be good to have the whole deck secure so in case it gets stolen nobody can empty my wallet on the steam store.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It looks like there is a bios lock option if you want to go that route

Although since it is required before startup it would require some form of keyboard to enter your password

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I didn't think about the password entering problem, thanks for bringing that up!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Bought the 64GB version, ordered a certified to work with the Steam Deck M.2 512GB SSD and had absolutely no problem installing the thing. Plenty of HowTo's on YouTube. Also re-installing SteamOS is easy. If I ever were to expand to 1TB or 2TB I would use CloneZilla to clone the contents instead of clean installing SteamOS again. My network traffic is not metered but it takes for ever to redownload the games.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I swapped my 64GB for a 1TB Samsung PM991a. I reinstalled SteamOS from scratch and it has been working perfectly for a couple of months now.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yep. From 64 to 256 on launch and about half a year later to 1TB

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

No I just opted for a 1tb sd card. It does the job. I have a 256gb model so I install a good few things and lots of Roms and uninstall when I've finished a game

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Not yet, but I plan on doing it. Currently running a 512GB SD card which has served me surprisingly well.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Not yet but I'm moving towards it. Maybe black Friday if I can get a 512 gig drive or higher for cheap.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

YES! I bought a 64GB model thinking that I could just use the MicroSD card for everything as my gaming needs aren't very demanding, however between EmuDeck, ProtonUp-QT and Shader Caching, I essentially had no storage left to do anything, and it was becoming a bit of a problem. I upgraded my Steamdeck with a Solidigm 1TB P41 Plus: Photograph of the Solidgm P41 Plus SSD At the same time, I did a backplate swap with the JSauX Transparent Back Plate PC0106: Photograph of the JSaux Transparent Back Plate PC0106 installed on a steam deck And I reinstalled SteamOS from scratch using a USB Stick following the Steam Deck Recovery Instructions article by Valve: A photograph of a steam deck performing the re-imaging, re-installing the Operating System from a USB stick. The whole process went great as a whole. No real performance difference to report but I am experiencing a weird bug where SteamOS reports that it is "offline" when I am in fact, connected to the Internet. The bug resolves itself after a few minutes and I have noticed no other networking related issues to speak of... 🤔

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've started having the same network bug lately, I think it's just software update related and not anything to do with physical changes you made.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

😅 This makes me very relieved to hear! I figured that if it was a hardware issue that I would notice it in other applications such as streaming games.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I got the 64gb version in batch one, and immediately upgraded it with a 256gb ssd I had laying around from another system. It was pretty easy, and flashing the OS was trivial even in those early days, but I did find it difficult to get the EM shield to go onto the drive that I chose... It was a tight fit and took 10 minutes of tinkering to get it on there.

It's turned out to be nice to have the extra internal space for doing things in the desktop mode (especially tinkering with emulation) just because, while the sd card is seamless for steam libraries, it adds some complexity and headaches for other software.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

No, I got the 512 and it's been enough for me just rotating as needs. I have played around with the SD card but don't usually play anything off of it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I'm still sitting on my 64gb with an SD card. I really need to just buy an SSD.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yup. Upgraded to a Micron 2 TB SSD that I purchased from BLT. I went the cloning route, using a Clonezilla live USB image. No issues with anything.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I'm definitely considering it. I keep running into issues with cache sizes.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I upgraded mine and my brothers' steam decks and I just installed steam OS new. I wanted to start over and clean up my install anyway :)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Honestly I never saw i need for it. 64 GB of internal storage plus a 512 GB microSD card is more then enouth space for me.

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