The Ultimate ROG Ally X Upgrade! 5TB Storage For All Those New Games!

[@Oceanborn712]

I have a 2280 SSD in my regular Ally already. All it took was an adapter for 12 bucks. Works flawlessly.

[@fredericmanson441]

Is there no temperature issue?? And what about the thickness of the SSD. Is it pushes to the backplate or does it have some room to put a very flat heatsink on it?? I'm looking for an Ally 'cause I have many games still not certified to run on Proton. Thanks for your answers!! Cheer!! :3

[@GameChomps]

@@fredericmanson441 I've done this with my ally too. There's no problems with thickness or anything. I don't think I even put a heatsink on mine.

[@JamieR]

​@@fredericmanson441It's definitely recommended to use a heatsink for gen.4 drives with ram cache. They tend to get warmer than the ones without. That said, it should be ok either way. You just get less heat with a cach-less, gen.3 with a heatsink. Just gotta make sure it's low enough. Can also use a thermal pad on the backside of the NVME.

[@Oceanborn712]

@@fredericmanson441 I just put a blank Lexar NV790 4TB in it and put that little plastic layer back on it where it was before (assuming that's to guide heat through the fans and shield the SSD from it? No idea) and it's working like a charm. I don't have any heat issues and it's not touching anything either. There's a lot of empty space between the two fans of the Ally so I don't think there's any issue with the placement. I finished Persona 3 Reload on it like that, currently am playing Soul Hackers 2 and played a ton of smaller other stuff. No performance issues, no heat issues, all good so far.

[@liviup6660]

@@fredericmanson441I've modded mine with a custom copper plate to sort the heat out. 30w continuously and the temps never goes over 80c with fans around 55-65%. Insane oh yeahhhh👊

[@DeckTested]

This is the perfect amount of storage to play the “scrolling through launcher endlessly and not playing anything in the end” kind of game, experience talking.

[@Shark-fj2sz]

I am loving that

[@Nodster]

Literally do that too with the 1tb drive and 512gb sd card in my Steam Deck lol

[@foxhero1337]

A game that I play often. Hell, I'll install games then then uninstall them after like a month thinking I'll never get to it. It's a complicated dance we perform...

[@janosaudron42us]

I’m interested cuz I’m deploying soon. It’s 2024 and there IS internet where I’m going, but not what I’d call reliable. So 4TB split steamOS and windows with all the games, movies, and tv shows I could possibly want to play or watch.

[@Nodster]

@@janosaudron42us Can push 9.5TB these days given 4TB NVMe drives are sub $200 and a 1.5TB Micro SD card exists :D 1x internal NVMe 4TB, 1x external NVMe 4TB, 1x Micro SD 1.5TB :D and if your crazy and can afford the 2x$1200 8TB NVMe drives that total becomes 17.5TB lol That is a lot of games and movies.

[@timaaaahhhh]

Bro really left us hanging with the heatsink/thermal shield explanation and links.

[@AtlasRega]

Yeah i really need them too lol

[@luegi25]

I just placed mine without that. My hands was shaking 🫨

[@eried]

@@luegi25 does it work fine? or ssd speed throttles down a lot?

[@luegi25]

@@eried mine works fine. I played some really power hungry titles and I've seen no slow downs

[@eried]

@@luegi25 awesome! did you placed the plastic thing the original ssd had on the new one?

[@neandertalac]

I did an upgrade to 2TB to my Steam Deck. And it's fabulous. Everyone should do it!

[@AshrakAhmed]

Samsung SSD comes with access to Samsung Magician utility software which allows for Data migration from Main drive to a new drive, it's free to use plus shows SSD health and stuff.

[@wwjoshdew]

A four tb 990 pro… we can dream, right?! Dream that our wallets are more full of cash!! Haha

[@BrokenWheelYT]

@@AshrakAhmed Thank you! I just thinking to upgrade to 990pro with heatsink model, as I read posts and comments 990 pro with heatsink fit well in rog ally x. Now I learn (thanks to you) I can clone my ssd with Magician utility.

[@gera4863]

Bought it today and I'm going to pick it up. Hopefully I don't mess up the install. You wouldn't happen to have a video that shows how to use Samsung Magician would you?

[@izcondoralexander]

How much storage do you want? ETA Prime: YES !

[@Patrick-y4d1z]

I'm think of an 8TB NVME, 1.5TB Micro SD and then another 8TB NVME in the dock. Plug it into an eGPU and it will completely replace a gaming PC

[@neandertalac]

The best comment

[@thediddlefiddler5569]

@@Patrick-y4d1z Nope. Not for, at least, another 10yrs. USB port speed is the bottleneck here.

[@Patrick-y4d1z]

@@thediddlefiddler5569 What do you mean nope, that is already something you can do. USB4 has 20gigabit connection. That is more than enough to have an NVME drive in it. Just grab a Steam Deck dock with M.2 port in it. Sure, it's not as fast as PCIe, but in real-world benchmarks you're seeing no difference. So yeah, you're literally just wrong. It can already be done.

[@kudostothewiz2703]

Thank you for the video. I ended up owning an orginal rog ally for a couple weeks and thought about buying the adapter, but the sd card was bad. Even though I have my steam deck that I love. I still really liked the rog ally. I want to give this one a try. and this video is pushing me towards it. I'm crazy with disk space.

[@foxhero1337]

This was a great help and I just put a 4tb SSD in my ROG Ally X. Those screws were a BEAST to get out though, I was losing my mind!

[@Mario00064]

You said there was a link to the thermal shield and heatsink in the description. I'm not seeing it. Could you please provide?

[@eldorito777]

thanks for testing the sd card slot. I hope every reviewer that receives Ally X's test the crap outta their sd card readers.

[@videostar348]

I will absolutly put a 4tb drive in mine, preordered it and the first thing i do after unboxing & a quick test will be the upgrade.

[@steeldiver]

You didn't include the link for a heat sink...

[@N1ghtMar385]

Is that necessary? I plan to fit a 2TB without heatsink I have a WD850x and it’s waiting to arrive my new gaming beauty 😁

[@Fahran]

Yes, you should install a heatsink so the battery cable isn't exposed directly to the ssd memory chips (they will get hot)

[@eried]

@@Fahran cant you wrap it in the plastic of the original one?

[@akinfolarina]

@@eried I would not recommend that, the Kingston renegade fury SSD runs hotter than the stock SSD your Rog Ally X comes with. Its also advisable to avoid getting a flat copper heatsink and go with one with fins (if you can find one) or stick with an aluminium heatsink with fins, but never a flat heatsink.

[@QiaBraham]

Bro gonna download all the games in steam and never finish it

[@switchbiz]

as we all do! just bought new games from the steam sale, convincing myself that Ii will finish all of them lol

[@aninfinitemindofmusicandreams]

I spent about a 100 dollars on this Steam Summer Sale. I'm a couple of games away from hitting 200 games on Steam now. I'll get around to playing all the games in time. Lol

[@Healthy_Toki]

IMO a big backlog is helped by less friction - having everything installed and ready to go lets you graze and sample a lot of stuff.

[@OleksiiK21]

​@Healthy_Toki I installed at least 25 games on my legion go when I just got it and I don't play no more cause every time I turn it on I just can't decide what to play😂

[@Aries-vy5pf]

@@aninfinitemindofmusicandreams I got swayed spent 500 dollars

[@thebeardedpaladin3224]

followed this tutorial for the Ally Extreme and worked flawlessly

[@ominixofficial]

It’s 5tb alright! It’s just windows measures in gigabits and not gigabytes, so you are actually getting 5tb with this. Will definitely do this when I get this mini machine!

[@luegi25]

Thanks ETA! I got my X and followed your steps to clone my drive.

[@KainOfNosgoth]

Asus has an article on their website on how to upgrade storage. It seems they are OK with that and shouldn't have warranty issues if this is done since they are the ones posting the instructions online.

[@23ironchatarra]

im fallowing this channel since lobg time ago & is amazing

[@Elknkam]

I would get this ina heartbeat, but the RMA is a pit of Hell. Although, i hate The steamdeck but there customer service is amazing. I had to RMA 3 times my steamdeck abd thr 3rd time it had 2 repairs and to only habe it stop working. This was out of warranty and Valve still gave me a brand new Steamdeck. Terrribe product the steamdeck from my experience ,but the customer service is hands down amazing.

[@enya64]

Not anymore thanks to Gamers Nexus. Their service is pristine now out of fear of the FTC watching.

[@cadderley100]

It's possible to get almost double that, if you wanted too, but I guess that this would work better for the Rog Ally Z1 Extreme. 1: upgrade the internal 512GB standard NVME for a 2TB WD Black 2230 NVME. 2: 1.5TB Micro SD Card From Sandisk. 3: Dock with both a 2nd Micro SD Card Slot and 1 M.2 slot for NVME support. 4: 2nd 1.5TB Micro SD Card. 5: 4TB 2280 NVME. Total in Docked, Desktop mode = 9TB. I wouldn't use the Micro SD Cards for anything other than storage though, just because it's like gaming on a 7,200 RPM HDD.

[@sasuke082594]

I’ve got 5 TB of storage on my 6800u One X Player 2, I barely play any of the games though. I think 2tb is a sweet spot. Would go with 8TB HDD instead and store my games on there, then transfer when needed. Unless you like to carry a good amount of your library on your handheld.

[@Pixels_And_Petrol]

I have my Rog Ally Xtreme X1 upgrade to accept a 2280 and a 4TB stick and it's so good. So many people were like DoN't Do It. It WoNt WoRk. It literately works perfectly for anything i throw at it. Especially since my SD card slot is busted.

[@budthecyborg4575]

10:13 Note that 100MB/s is effectively the fastest that any "UHS-1" Micro SD card can actually read. The only way that a UHS-1 Micro SD card goes any faster is with "DDR200" transfer protocol for 200MB/s (as opposed to "SDR104" for 100MB/s), to my knowledge the Raspberry Pi 5 is the only device ever made to support DDR200. I believe I've read that the Ally X does support UHS-2 (SDR104 protocol but with more pins), so you can get faster cards but UHS-2 commands a hefty premium, and all the UHS-1 cards advertising 200MB/s are effectively not compatible with anything.

[@lightbright702]

This actually works.... I had this installed on mines...

[@AwayFromTheWorld]

I like the 'at my own risk' part.

[@zandatsu07]

Minitool partition wizard works great, too. But i got mine when i sail to the seven seas.

[@C_K3_A]

If you wanted the MAX. You could put a 8tb nvme ssd as they are on the market now, and a 1.5TB micro sd card as Samsung make them now. Giving you 9TB of storage

[@Sup_D]

This is a compact build, not every 2280 NVMe would be compatible, especially for bigger capacity as they could hand more NAND packages.

[@Cenkolino]

Where is your intro with the robot, bro? It was really comfy. You should include it again!

[@kewlztertc5386]

I recommend fresh install then using Easus to partition the drive into two. A smaller 200gb "c:" drive, and the rest as a D: drive. This way you can easily back up the OS drive, snd should anything go amis, you can restore just the c: drive and not have to reinstall everything.

[@Mowjojojo-wp9lq]

Definitely buying this for unboxing!

[@Mrgrin3h]

Definitely gonna put a 8tb in my unit

[@OC.TINYYY]

You'll save 1-2w dropping down to Gen 3 on the NVME, plus less heat. Gen4 NVME in general pretty pointless on a handheld, better to free up more wattage for GPU/CPU.

[@Shise-]

Yep I agree, bought a 2TB SK Hynix Gold P31 which is the most efficient Gen3 SSD.

[@yo_mono]

Pretty wild thinking that 2w can do any difference these days.. but it does!

[@arcticowl1091]

That is not going to free up any wattage for the APU to use. The APU is limited to 30 watts and the entire system is built around supporting that 30 watt usage regardless of what drive you use.

[@FlaccidGnome]

​@@arcticowl1091I believe they're referring to battery life. Not the APU directly using more power.

[@arcticowl1091]

@@FlaccidGnome i really doubt that because they think fast storage won't matter. Faster storage most definitely makes a difference. It would be true if the Ally had an exceptionally weak CPU, but it doesn't so it's just bogus advice from a person that doesn't really understand what they're talking about.

[@zacstephenson3734]

Where is that heatsink link?

[@AnthonyMartinez6567]

Word of advice delete the restore partition. As soon as it is moved to a bigger SSD it becomes corrupt and restore software won’t recognize it anymore. Just use the asus cloud restore best option asus has released!

[@7NINER3]

You forgot to share the link for the flat heat sink you added

[@rynozebz]

I am also interested in this. Thanks!

[@Nappy_Red]

Same here I've even tried image search for it with no luck

[@heisseething]

Put a 8tb in mine. It’s amazing.

[@FernandoMartinez-pv1id]

Perfect to store videos and photos and Work related documents. It doesnt have to just be games you know........

[@blackmachine0058]

7:04 You highly recommend disconnecting the battery before removing the SSD and then you *don't* do it?

[@foxhero1337]

But at least he told us to do it! I did disconnect both batteries before installing though, but mostly because I kept accidentally turning the unit on while manipulating it during disassembly.

[@heisseething]

He does this often. As long as you are careful you’ll be fine. Just don’t stab anything lmao

[@ksrnate]

I really really really wanna know if that battery will fit in the Ally 🤔

[@AdmiralBison]

There needs to be support for .2280 8TB! Some in a few years may want to upgrade beyond 4TB go all the way to 8TB.

[@Mario00064]

The problem with a large SSD on Ally is Armory Crate SE. It simply can't handle having that many games installed. Armory Crate on my 2TB Ally hangs so frequently I finally just disabled it. Sadly I don't expect AC on the X to perform any batter.

[@Sup_D]

So basically it's Software issue, which can be fixed with an update.

[@Mario00064]

@@Sup_D Can and will are two VERY different things. Asus has had almost a year now and it still isn't fixed. It's likely they only test Armory Crate SE with very small game libraries so as far as they're concerned there is no issue.

[@Peraliq]

@@Mario00064 because no one brought this up prob enough

[@CarlWakefield-ks6hm]

What Aura Wallpaper is that? Look so cool 😎

[@goku6574]

Didn't see links for thermal pad/aluminum heatsink can you include.

[@hydraxxorion538]

The Kingston KC3000 4TB (like all other capacities) is exactly the same product (Same TLC3D FLASH chips, RAM chips and Controller chip) as the Kingston "FURY Renegade" range but less expensive, the latter is only a version " gaming" marketing of the Kingston KC3000, it is enough to compare in benchmark (via CrystalDiskMark and others) to realize that the latter which is falsely announced at 7000MB/s in sequential reading, really works at 7300+MB/s like its equivalent " FURY Renegade" but I suppose that Kingston orchestrated this so that the "KC3000" range does not overshadow the "FURY Renegade" range... A bit dubious as a way of doing things...

[@canenver9626]

3:01 - "It is advertised as 4 terabyte drive but we're actually working with 3.7 terabytes" This is a bit confusing but it is actually a 4 terabyte drive. Windows is showing the number in tebibytes (in this case gibibytes instead of gigabytes). Microsoft should change the GB label to GiB which is more accurate for what the UI is showing.

[@alandiegovillalobos]

Love the overkill!

[@jaleelmcdonald3374]

You don’t have to remove the battery?

[@bersaudari5311]

7:00 is that blacksheet on ssd are heatsink or just a useless plastic? please answer to decide buying heatsink or not

[@TheCoolDave]

This is one device that I could consider replacing my Steam Deck with. The power, the display and the battery is big one... This of course of money was not a object. It's very expensive right now, if this was around $450-500, I would be all over it. Never mind the cost of a 4tb M.2, pricey stuff.

[@Rashomon20s]

PC Noob here. I’d love another video or more coverage on that ROG NUC Machine. I’ve been after a Powerful & Compact Steam Deck Console, and that machine seems to do something alike?

[@kruger2635]

Could you do a video of playing on the SD card vs on thr NVME and the differences?

[@Omnislash_Vince]

Link for the heatsink please

[@Canqwertz1]

I live in Europe, so I’m not concerned and dont care with the American customer policies. I was able to return my product a year later due to a defective SD card and received a full refund. Therefore, I’m now purchasing the ally x.

[@Theboss00077]

Why you didn’t unplug the battery before you removed the SSD?

[@eskimolost2012]

for double you can get aya neo kun 8840u or 7840u and can use 8tb ssd

[@loczek1990]

etcher is free and you can clone your ssd

[@bramangraphics]

I heard them publicly state they are changing their policies for the better.

[@arcticowl1091]

Words are nice but if their actions match their mouth remains to be seen.

[@it1650]

things i need to see in testing videos regardless if it cant do the job right this goes with the steamdeck, the onexplayer gpu With the interntal ssd slot has the boot drive, i would like to see beatsaber run on the steamdeck, ROG ally x, i would like to see 1080p upscaled dolphin games like mario kart wii or super smash bros running, if you only play the audio for a few seconds you wil be fine, i would like to see fornite performance testing in all of that as well please

[@bryonbodine87]

Roughly how thick of a heatsink would fit in it? I'm looking at one that is 3mm. Probably too thick but would love to know what thickness is possible.

[@Shiang-WeiLee]

@@bryonbodine87 curious about this too

[@JohanArvedal]

gonna buy everything dont hurt me asus will i know...lol

[@vipercross]

Question. Samsung 990pro with heatsink fit ?

[@AdmiralBison]

4TB today is considered overkill 4TB tomorrow will be barely enough.

[@RJ_Onyxx]

So do I need to buy the 4TB SSD with the heatsink or without the heatsink?

[@homeroavila2955]

Where’s the heat shield and thermal thing links? I don’t see them in description

[@darrengaynor4966]

Same question

[@DeathTrick101]

Woah! Where'd you get that ROG Rubix cube?

[@juniferbilagantol]

Am I the only one who noticed that ROG Rubik's Cube? Where did you get that, ETA PRIME? Can we buy that?

[@nazoooom]

Is there a link for the m.2 heat sinks? Can’t find anything similar to them 😔

[@itsuzairkhan]

Can you provide the links to the thermal aluminum heat sink and the pad one?

[@joeschmoe5009]

Did you unplug the battery? It didnt look like it, and youd be the first 1 i saw who didnt, which would just mean itll be that much easier for me to do if i dont have to worry about that connection

[@GamerEnLinux]

from linux just open terminal ( konsole ) type : dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb (this is just an example modify it) , where /dev/ so chose IF the older drive and copy it to the new one OF. ;)

[@svenkilik]

Just brought the 2tb version of this drive.. since it has a heat spreader, wouldn't that be ok not to put a heat sink on it as well

[@RealScooley]

Very curious if a 980 Pro with heatsink will fit

[@dimelife1010]

Me too guess I'll find out next week when the ally x ships

[@svenkilik]

It does

[@OhioBoii330]

Sooo, im curious. If you pause it at the 6:50 mark and look in the top left corner of the board, there's a white "secure" clip thingy (idk what they're actually called, lol.) But, it's labeled "bios" but there's nothing connected to it. I know it came like that because you opened it and only removed the ribbon cable that goes to the rear back buttons. Soo, Unless you have opened this up before and removed the ribbon cable from that "secure" clip. If not, then it came like this. I believe it did come like this because I've seen empty "secure" clips before on brand new laptops. I just never understood what they were for. But, because this one says "BIOS" I'm really curious to know what the clip is for. It's obviously not anything important or it would have a cable connected to it. Sooo, what is that for? Why does it say "BIOS" but have nothing connected to it? What could be added to it?

[@jhonrock2386]

Uuuummm... the micro SD card would be a nice option to store oldschool emulators and old games, leaving more space in the internal drive for the newer and more demanding games.

[@bersaudari5311]

how about the new ssd temperature after using that sink, it is have higher temp than the original one or have higher temp because hv more speed?

[@randomELG]

what can i use the micro sd card for? like the speeds look bad for games. do i use ssd for big games and micro sd to store roms for emulations or what would you do with micros sd card?

[@KuttThroatFilmz]

Hey ETA can you please make a video on how to set the capture card for game play recording please 🙏🏽 🙏🏽🙏🏽 I’ve watch many of your videos and I see how you just plug up different devices to your capture card I’m just wondering how did you set everything up ?

[@2345bulls]

Do games play regular off sd cards

[@thediddlefiddler5569]

how are we showing mod videos but we can't cover the performance of the new X. Make it make sense.

[@obiwonkenobi]

If the only thing I have on my ally is games and I don’t care about re downloading them, is it alright if I skip the first step cloning the old drive?

[@jjglaser]

We need the prices of 4tb NVME drives to go down.

[@SmartFool24]

Man that 4TB drive has a 10.2W max write. I have a SN850x 4TB and my max write is 6.8W and it drains the shit out of my Ally.

[@ianmacd]

I bought the same SSD (4TB Kingston Fury) as used in the video, but my write performance isn't anything like that of ETA Prime's. I'm getting approximately 3800 MB/s on the first test, which still beats the stock WD drive by a small margin, but isn't anywhere near the rated capability of the drive. The drive idles around 34°C with bursts up to 70°C during the tests, so it's well within tolerances and shouldn't be throttling. Has anyone else seen similarly poor write performance with the Fury? Incidentally, I upgraded the Ally X's drive straight from the packaging, i.e. without first turning it on. Getting into the BIOS following the documentation was an arduous task that took me more than an hour. The device kept switching itself off while it was still in the ROG splash screen. Once in the BIOS, however, cloud recovery was pretty much plain sailing. I left it to complete overnight.

[@pierrefitch]

what is the type of screw driver i need will go to hardware store to get today to open case and for the ssd screw ?

[@sjzafrani]

Would it fit the 8tb? Cause why not? Also, Linus mentioned in his preview that you could swap in gullikit sticks since they redesigned how the stick boards connect to the triggers or something. What do you think?

[@AtlasRega]

Could you include the links for the heatsink and the thermal pad?

[@akinfolarina]

@etaprime don’t keep us hanging, where’s the link to the thermal shield and heat sink 😢. The Kingston comes with the option of a heat sink or heat spreader, I see in your video yours is with a heat spreader, do you apply this on top of the spreader?

[@khoa6696]

0:09 how to set live wallpaper like it bro?

[@mrknifeguy2283]

So this confirms the Ally X can be upgraded to 4tb without issue? The video on Best Buy’s website says “Up to 1tb” ssd

[@dragonslayer9671]

You forget to disconnect the battery overwise you will fry the mother board

[@alvaro9333]

Two questions as a noob: Is 1TB not enough for gaming nowadays? Will this SSD installment affect ASUS warrenty?

[@Greesher]

First question I can answer For portability more storage truly unlocks more of a better portable experience.

[@billybob2025]

I have the same storage on my ally now

[@Cozychamomilleaddict]

Hello, how did you get that RGB live wallpaper to work?

[@Carlito_zzz]

Can you tell me if it’s worth it buy the XG mobile from asus the egpu 2023 rtx4090 or it’s better build my own with a desktop gpu and power supply and the adapter with the thunderbolt 3/4 ( I’m going to use this like a gaming computer, I don’t have one and I need something portable ) i just don’t wanna spend a lot of money on bs 😅

[@OceanofStarsVR]

Where is the link to the heatsink & thermal???

[@bajiNdoel]

Yess, inject it with bazzite

[@teph1977]

HEY ETA just wanted to ask that could you fit 10 tb in the ROG ally If there is 8tb ssd and a 2tb SD card Please try it if it is possible than I will definetly buy it Thanks Keep making the great content❤❤

[@alandiegovillalobos]

At that point I guess the drives will be more expensive than the Ally... love it!

[@Nodster]

2tb micro sd cards exist? last I knew the largest was sandisk 1.5tb Also have you seen the price of 8tb NVMe drives!!!! lol

[@Healthy_Toki]

@@Nodster it's pretty frustrating how slowly 8tb rollout / pricing is coming along. Would be great to see SSDs pass platters in price / gb during my lifetime.

[@Nodster]

@@Healthy_Toki I think we will start seeing that price drop start happening when SSD's start to pass mechanical drives in size and we are probably only a couple of years away from seeing that size difference happening anyway. I did not even know 8tb consumer ssd's existed until recently but have known about enterprise products for a while now. The consumer SSD market is a bit of a strange one right now as it seems manufacturers are pushing for more speed over more capacity and the reality is would any of us actually see that speed difference in regular every day use like gaming, working etc? anything that is not straight up copying files to the drive where that is about the only time I could see anyone noticing an actual difference.

[@teph1977]

​@@Nodsterwell it's worth a shot

[@paolovictor8041]

Do you have to clone it? What if it is brand new with no games installed yet?

[@diddelmann9145]

Did the Ally X melt the SD-Cards like the old version ?

[@EricMckenzie-ee3fv]

@etaprime could you have used the Heat sink that Kingston has for the Fury without compromising the battery cable and other externals? TIA