Okay, so here’s the thing. MicroSD Express cards. Crazy expensive right now. Like, not even funny how much they cost. Folks who are kinda handy with tech? They’re all like, “Nah, not paying a fortune,” and started poking around for other ways to juice up the Switch 2’s storage. Better Gaming—you may have heard of him if you hang out on YouTube—tried this cool open-source hack: a MicroSD Express adapter meant for Switch 2, hooking up M.2 NVMe 2230 SSDs. Yeah, I didn’t know what that meant at first either, but let’s roll with it. Spoiler: his first try flopped.
So there’s this open-source thing they’re using, called SDEX2M2. It’s supposed to be all about getting your Switch 2 to play nice with NVMe M.2 SSDs. Apparently, it gets its groove from the PCIe Gen 3×1 part of the SD Express 7.1 standard. No idea why that stood out to me, but it did. Anyway, this Better Gaming guy—he took these blueprints for the project and somehow got a whole bunch of PCBs made from a third-party service. Fun times soldering those pieces, I’m sure.
Fast forward—four boards, four attempts, and a handful of solder-fueled frustrations later… Bingo! He’s got a working thingamajig. It even fit into the Switch 2 and the console was like, “Hey, I see you.” But—here’s the kicker—cue error code “2016-0641.” Surprise, the Switch 2 couldn’t actually tap into the microSD card. Yikes.
Turns out, just plugging in an NVMe SSD doesn’t cut it. The Switch 2 is looking for some chit-chat with a MicroSD Express card controller, which NVMe SSDs just can’t do. So while NVMe SSDs flaunt their own controllers, they just don’t speak the same language as the SD Express 7.1 stuff.
Now, the SDEX2M2 folks have figured out this hitch and apparently are cooking up a new version with an FPGA to mimic a MicroSD Express controller. Fancy, huh?
I mean, if they nail it, more power to gamers everywhere wanting a beefy Switch 2 storage without crying over the price tag. Sure, a 256GB MicroSD Express runs more than $50 these days, while a whole 1TB NVMe SSD, like the Corsair MP600 Mini, goes for less than $90. And you tell me which one’s the better deal. But hey, an adapter like this might be a bit clumsy if you’re moving around while playing. Just a thought.
So, yeah, that’s the lowdown. Follow Tom’s Hardware on Google News—it’s your best bet to stay updated without fluff.
