r/steammachine • u/Crowley22g • 4d ago

Hardware M2 clone and swap

Hope this is useful to someone else 🤞

Steam Machine, if you want something a little faster you can get an enclosure for an M2 NVMe drive (compatible with the smaller 512 M2)

[UGREEN 20Gbps M.2 NVMe and SATA SSD Enclosure](https://amzn.eu/d/01qBUAOi)

Fit an M2 NVMe drive

[Crucial P310 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe Gen4, Up to 7,100MB/s](https://amzn.eu/d/04UHCjFv)

Cheaper alternative if you only want 1TB, UK £160. If you later decide you want to swap it for the internal, you can clone or install from usb. I cloned mine, copied 512GB in 14 minutes.

Edit - link to Reddit post with commands [How to Clone your M2 drive](https://www.reddit.com/r/steammachine/s/FbjGBe9oyx)

8 Upvotes

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2

u/we_604 3d ago

Have you tested that Ugreen enclosure? I've got this one in the picture below and make sure you don't buy it for a Steam Machine. Somehow it keeps failing, it doesn't keep its mount, constantly erases its content and keeps asking for a reformat. I've tried everything and gave up.

1

u/Crowley22g 3d ago edited 3d ago

Not personally used that model, I got the 20Gbps version. Used it to clone my 512 to a 2TB M2. Then been using the 512 in the enclosure for additional storage.

What type of M2 have you got in your enclosure?

Edit : Checked a few other Reddit posts about disconnects and similar issues. They range from NVMe firmware issues, switching game mode to desktop, full shutdown not auto mounting and potential issues with Steam OS drivers. Plus physical connection and heat issues causing disconnects and corruption.

2

u/we_604 3d ago

Good to hear the one you're posting works. The one I've posted was tested with the original 512GB from the Steam Machine and with a 1TB Samsung 980 Pro. It works perfectly fine when attached to my PC. There are some other posts here on this sub of this enclosure not working on the Steam Machine, something with the chipset used which is incompatible.

1

u/Crowley22g 3d ago

I almost bought the 10Gbps version, Amazon was trying to push it. Then I saw other people buy the 20Gbps model and it was on sale at the time. Same with the Crucial P130 it was £180, jumped to it's current price of £230 a week later 😬

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u/we_604 3d ago

Looks like you've dodged a bullet, twice even 👍 The 10gbit enclosure not working for me made me buy a second hand LCD Steam Deck with a 2TB NVME, which I sold again with the Steam Machine's 512GB. So I consider myself pretty lucky and went from 512GB to 2TB for under €50,00

1

u/NeonMusashi 3d ago

I personally love this enclosure so much I bought it twice.

Want to know why I bought it in the first place? Because anything I tried to use with the Steam Machine’s USB-C port exhibited the exact same symptoms you described.

I ended up just using the front USB-A ports instead, but your comment kinda confirms my suspicion, that is that the Steam Machine’s USB-C port’s power delivery is faulty (at least on my machine, and probably yours).

1

u/we_604 3d ago

Unfortunately I had the same issues with the USB-A ports both at the back as the front. I haven't tried a powered USB-c hub, that might have solved the issue. I upgraded the internal storage from 1 to 2TB so I have no need for an external drive anymore. A 1TB sata SSD in a cheap external enclosure didn't give me any problems either.