Is it Safe to Hotswap My Windows SD Card on Steam Deck?

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I’m thinking about setting up one SD card for Windows and another for my Steam games. If I want to remove the Windows SD card, can I do it without risking data corruption? Does it need to stay in my device all the time?

3 Answers

TechGuru88 -

It’s best to only remove the Windows SD card when your Steam Deck is off or in sleep mode. If you can, you should eject it through the storage settings, but don’t worry—it’s not necessary to leave it in 24/7. Just make sure to power down or suspend before swapping it out.

SafetyFirst24 -

You can swap out the cards without hassle, as long as you’re booting from your internal SSD. Just avoid running Windows off of an SD card if you can help it.

CardMasterPro -

Honestly, installing Windows on an SD card isn’t ideal. It can lead to poor performance since the card will be running at full capacity often, which can wear it out faster. If you do it, just make sure you’re okay with those drawbacks.

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