I’ve had a really frustrating experience with micro SD cards in my Steam Deck. Last year, an older SD card I was using completely died — couldn’t reformat it or use it in any other device, and even some Nintendo Switch reformat tricks didn’t work. I replaced it with a new card, but after about six months that one also failed. Luckily I was still under warranty and got a replacement. But now, just about four months later, the brand new SD card has died too. Is it common for SD cards to fail this frequently in the Steam Deck? I use EmuDeck on mine — could that be causing problems? I’m really at a loss here and super frustrated.
4 Answers
Honestly, that sounds pretty unusual. Most people don’t have multiple SD cards fail like that, especially if they’re decent quality. You might want to check exactly what brand and model you’re buying because a lot of cheap or fake SD cards out there can give you this kind of nightmare. Stick to well-known brands like SanDisk or Samsung EVO if you haven’t already, and avoid sketchy sellers—especially on sites like AliExpress where counterfeits are common.
It really sounds like either faulty or fake SD cards to me. No matter how you slice it, SD cards aren’t indestructible and some brands have higher fail rates. Three failures over a year or so is suspicious but not impossible if the cards were lower quality. I’d suggest testing any new card on other devices before fully relying on it in your Steam Deck, just to rule out the cards themselves.
It’s not common for SD cards to regularly fail in the Steam Deck. Your situation seems more related to the SD cards themselves rather than the Deck. Remember, no SD card brand is perfect and total failure can happen even with good ones—but 3 cards dying in that timeframe is definitely on the unlucky side. If you can, stick to solid brands and buy from trustworthy shops. Also, trying different retailers might help avoid counterfeit or lower quality batches.
From my experience, the Steam Deck itself isn’t known to be hard on SD cards. My 512GB SanDisk A2 has been rocking solid for about a year, and I put it through heavy use running EmuDeck and other stuff. So I wouldn’t blame your Steam Deck or EmuDeck directly. It’s more likely the SD cards themselves just had issues or were unlucky.
Thanks, that’s helpful! I’ve mostly got mid-tier cards and from decent retailers, but maybe I need to double-check my sources.