Expanding the available storage in your Steam Deck is easy thanks to its microSD card slot, but it seems that there are still a few bugs for Valve to iron out in SteamOS before support is truly seamless. Thankfully, the company is actively developing new software functionality that should help you to avoid losing your data or worse.
In response to a Steam Deck support query on Twitter, Valve UX designer Lawrence Yang says the company is “looking into adding a software eject button for the SD card.” This would presumably work in the same way that ejecting external storage works in Windows, giving you peace of mind that no data is being transferred to the device before you unplug it.
For now, Yang wants to reassure Steam Deck users that “ejecting and swapping microSD cards while in game mode is safe” but stresses that this should not be done while running a game off it, of course.
When this new ejecting functionality arrives, we could also see it appear on competing handheld gaming PCs as Valve is working with Steam Deck rivals to bring SteamOS to other devices. Until then, you’ll want to make sure you have the best Steam Deck SD card inside your personal portable powerhouse.