And while I totally bought one from Amazon and another from eBay, I can’t say I bought them from reputable sellers. They may have been removed from existing tablets like the Microsoft Surface line.
You see, while it’s pretty easy to replace an SSD in a Steam Deck, buying the right part isn’t easy. The Steam Deck uses the smallest modular SSD – the M.2 2230, which is only 30 mm long – and it is designed for single-sided mounting only, with a flash memory chip on one side. More importantly, M.2 2230 drives are generally considered OEM products that are not sold to customers at all, as they are generally not designed to be replaced by anyone but a warehouse technician. When I asked Samsung for more information about one of their recent drives, a PR rep told me they wouldn’t be available for purchase.
Here, however, the Framework isn’t just selling directly to consumers – it’s also selling one of the biggest products to fit your Deck: the WD SN740 2TB. I’m not sure if the SN740 2TB is a good drive for a Deck – Valve warns that some drives drain the battery a bit faster, for example – but I’ve mostly heard positive stories on the Steam Deck subreddit. Also: while $300 isn’t a bad price for this capacity, note that I bought my presumably ejected 256GB drive for $40. And while this is a relatively fast PCIe Gen 4 drive, note that it’s irrelevant here: the Steam Deck’s I/O capabilities aren’t fast enough to see a big difference between compatible SSDs.
If you’re curious to see how hard it is to replace a Steam Deck’s SSD, check out my fan swap video below: the only difference is removing an extra screw, as well as sliding the current drive’s EMI shield yes and your new drive. one. Make sure to remove your microSD card before opening the Deck, lest you get ripped off.