*** The Official Steam Deck Thread ***

[jonneymendoza]

Hi there. Has anyone upgraded there en 1 512gb steam deck with a 2tb ssd without needing to install a brand new steam OS on it?

I want to somehow clone my existing setup to a new bigger ssd but also having the abilty o use the remaining 1.5tb remaining space of a new 2tb ssd?

i have heard about cloning but doesnt cloning use the previous partition size of the source of the clone, aka the 512gb ?

 

[teaston]

Hi there. Has anyone upgraded there en 1 512gb steam deck with a 2tb ssd without needing to install a brand new steam OS on it?

I want to somehow clone my existing setup to a new bigger ssd but also having the abilty o use the remaining 1.5tb remaining space of a new 2tb ssd?

i have heard about cloning but doesnt cloning use the previous partition size of the source of the clone, aka the 512gb ?

I posted earlier in this thread how to do this on the steam deck using a cheap USB SSD enclosure, it automatically properly partitions the new drive to use all space.

It does take the best part of a day to do it though, so make sure you use a dock or USB hub, so that the steam deck is plugged into power

 

[jonneymendoza]

I posted earlier in this thread how to do this on the steam deck using a cheap USB SSD enclosure, it automatically properly partitions the new drive to use all space.

It does take the best part of a day to do it though, so make sure you use a dock or USB hub, so that the steam deck is plugged into power

is it this tutorial that u used?

THE BEST WAY to Upgrade Your Steam Deck SSD: NVMe Clone and Disassembly Tutorial

Welcome to this tutorial on upgrading your Steam Deck SSD! You can now upgrade your SSD without having to go through the tedious recovery process. Instead, s...

www.youtube.com

he used this comant and that was that!!!

sudo dd if=/dev/nvme0n1 of=/dev/sda oflag=sync bs=128M status=progress".

 

[teaston]

is it this tutorial that u used?

THE BEST WAY to Upgrade Your Steam Deck SSD: NVMe Clone and Disassembly Tutorial

Welcome to this tutorial on upgrading your Steam Deck SSD! You can now upgrade your SSD without having to go through the tedious recovery process. Instead, s...

www.youtube.com

he used this comant and that was that!!!

sudo dd if=/dev/nvme0n1 of=/dev/sda oflag=sync bs=128M status=progress".

Yep that looks like the command. Be aware that the new SSD doesn’t show as being mounted when you plug it in with the enclosure, just plug it in and run that command and away it goes, after entering your sudo password.

Also note that when you enter the password it will look like nothing is being typed on screen.

 

[jonneymendoza]

Yep that looks like the command. Be aware that the new SSD doesn’t show as being mounted when you plug it in with the enclosure, just plug it in and run that command and away it goes, after entering your sudo password.

Also note that when you enter the password it will look like nothing is being typed on screen.

Brilliant ok thanks.

 

[LadFromWales]

Those who have opened up your Deck OLED's already, did you get in without damaging the plastic around the edges visibly at all?

Apparently the best place to start is near the bumpers/triggers?

I have some off brand pry tools but think I'll order some iFixit ones!

 

[Wilko_Dog]

Those who have opened up your Deck OLED's already, did you get in without damaging the plastic around the edges visibly at all?

Apparently the best place to start is near the bumpers/triggers?

I have some off brand pry tools but think I'll order some iFixit ones!

iFixit have guides on removing the back, it's really easy. Just make sure the SD card is removed!

 

[Bubo]

I used a credit card with the edge filed down. Basically turned it into a weapon.

 

[Hades]

I've been considering a steamdeck for a while as I now travel a lot. But I've seen a few ultralight portable laptops for not much more money (£650) with Ryzen APU's. I'm guessing they perform around the same as the Steamdeck. Obviously it wouldn't be hand held and I'd have to take a controller. But it would be more versatile and I could probably leave my tablet or even my main laptop at home. I'm wondering if anyone who has bought a steamdeck recently looked at that option and why they still went ahead with the SD?

 

[LadFromWales]

iFixit have guides on removing the back, it's really easy. Just make sure the SD card is removed!

They don't really go into much detail about where they start! It's on then it's off almost instantly in the video Not looked at the written guide as they've not yet done one for the OLED and figured there may be changes between them.

I used a credit card with the edge filed down. Basically turned it into a weapon.

Hah! Resourceful! I'll just order some picks I think!

Is it necessary to buy a shield for the SSD or will the one in the original slip off fine?

 

[Raiden85]

When I open mine I start from the trigger area so it snaps open slightly then use a thin plastic tool and drag it across the top so it separates a bit. Once it’s mostly separated then it’s usually easy enough to just pull the back off.

First time you do it, it can require a bit of force but gets easier each time. Hopefully on the Steam Deck 2 they make this easier so once the screws are gone it’s just lifts off with no effort as I hate having to snap back covers off as it’s not good for the plastic clips.

 

[LadFromWales]

That would be nice but I imagine it wouldn't be as rigid if there were no clips.

Be even better if the Steam Deck 2 had a "glory hole"! Most people have no reason to want to be opening the Deck other than to upgrade the SSD so this would be nice.

I'll probably pop some nylon washers under the screw heads for the headphone jack board, as this has been reported to get rid of the feedback while still keeping the board grounded to the case.

 

[2StepSteve]

Those who have opened up your Deck OLED's already, did you get in without damaging the plastic around the edges visibly at all?

Apparently the best place to start is near the bumpers/triggers?

I have some off brand pry tools but think I'll order some iFixit ones!

I used some thin guitar picks that I have. Just take your time and don't use excessive pressure. Mine popped off quite easily by starting at one of the triggers and running the pick along the seam.

 

[wunkley]

After a bit more testing I can definitely confirm that OS 3.5.X is bugged for certain games and apps with regards to the GPU clock bouncing up and down between 200Mhz and 1040Mhz. This is testing on an OLED deck though I assume it's the same for either.
The main thing that showed an issue for me was using Moonlight to stream from my gaming PC. Every 4 seconds or so there is a hitch/ micro stutter which shows itself in the frametime readout too. After tearing my hair out trying to figure out the cause I eventually tried pinning the GPU clock speed to 400Mhz and boom! Totally fixes the issue. It's the GPU clock speed bouncing up and down that was definitely causing the hitching, so it's definitely a bug!

Another weird thing - I tried updating the OS to the beta and preview channel but it goes totally wrong and weird. On reboot just shows a spinning blue steam logo on black background and you can't do anything but you can hear the game mode is there in the background when you navigate around. Eventually if you randomly hammer buttons you get a visible screen appear and are presented with a weird reduced menu with the option to come out of the beta channel and go back to stable, when all is fine again. Tried several times and got exact same pattern.

Never had anything like this on my LCD deck, is this just Steam OS beta and preview channels bugging out???

 

[Itchytrigg]

Mine arrived today. Had a quick play about and not spotted any of the issues noted here so looking pretty good.

Now I have to wait till Christmas Day as apparently I agreed this was a “family” present and not just a new toy for me.

 

[teaston]

After a bit more testing I can definitely confirm that OS 3.5.X is bugged for certain games and apps with regards to the GPU clock bouncing up and down between 200Mhz and 1040Mhz. This is testing on an OLED deck though I assume it's the same for either.
The main thing that showed an issue for me was using Moonlight to stream from my gaming PC. Every 4 seconds or so there is a hitch/ micro stutter which shows itself in the frametime readout too. After tearing my hair out trying to figure out the cause I eventually tried pinning the GPU clock speed to 400Mhz and boom! Totally fixes the issue. It's the GPU clock speed bouncing up and down that was definitely causing the hitching, so it's definitely a bug!

Another weird thing - I tried updating the OS to the beta and preview channel but it goes totally wrong and weird. On reboot just shows a spinning blue steam logo on black background and you can't do anything but you can hear the game mode is there in the background when you navigate around. Eventually if you randomly hammer buttons you get a visible screen appear and are presented with a weird reduced menu with the option to come out of the beta channel and go back to stable, when all is fine again. Tried several times and got exact same pattern.

Never had anything like this on my LCD deck, is this just Steam OS beta and preview channels bugging out???

Preview software 3.5.10 is working fine on my oled

 

[manic111]

Anyone playing BG3 on their deck? Torn between buying it for the deck or the Xbox. I'd prefer it on the deck as long as it runs acceptably, even at lowish graphics.

 

[wunkley]

Preview software 3.5.10 is working fine on my oled

Bugger. Not sure what to do about it. Don't fancy being stuck to the stable channel only forever.

 

[CGrieves]

Anyone playing BG3 on their deck? Torn between buying it for the deck or the Xbox. I'd prefer it on the deck as long as it runs acceptably, even at lowish graphics.

Yeah 90% deck, 10% PC. Got so used to the deck controls that I have to use an Xbox controller on the PC, which is pretty unusual for me!

 

[2StepSteve]

I'm done with storage upgrades now. 2TB SSD plus this. I'll likely use this purely for emulation, looking forward to going down that rabbit hole over next couple of days.