How to Clone Steam Deck SD Card to New SD Card: Best Way

To enhance your gaming experience, you may consider upgrading your Steam Deck’s original SD card. But how to transfer or clone Steam Deck SD card? You can get the best cloning way with a comprehensive guide in MiniTool.

The Steam Deck expands its storage space by using a microSD card, allowing you to easily save more games, applications, and files. This removable SD card is both flexible and convenient, and you can also clone the Steam Deck’s SD card to a new card with a larger capacity to enhance your gaming experience.

I got an SD card initiated when I got my Deck, a 256 GB. I realized that I underestimated the amount of space I'd use, so I just got a 512 GB. My question is, should I just reinstall Steam games/retransfer ROMs for use with Emudeck, or if I use cloning software, would I just be able to pop in the SD card and have it work like nothing was changed? Thank you!https://steamcommunity.com/

As a matter of fact, using cloning software can make things easier. With just a simple transfer of games and other data, you can achieve your goals without any extra effort. How to clone Steam Deck microSD? This guide provides an answer.

How to Transfer SD Card to a New One on Steam Deck

To clone Steam Deck SD card without data loss, reliable cloning software is indispensable. Here MiniTool ShadowMaker, a piece of free and all-in-one backup software, can help make things a bit easier for you.

MiniTool ShadowMaker is a professional backupper, that supports almost all Windows versions including Windows 7/8/8.1/10/11, enabling you to perform file backup, disk backup, partition backup, or system backup. Beyond that, it offers a recovery feature, file syncing, advanced parameters customization, as well as bootable media creation.

Meanwhile, the good cloner – MiniTool ShadowMaker also provides a dedicated option, namely, Clone Disk. This free disk clone solution can help upgrade your SD card without SteamOS reinstallation and makes everything easier to run.

Also read: How to Upgrade Steam Deck SSD

Before cloning a microSD card to a new or larger one, you need to download and install MiniTool ShadowMaker first by pressing the button given below and you will get a trial version, which comes with a 30-day free coupon.

MiniTool ShadowMaker TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Before You Clone Steam Deck SD Card

1. Power off your Steam Deck and take out the original SD card.

2. Connect your new and old SD cards to your computer using SD card readers. However, if you only have one SD card reader, you can first utilize MiniTool ShadowMaker’s disk backup function to back up the original SD card, and subsequently restore the backup image onto the new card, so as to ensure a seamless data migration.

3. If you have important files on the target SD card, please backup the data on it in advance, as the cloning process will overwrite all the data stored on it. If it’s an empty new card, you don’t have to worry about it.

Now, let’s see how to migrate your data from the old microSD card to the new one.

Step 1: Launch MiniTool ShadowMaker and click on Keep Trial.

Step 2: Go to the Tools tab and select Clone Disk.

Step 3: Then you will go to another window that will show you all your drives connected and you need to select the SD card that you prepare to clone as your source disk. Click Next to continue.

Step 4: Choose the new SD card as your target disk. When everything has been settled, click on Start to begin the cloning process. You will receive a warning message that alerts you that data on the target disk will be erased. If you have already backed up or the new card is empty, click OK to confirm that you want to finish the task.

When initiating, it will show you the task progress with the remaining time and elapsed time. If you don’t want to wait, check Shut down the computer when the operation is completed and your computer will shut down automatically. Once done, you can remove the two SD cards.

Also read: Steam Deck vs PS5: Which One is Better for Playing Game?

Tips:

Go to Options > Disk clone mode and you are allowed to perform a sector by sector cloning. Here you can see that the cloning software defaults to using the new disk ID mode during the cloning process.

Also read: Move/Install Games to SD Card on Steam Deck (Full Guide)

Bottom Line

As we introduced above, you can tell the cloning software – MiniTool ShadowMaker – acts as a great helper when you clone Steam Deck SD card. What’s more, it comes with a series of functions and features like backup, sync, recovery, and more, bringing better services than you expected.

If you need any help or encounter any problems when using MiniTool ShadowMaker, please feel free to contact us through [email protected]. We will reply to you as soon as possible.

Clone Steam Deck SD Card FAQ

Does an SD card matter for Steam Deck?

The basic model of Steam Deck only has 64GB of storage space, which may fill up quickly after using it for a while. Even the 512GB version can quickly run out of storage space once you start playing AAA-level games. Therefore, it's a wise choice to prepare an SD card for your Steam Deck.

Can you use multiple SD cards on Steam Deck?

Yes, the Steam Deck comes equipped with a Micro SD card slot that supports high-capacity SD cards, allowing you to add extra storage space to the device. Therefore, you can use multiple SD cards to expand the storage capacity of the Steam Deck.

Are all microSD cards compatible with the Steam Deck?

The Steam Deck has low requirements for MicroSD cards. Any UHS-I MicroSD card can be used, including MicroSDXC cards for expanding capacity and high-capacity MicroSDHC cards.

About The Author

Nan

Position: Columnist

Nan is always interested in writing and exploring new things. Her enthusiasm for writing leads her to become an English editor. She likes to share helpful information about kinds of Android issues with readers and focuses on PC backup and restore. She also loves to read books and watch documentaries in her spare time.