Alright, so here’s the deal. These MicroSD Express cards are through-the-roof expensive, and it’s kind of forcing folks to get all DIY about boosting the Switch 2’s storage. Some YouTuber with a channel called Better Gaming tried this wild idea — a homebrew MicroSD Express adapter that somehow lets you hook up a regular M.2 NVMe SSD to the Switch 2. Sounds genius, right? Well, initially, it was a bit of a train wreck.
I remember reading about this open-source gizmo they’re using, the SDEX2M2 or something. It’s supposed to exploit the foundation of MicroSD Express’s PCIe base and NVMe magic, enabling those SSDs to work. Yeah, I barely get it either, but I think it’s about using that SD Express 7.1 anthem—or standard—um, which plays nice with PCIe Gen 3×1 or whatever techy stuff.
There’s this video, which I attempted to watch on YouTube, “Let’s Run an SSD on the Switch 2.” I probably got distracted by that thumbnail with the shiny console. Anyway, this Better Gaming guy takes some blueprint magic, orders up PCB clones from some third party (DIY dreams alive!), and after what had to be a crazy soldering spree, finally pieces the thing together with all those bits like an M.2 connector and some R1 resistor doodad.
But—big BUT, right after thinking it was all sunshine and rainbows, like magic, he slides the adapter into the Switch 2, and the thing signals it like, “Oops, incompatible, error 2016-0641.” Why am I not surprised? It’s the kind of plot twist life’s full of. Turns out, passive adapters don’t quite have the chitchat ability expected between the Switch and those NVMe SSDs. Apparently, MicroSD Express cards got their own little helpers (controllers) to handle that, while NVMe’s chilling in its own world.
Now some brainy folks in the project have identified this flaw. They’re plotting an update with an FPGA setup, hoping it’ll mimic what the MicroSD Express controller does. If they nail this, gamers might finally have a worthy replacement for these overpriced cards. I mean, who doesn’t drool over getting a 1TB NVMe SSD for about 90 bucks compared to shelling out over $50 for a mere 256GB?
By the way, if tech goodies tickle your fancy, Tom’s Hardware throws some solid reviews and updates your way. So, maybe toss them a follow on Google News, if you’re into that.
Got to say, this whole thing had me rethinking my pathetic attempt to mod an old Gameboy. Maybe I should’ve filmed it.
