You don't want to mod the Steam Deck SSD

For a few days, a mod has been circulating around the net that allows you to upgrade the Steam Deck M.2 2230 SSD to a larger 2242 unit through the use of an adapter. While this discovery makes it possible to increase the space available, on the other the Valve employee Lawrence Yang was quick to extinguish the enthusiasm, specifying that the change could cause problems with the reliability of the console.

Going into the details, Yang points out that the console is specifically designed for the power supply of M.2 2230, by swapping the SSD for a larger unit the circuits will work outside the power specifications due to the higher consumption by unity; Changing the thermal pads can also make component temperature levels abnormal. All of these factors taken together can significantly shorten the life of Steam Deck.



Source: geekinco
The reasons for making such a change are fortunately few, primarily because Valve has already equipped its console with microSD expansion slots. Although these memory cards are obviously slower than an M.2 SSD, the tests carried out with the gaming sessions also revealed framerates identical to those of the games run by the internal M.2 drive. Through the use of the microSD it is also possible to install Windows, an operation that you can perform through our guide, if you are interested in console owners.