External SSD on Steam Deck!

[@cheesefries7436]

FINALLY, I've been trying to find a video of someone doing this since the thing came out! Thank you!

[@ChristopherToro]

The Crucial x6 2tb is an awesome external SSD for Steam Deck, and adding some velcro sticker to the back of a case makes switching between SSD's a lot simpler for me. With a ton of memory to boot.

[@thegatekeeperx3594]

I agree but the 4tb x6 is a bit better up to 800MBs rather then the 500MBs on the lower capacity x6's. But there probably the smallest external ssd's on the market with up to a 4tb capacity

[@jerziboricua1]

This is Great!!! All we need is someone on the Steam D community, to build a nice case for make all this fit.

[@jcurry3school]

I did the same, haven't installed everything, yet. Just to offer an idea to everyone. I didn't connect my ssd and hub directly to the deck, I cut slots into a silicone deck skin and used narrow velcro straps from Office Depot to hold them tight against skin. It's as simple as putting the skin on and pulling it off, returns it to OEM.

[@MinibattleLop]

Ok, coming back to this after getting my deck and doing some research. I have a very similar issue. I also think I know what the problem is. A lot of usb hub's with power delivery will reconnect when unplugged from the charger (should have no problems when being plugged in to the charger, only when unplugged). This is because it needs to switch to use the laptop's battery instead of whatever is charging it. Apparently devices with PD 3.0 can switch between these modes fast enough to keep all devices connected but I have not been able to try it. So here are some solutions: 1. Battery bank This will prevent the need for the hub to switch between modes, as long as it is always plugged into the battery bank, just make sure the battery bank doesn't run out of juice or their will be some issues. 2. Get a hub with PD 3.0 Again, I haven't been able to test but it would appear that drives with PD 3.0 will be able to switch fast enough to keep the OS going. (or any usb hub that can do this, I don't know of any plz recommend me some) 3. Install windows specifically somewhere else If you install windows to a micro sd card, or the internal storage, you can download all of your games to the ssd plugged into the hub. Because usb hub's that have reconnection issues usually reconnect fast enough to keep the drives running, as long as your not running an OS on them, it should be perfectly fine. Hope this helps someone!

[@allhandsonsteamdeck1440]

STEAM DECK COMMUNITY ROCKS I LOVE ALL THE IDEAS THAT WE'VE COME UP WITH AND WILL COME UP WITH IN THE FUTURE

[@FondaMusic]

I have Windows 11 pro on my micro sd card with the fastest gold Sandisk 512GB and yes it is a slower windows experience, but it's still very manageable and I love playing warzone and destiny 2. I also love playing pc game pass. The only thing I had to do for my steam deck controls to work is download glosc 2.0.6. Also, I am going to buy a foldable Bluetooth keyboard attached with a trackpad and that will also make your windows experience. It helps to press the windows button to return to desktop. p.s. make sure you have all AMD GPU drivers installed and windows updates up to date and warzone should run great!

[@J.Wick.]

I just bought a 2tb 2230 on Amazon during Prime Day to replace my 1tb currently installed in my SD...I think I'm gonna install the 2TB in the SD, and then take the old 1TB and do what you show in this video. Seems like a good way to have Windows when wanted. I have a perfect 2230 enclosure. Hmm.

[@bboy349833591]

Great video! I took some inspiration from you and built my own setup.

[@ChoaYeon]

So what your saying is I can dual boot by having windows on a T7 SSD only and have steam os when the SSD isn’t plugged in 🤔 That means I can keep the SSD plugged in the dock, and when I want to play windows games I can dock my steam deck and play windows games, but when I’m on the go I can play my better optimized steam os game. Now to wait for Oct-Dec for my email 🤣 I have a dock, screen protector, dbrand skin, 1tb SSD, clear case & my 1tb micro sd just waiting. LMAO

[@touijj]

have you tried booting games from it? would it load just as fast?

[@steamdeckknights8978]

Just get a three in one type c cable works the same but you can never get past the cut power issue it happens on powerbanks as well as wall plugs

[@james11h]

Definitely going this route. I was debating wether or not to wipe SteamOS and do full Windows but Warzone is the only game I care about that I can’t run via Proton and it’s not even the game I play most…so I’ve got my internal 256+512 SD dedicated to Steam/Origin/Epic and then I’ll set up my Samsung 512 with Win11 for COD games.

[@PocketTech1]

So I pretty much built the same set up as you but did you ever figure out the crashing when unplugging? Mine doesn't even work if it's unplugged, has to be plugged into power at all times

[@moonlambo5229]

I just have a longer cord going off to a dock with a 2.5" 2TB EXT HDD connected. Works great but not as portable as your solution. Carrying around a bunch of MicroSD cards in a case is also a viable solution if you wanna have lots of games.

[@captainrick4513]

What about plugging it in to the dock? Cause the main reason I'd be getting it to boot windows, is for games that need EAC to work online, namely, DBFZ and DBXV2, and Halo MCC, which if I need to be online, I'd be docked at the house anyway.

[@Sanjumadmike]

Have you tried with usb c splitter?

[@gray896]

I know you said you wouldn't look into it but have you found any solution or anything to figure out what the good hub that can fast swap ones you plug it in and disconnect the plug I have the same problem and I really like my setups

[@fruttism9527]

This is so brilliant, I'm loving it. Have anyone seen a case with pocket ready for ssd?

[@cadderley100]

I keep getting slow charger warning on mine.

[@Rich2799]

Pretty clever setup you made. Is heat an issue? I see you didn’t block the vent, but I wonder if that hard drive and hub creates additional heat that might make your fan run harder.

[@eightbitJuan]

I didn't notice any appreciable heat, certainly none that would affect the fan

[@ribamechh7716]

external ssd how effect battery life of steamdeck ? could you share your exprience about this ? thanks

[@eightbitJuan]

I didn't really run this past my initial testing, but I wouldn't expect it to affect it noticeably when using an SSD

[@manuelfabris7541]

Does an external ssd consumes a lot of battery? I mean it should even be able to play games from usb sticks since it plays them from sd cards

[@eightbitJuan]

It wasn't a noticeable difference in my testing

[@jadedshard9650]

its something to do with the power switching to battery the addon's loses power for the smallest of moments I use something similar and a battery pack when the pack dies and it uses the main battery it happen so I'm thinking its that

[@mrb3991]

Hi i just found your great video , will any usb c drive work with my 256gb steam deck thanks ?>?

[@eightbitJuan]

From what I can tell, probably yes. I went with a USB 3.2 Gen 2 drive to test the best case scenario.

[@Huevos_Rancheros]

how does WARZONE perform in this manner? I am fully intrigued

[@MinibattleLop]

terrifying hearing that the dock causes crashing after unplugging since I have almost the exact same janky setup for my soon to be steam deck. EDIT: The right angle adapters seem to be whats likely causing those crashes when you unplug.

[@eightbitJuan]

Should've mentioned this in the video, but that issue was there even without those. I only added those to tidy things up.

[@james11h]

Makes sense that it would cut power to the SSD for a split second when you unplug power to the dongle because the dongle is switching from the external power to device power to run the SSD

[@crazygamers4222]

Helo sir...extrnal ssd good for window on steam deck? Because m using micro sd card but some days work and till croupted all data...please tell me extrnal ssd is a good option to remove the memory card and window work well in ssd always?

[@Dr.Akakia]

Installing windows on MicroSD will ruin ur microSd bcuz lots of R/W , Buy urself and externall SSD with gen2 usb support like: samsung t7 and install windows on it

[@Nakx123]

Do you have a tutorial for how you did this? Did you just put windows 10 on a HDD from a desktop PC and then boot that HDD from the SteamDeck? Trying to Install W10 straight from the SteamDeck didn't work for me as it doesn't let me install W10 on an external drive through USb. So I installed windows 10 on my external drive on my desktop PC, and then plugged that into by SteamDeck to boot into, but now it's just not sensing the boot drive. I know my USBC adaptor works.

[@eightbitJuan]

If you check the description I have a link for a tool to install "Windows To Go."

[@Nakx123]

@@eightbitJuan Sounds good, currently doing that. Just wasn't sure if I could salvage the time I spent on my previous installation. Doesn't seem like I can as I can't find any solution, and so I will give Windows to go a shot, thanks.

[@vincentdonelson4553]

I must ask ,does it drain the battery fast when the external SSD is hook with out being on charger

[@eightbitJuan]

From what I could tell it drained at the usual speed

[@INTERCEPTOR310]

Do you need a stronger power supply or is 45 watts enough?

[@eightbitJuan]

The stock one was fine while running, the main issue is when you unplug

[@Dr.Akakia]

The standard is enough, and i get +3 hour AAA games and thats more than enough for me

[@christophersmith3695]

How did you attach it to the back?

[@eightbitJuan]

I went with some heavy duty Velcro

[@muehleisenalex]

Whats that for a Hub?

[@lightskinninja9340]

Just dual boot with the current workaround or wait until valve fixes the boot loader to support multiple OS’s. I know that it sounds crappy to split the deck’s limited storage, however not all games you’ll want to play will need the speeds the SSD’s can provide. The microSD cards come in large capacity and most games out will not have an issue being run off of them. And the ones that do would be the ones you’d prioritize being on the internal drive.

[@Spookiest_]

My deck is coming in this week, I'll be dual booting. Do you know if I plug an external drive while running windows, if I'll be able to run games off of it?

[@lightskinninja9340]

@@Spookiest_ the short answer is yes but it also depends how you are going to set it up. The easiest way would be to simply use the microSD slot on the deck. That way you don’t have to worry about the card coming loose or disconnecting while you are using it. If you’re going to use a hub and run the games off of something like a flash drive then my recommendation is that you use a Bluetooth controller opposed to using the deck’s controls itself. The reason being is that if for some reason that hub unplugs while you are using it then it can end up corrupting or even damaging your drives. I’ve got my deck already and so far I’ve been using steam OS mainly. I hate using windows but using it is the only way I can play destiny on the go. So if you do go the dual boot route just now it adds a lot of added complexity. I wouldn’t add more complexity to it by using external drives but that’s just my opinion.

[@lamtsang3236]

Ya'll guys are genius. Thank you you gave me a great idea for my steam deck. lol I've been looking more ways for more storage on my steam deck and I can't think of any solutions lol. smh lol I install windows 11 on mine and it took up the whole space along with Gears 5 lol.

[@MasterBen117]

i will also mount my samsung ssd on the steam deck protective case. first without dock to see how Windows works. from the sd card it was way too slow. I just want Windows because of the game pass! 😏 because I don't just want to stream cloud.

[@Dr.Akakia]

Yes, external SSD is the best way if u want windows on deck without messing with internal storage

[@seventhblessing.7371]

I respect the jank

[@N8TURES]

You took my idea 💡

[@hussein9714]

I need this vid thanks

[@gordface]

this is exactly what i was gonna do

[@anisyacine7986]

I have Aaad pro vertion

[@MPPC10]

How was warsone fps did the external?

[@eightbitJuan]

Think I got it around 45-55fps

[@jonathont5570]

hmm looks pretty janky, thank god I dont run windows for the past 10 years, long live Arch. lol micron 2tb is still hundreds and hundreds of dollars, such a waste.

[@cheesesaltpc]

Fortnite gamer

[@james11h]

Definitely going this route. I was debating wether or not to wipe SteamOS and do full Windows but Warzone is the only game I care about that I can’t run via Proton and it’s not even the game I play most…so I’ve got my internal 256+512 SD dedicated to Steam/Origin/Epic and then I’ll set up my Samsung 512 with Win11 for COD games.