Sure, here we go:
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Okay, so, imagine this: MicroSD Express cards. Those babies are seriously over-the-top expensive right now. Like, why? Because they are, people are hunting for other ways to boost the Switch 2’s memory. Better Gaming—you know, that YouTube channel—tried something interesting. They checked out this open-source MicroSD Express adapter made for the Switch 2. It’s supposed to handle M.2 NVMe 2230 SSDs. Spoiler alert—it didn’t go as planned. Bummer, right?
Yeah, we’ve talked about this adapter before. It’s part of the SDEX2M2 thingy. The tech stuff is crazy because, basically, it uses MicroSD Express’ PCIe to run NVMe SSDs. Like, it’s playing with the SD Express 7.1 standard. Don’t ask me why I remember this, but the PCIe Gen 3×1 interface is what it’s dabbling in. Some wild tech magic, I guess?
Anyway—no, wait—so what did Better Gaming do? They grabbed the blueprints from SDEX2M2 and got someone to churn out a bunch of duplicate PCBs. The work is nuts; they soldered all this stuff on there, like an M.2 connector and an R1 resistor—or whatever it’s called. After four tries and burning through a few PCBs, they finally had a real-deal adapter. Big cheer moment! Tested it with a Corsair MP600 Mini NVMe SSD on the Switch 2. Physical part? All good. Slipped in like a glove. The Switch 2 detected it like it was meant to be there.
But ah—plot twist. Things went sideways. Error code “2016-0641” popped up. What’s that about, right? The Switch basically went, “Nope, can’t find the microSD card.” Ouch.
Turns out, and here’s the kicker, passive adapters miss some kind of needed chat between the Switch 2 and NVMe SSDs. MicroSD Express cards, they’ve got their little built-in controllers going on, and the Switch expects that social interaction when one pops in. NVMe SSDs got their controllers too, but it’s like wrong language translation, comparing apples to oranges—they don’t speak the SD Express 7.1 lingo.
The folks behind SDEX2M2 are on it, like detectives. The new design supposedly integrates this FPGA gadget. And what’s that? Basically, it tries to mimic a MicroSD Express controller. Fingers crossed it’ll fix the snafu.
But hey, if this FPGA thingamajig actually works, it could be a total game-changer for expanding the Switch 2 storage. Those MicroSD Express cards? Ugh, costing around 20 to 25 cents per GB—that racks up to way over $50 for a measly 256GB card. Meanwhile, a 1TB NVMe SSD like a Corsair MP600 Mini? You’d be shelling out as little as $89.99. Choices, am I right?
Stay tuned with Tom’s Hardware if you want to keep in the loop. Hit that follow button and—oh, got distracted. But seriously, you might wanna keep track if you’re in the techy vibes world.
