A user says he managed to get an M.2 2242 SSD installed in a Steam Deck with minor adjustments. By default, the Deck only supports the smallest M.2 2230 SSDs.
According to Twitter user Belly Jelly all users need is a adapter bracket which allows the motherboard to accept the 42mm long SSDs. Only a small thermal pad gets in the way of this adapter; it deleted the user. Furthermore, the adapter bends the heat spreader and SSD slightly, but he claims that this does not affect the operation.
To to make more hard that his mod works, he also posts pictures with his Steam Deck closed again and he installs SteamOS on the new ssd. All this goes without any problems, Belly Jelly reports.
The Steam Deck’s M.2 2230 size is the smallest SSD size available. The Pricewatch shows that there are currently six SSDs for sale that meet that size. In terms of M.2 2242 drives, there are 35 options. This increase in the number of options creates the potential to place an SSD with more than 1TB capacity in the Deck, or one with a more favorable price per gigabyte.
Valve is relatively open to the possibility of tweaking the Deck. Spare parts are available for purchase through iFixit, and the company has released CAD files of the case and a teardown. Valve previously said that the SSD in the Steam Deck “is not intended for replacement”, but in practice it does not seem to cause any problems.
Update, Sunday: A Valve employee advises against the mod† “Hi, please don’t do this. The charging IC gets very hot and the nearby thermal pads should not be removed. In addition, most 2242 SSDs consume more power and run hotter than Deck was designed for. This mod may seem to work , but will significantly shorten the life of your Deck.”