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Okay, so. Have you noticed how ridiculously pricey those MicroSD Express cards are? It’s nuts, really. And because of this, a bunch of crafty folks (DIYers, you might say) are hunting down ways to boost the Switch 2’s storage without breaking the bank. Take this YouTube channel, Better Gaming. They got curious and tested this open-source MicroSD Express adapter, specifically for the Switch 2, which supports those hefty M.2 NVMe 2230 SSDs. But, well, things didn’t exactly go as planned.
We’ve chatted about this adapter before—it’s part of the SDEX2M2 project, which leans into the PCIe roots of MicroSD Express. The idea? Use the SD Express 7.1 standard, exploiting its PCIe Gen 3×1 interface, to get those NVMe SSDs up and running. Sounds smart, right?
All geeky tech aside, Better Gaming grabbed the blueprints (because who doesn’t love a good blueprint?) and churned out a bunch of PCBs through some third party. A bit of soldering later—four attempts, actually—they slapped together a working adapter, complete with an M.2 connector and, of course, an R1 resistor.
Fast forward, this YouTuber managed to pop in a Corsair MP600 Mini NVMe SSD into their Switch 2. Physically, it all fit snug as a bug. The Switch 2 even gave the adapter a nod of recognition. But then—bam!—error code “2016-0641” reared its ugly head, stubbornly saying the Switch 2 couldn’t access the microSD card. Major bummer.
Why, though? Turns out, passive adapters don’t quite chat as expected with Switch 2. See, MicroSD Express cards come with their own controllers, something the Switch 2 expects when one gets plugged in. NVMe SSDs do have controllers, sure, but they’re not buddies with the SD Express 7.1 standard.
Now, word on the street (or maybe it’s just the vibe in the DIY circles) is that the folks behind the SDEX2M2 project are cooking up a fix with an FPGA thrown in to mimic a MicroSD Express controller. If this works, gamers could finally escape the clutches of those overpriced MicroSD Express cards to boost that measly 256GB Switch 2 storage. I mean, ever seen the prices? A 256GB MicroSD Express card goes over $50 easy, whereas you could snag a 1TB NVMe SSD, like the Corsair MP600 Mini, for around $90.
Honestly, if that FPGA fix pans out, it could be a game-changer—literally. Just a little bulky for handheld mode, but hey, small price to pay for more space, right?
