Discussion I have a few SSDs laying aroud. Please Nintendo, let me use them!

[Reinhard Schneider]

Honestly, this may be the only grievance i've had with my Switch for a long time already.

I have second gen Switch, and i'm pretty much a digital guy overall (If you're good at buying credit for the eShop, and then taking advantage of sales, digital can get pretty cheap. You need patience though) so i'm - relatively - constantly escalating in extra storage. I'm at 256 GB now, and there's some games i have to purposedly download if i want to play them.

I'm talking heavy games like Witcher 3, Skyrim, MonHun Rise and the likes. I kinda have to plan my play sessions because of it and it gets annoying.

I've been wondering for a while why hasn't Nintendo enabled USB storage. I get that it would cause issues when going from docked to undocked (i myself have used this argument before) but come on, it's been 7 years already, i can think of a few workarounds and solutions for that:

• Use icons to distinguish between SD and USB stored software
• Segregate software installed on SD and NAND from software installed on USB (this was already done on Wii!)
• Release and promote USB-C storage and/or adapters for handheld mode (That USB-C feels underutilized!)

I could probably think of even more solutions, but i'm feverish and my mind is kinda hazy lol.

Dude, just how many digital games you have?

More than i'm willing to admit. Steam spoiled me. I love my game cards but will never say no to digital, it's just too convenient.

They probably fear it's used as a hack entry point

We're 7 years in. First model was vulnerable, yeah, but Mariko consoles seem to be breakable only via hard modding. Trust your own hardware a little more

Just get a bigger microSD

Prices rise exponentially as you get closer and closer to the 1 TB mark. Flash prices are way higher than SSDs for lower performance. No way i'm paying 65 € for 512 GB or 140 € for 1 TB.

It irks me that Nintendo was willing to unlock BT audio while sacrificing controller connectivity, but wont compromise on portability (wich would be solved with a USB-C adapter anyway) by enabling USB storage.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

It's because it's a handheld primarily, a home console a distant second.

Just get a TB microsd and forget about it. That's your only choice, and it's almost certainly going to be the only choice for the next console too.

 

[Reinhard Schneider]

It's because it's a handheld primarily, a home console a distant second.

Just get a TB microsd and forget about it. That's your only choice, and it's almost certainly going to be the only choice for the next console too.

Nintendo treats it like a home console though.

And it's not like once the table is out of the dock you can't do anything with it. Everything that works when plugged on the dock also works when plugged on the tablet by used with an adapter. I have tested everything i can and there are no limitations.

 

[Luneth]

I put a TB sd card and I couldn't be more happy about that. The console is fast enough, no need for SSD imo, and I have a lot of space, just now I have nearly 300 games on the go.

 

[crepuscule]

Nintendo treats it like a home console though.

And it's not like once the table is out of the dock you can't do anything with it. Everything that works when plugged on the dock also works when plugged on the tablet by used with an adapter. I have tested everything i can and there are no limitations.

In marketing they do (because they know a significant amount of people only play it as a home console) but not in design. It has all the limitations of a portable console (power, size, expense on battery and screen) and every single one of the new models has been almost entirely focused on portable play. Battery Life updates, smaller console that doesn't dock, bigger screen by decreasing bezels, OLED screen, better kickstand. The only thing that improves the home console experience since launch has been the ethernet port on the oled dock (which replaced the usb 3 port).

It is a portable console with a well designed docking system and increased clock speeds when docked.

 

[Dcubed]

For the obvious reason. As soon as you take it out of the dock, BOOM! Full system crash.

They'll probably have to implement internal M.2 SSD support for Switch 2 though, as it's the only way that they'll be able to keep up with next gen storage speed/size demands (SD Card manufacturers are just too content with the current status quo and are dragging their feet on maxing out the current SDXC standard; while outright refusing to even start with the SDUC standard).

 

[LinkURL]

The only way I see them giving this option is for USB storage to only be accessible through system settings, and from a submenu you can switch games between Internal Memory/SD and USB, with games only being launchable if installed in internal memory or SD.
But realistically I don't see Nintendo doing that, SD cards are getting cheaper and cheaper these days.

 

[Pineapple Pizza]

I dread having to redownload all the titles on my 1TB card when the Super Switch drops. I do hope Nintendo one day provides a way of allowing us to take an SD card from one console and put it in another, then associate its games with that console.

As it stands games are tied to a specific console and while you can transfer games from card to card for use on the same console, you can't use them games on any other console, and that plain sucks.

 

[Smash Kirby]

I dread having to redownload all the titles on my 1TB card when the Super Switch drops. I do hope Nintendo one day provides a way of allowing us to take an SD card from one console and put it in another, then associate its games with that console.

As it stands games are tied to a specific console and while you can transfer games from card to card for use on the same console, you can't use them games on any other console, and that plain sucks.

Especially when I can copy files to a external drive for Xbox and play off of another Xbox.

 

[MLH]

I've got a 1TB Micro SD in my Switch, it's almost full, 100GB left.
Higher MicroSD cards aren't really available yet (for a reasonable price).

So I'm hoping the next gen console does allow for m.2 SSD expansion. If they do, then changes are they go with the smallest M.2 2230 which might make

 

[Serif]

It's possible via homebrew. A safeguard for accidentally undocking an externally installed game is to just force quit out of the software.

They should enable it down the line even if it's a relatively underused feature by most folks.

 

[Look over there]

They'll probably have to implement internal M.2 SSD support for Switch 2 though, as it's the only way that they'll be able to keep up with next gen storage speed/size demands (SD Card manufacturers are just too content with the current status quo and are dragging their feet on maxing out the current SDXC standard; while outright refusing to even start with the SDUC standard).

eUFS is far more suitable for a Switch style device. Sufficient speed plus the requisite sensible power draw.

If game design ever transitions to needing to stream multiple gigabytes per second more often than not, spending multiple watts to do so like NVMe drives do is a fucking godawful idea for devices whose power budgets are only few times that, if even. And I'm being generous here.

(top of the line gen 3 drive in terms of power efficiency? SK Hynix's P31 Gold takes the crown at ~1 GB/s sequential read per watt. Outside of that, random gen 3 drives should average in the 500's or 600's MB/s sequential read per watt.
eUFS 3.X should be able to do ~2 GB/s sequential read within 1 watt under typical operating temperatures)

Edit: Remember, NVMe storage is optimized for max sequential speeds with power draw being noticeably lower priority. Conversely, UFS is designed for devices which prioritize power draw.