Can I set a microSD card as my Steam Deck’s default drive?
Yep! In the main Settings menu, scroll down to the Storage section, then highlight the microSD card and press the X button to set it as the default installation location.
In this same sub-menu, you can also move games between the internal drive and the microSD. Select the game you want to move, press the Y button, make sure the other drive is selected in the drop-down menu, and finally hit 'Move' to transfer it over.
Is there any performance difference between installing games on a microSD card or on the Steam Deck’s SSD?
In most games, the only tangible difference is in load times; you won’t get slower framerates on a microSD card, for example. The only games that might not work as well as they do on the SSD are those that specifically take advantage of high SSD speeds, like Cyberpunk 2077’s open world streaming and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart’s dimension-hopping sequences. In the latter’s case, the game essentially sits on a loop for a few seconds so the game can load in the new scene from the microSD card, a transition that’s more or less instantaneous on an SSD.
To be clear, though, these examples are extremely rare. The only other egregious example I can think of is Starfield, which needs an SSD even on a beefy desktop PC. And that won’t run at acceptable framerates on the Steam Deck’s APU anyway, so storage is a moot point. The vast majority of your library should run just fine off a microSD.
Samsung Evo Select specs:
The Samsung Evo Select looks like a tasty microSD bargain: as I’m writing this it’s even cheaper than the SanDisk Ultra, despite its higher specs, and its performance in our Aperture Desk Job benchmarks was only behind the elite Samsung Pro Plus and SanDisk Extreme Pro. If you felt the sting of the Steam Deck itself in your finances, this kind of affordability will feel like a soothing aloe balm.
It’s only a disappointing result in the Shadow of the Tomb Raider loading test that denies the Evo Select a higher position in this list, though to be fair, its launching speed for the same game is much more competitive with the pricier stuff. It’s still a good bet for those wanting a budget microSD specifically.
Do I need to format my Steam Deck’s microSD card?
Probably, as microSDs normally don’t come ready-to-use on a Linux system like the Steam Deck. Luckily, formatting the microSD card yourself is easy. Just slide it into the port on the Deck’s bottom edge, power it on, then navigate to the System section of the main Settings menu. Scroll down to 'Format SD Card', hit the Format button, and in a few moments your card will be set up and ready to roll.
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Time to start rubbing those gleeful little hands, as we’re approaching the optimal time of year to pick up one of the best Steam Deck microSD cards. Hand-rubbing capability may or may not be diminished by actually holding said Steam Deck, but that’s fine, as either way 2024’s Black Friday sales are revving up to make these easy-peasy storage expansions even cheaper.
Just like desktop SSDs and, I dunno, vacuum cleaners, Black Friday is always dense with discounts on microSD cards, and they very often drop to prices that even Prime Day won’t stoop to. In other words, if you find your Steam Deck or Steam Deck OLED prone to filling up with fewer games than you’d like to play on it – and if it’s a 64GB or 256GB model, that’s likely already happened – then Friday, 29th November is the time to take advantage and net yourself the most gamespace for the least money.
As it happens, while updating the prices for the RPS-approved cards you’ll find below, I noticed some of them are already subject to early BF savings. A 1TB Samsung Pro Plus for $90? Not bad at all. A 1.5TB SanDisk Ultra down to £80 / $89? Very tempting. I think it’s worth waiting until Black Friday itself, though – early discounts are still discounts, but it’s not uncommon for retailers to make even deeper cuts on the main day. The same goes for other Steam Deck accessories, including cases and docking stations.
In the meantime, have a read of these recommendations and consider which microSD you think most deserves a home in your Deck. I’ve tested them all on game performance specifically, benchmarking their loading times Shadow of the Tomb Raider and the thinly-disguised Steam Deck tutorial Aperture Desk Job. Only the fastest and/or best-value cards make it onto this list; there are others I’ve tested that never made the cut.
Black Friday may also prove ripe for cut-price Steam Deck SSDs, should you prefer to upgrade your storage by completely swapping out the preinstalled internal drive. In most cases, however, simply pushing in a microSD card makes more sense: a fast one won’t be noticeably slower than an SSD in the vast majority of games, and the process for replacing the default drive is altogether fiddlier and trickier than installing an SSD in any desktop rig. They don’t even have an overall capacity advantage, as 1.5TB and 2TB microSDs have recently become much more common. You’ll find a few right here, in fact.
Samsung Pro Plus specs:
Samsung have crafted some of the finest PC SSDs (the 870 Evo, the 870 Qvo, the 990 Pro and so on), so it’s not terribly surprising they know their way around a brilliant microSD card for the Steam Deck as well. The Samsung Pro Plus was the first card I tested to get under 11s in the Aperture Desk Job launch test, as well as the first to hit 16s dead in the Shadow of the Tomb Raider loading test. The SanDisk Extreme Pro has since posted even faster load times, but Samsung's microSD has a generally better balance of price and performance.
That's not the same as it being cheap per se, especially compared to the SanDisk Ultra, but generally it’s only a few quids’ / bucks’ difference. Also, fresh for 2024, it's now got a 1TB option - deleting its past weakness of limited high-capacity options.
The fastest microSD card for the Steam Deck
Best microSD cards for the Steam Deck
The best microSD card for the Steam Deck overall
SanDisk Extreme Pro specs:
Even if it’s just by fractions of a second, the SanDisk Extreme Pro has the honour of being the only microSD card here to consistently outspeed the 512GB Steam Deck’s SSD: its 15.6s time in the Shadow of the Tomb Raider game loading test just noses past the SSD’s 15.9s. Should you mainly care about shaving off every possible half-second from your game loading times on the Steam Deck, then the Extreme Pro is the card to go for.
The only reason it’s not at the very top of this list is that the Samsung Pro Plus, which is also quick off the mark, tends to be more attractively priced. That said, some of the Extreme Pro’s capacities – like the 512GB version – are more on par with the Pro Plus in the UK, in which case it’s an excellent alternative. SanDisk’s microSD card also has a wider range of size options than most, including a spacious (if very pricey) 2TB model in the UK.
The best cheap microSD card for the Steam Deck
The SanDisk Ultra offers a wider range of capacities than the Pro Plus, with lower prices across the board. This is partly owing to its lower U1 speed class, meaning its write speeds aren’t as fast as U3 models, but that’s more of a concern for videographers needing a microSD card for their camera. Where games performance is concerned, read speed is king, and the affordable Ultra can keep pace with pricier cards.
It put up an especially spry challenge in Aperture Desk Job, and even its 'worst' performance – the Shadow of the Tomb Raider load test – was less than half a second slower than the Deck’s top-spec SSD. That said, I’d recommend going for a bigger capacity than the 64GB card I used for testing; the 256GB and 512GB models are both particularly good deals at their current prices, and the 1TB version is a bargain compared to the 1TB SanDisk Extreme Pro. The SanDisk Ultra also has the exceedingly rare quality of a 1.5TB option, which is as much microSD storage as your Steam Deck can possibly get.
Huge capacity options with competitive load times
PNY XLR8 microSDXC Gaming specs:
A rare games-focused card, the PNY XLR8 microSDXC Gaming put up respectable times in all four speed tests without any cheeky price premiums. In fact, for sheer affordability, the XLR8 is either a few pounds less or just a little more than the equivalent SanDisk Ultra capacity. And that’s while offering class U3 write speeds, which might be helpful if you’re planning to use the Steam Deck as a desktop PC even if they’re not as useful to gaming specifically.
After months of largely being a US-favoured proposition, all three varieties of the XLR8 are now easily available in the UK as well. The SanDisk Ultra has the advantage of a wider capacity range, including a 1TB model, but otherwise there's very little between these two microSD cards on price or Steam Deck performance.
Varied performance, but super cheap
PNY XLR8 microSDXC Gaming
A fast, affordable alternative to the SanDisk Ultra
