Steam Deck: UPTOHIGH 7-in-1 Docking Station with M.2 Drive (Review, Setup, Configure, Troubleshoot)
31This new dock features the same set of functionality as the previously reviewed 6-in-1 dock from UPTOHIGH (one of the USB 3.0 ports is now 2.0) but adds the ability to add your own NVMe M.2 drive for a permanent dock-based storage medium.
This video has many parts; a review, converting an existing M.2 drive and starting out with a fresh drive. Please use the chapter jumps to get to the areas you are intersted in.
In this video, I'll unbox the device and show you the hardware - then I'll transplant an existing Windows 10 boot drive previously used on the Deck into the dock.
We'll then repartition the NTFS drive into two parts; one to continue to provide Windows boot/gaming and another to store SteamOS games on that will work correctly with Steam.
Don't worry - we'll show you how to start from scratch too :)
Along the way, we'll troubleshoot common issues when making EXT4 partitions on these types of drives.
NOTE: For some reason, creating partions with SteamOS 3.4 BETA/PREVIEW causes some problems. We'll talk about them, but you need to know that you need to roll back to 3.4 STABLE in order to perform the steps in this video. I spent HOURS figuring this out so you don't have to.
Also, the Amazon listing claims you need a 65w power source to run this guy (which I do have). But I tested the power consumption with a drive installed, charging and playing a 21w game (Horizon Zero Dawn)
PRODUCT LINKS
UPTOHIGH Steam Deck Dock M.2, 7 in 1 Docking Station for Steam Deck with SSD Port
https://amzn.to/3FRfFwV
SABRENT Rocket Q 1TB NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 Internal SSD
https://amzn.to/3iZPIST
Scawp's Auto Mount Script
https://github.com/scawp/Steam-Deck.Mount-External-Drive
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CHAPTER JUMPS
00:00 - Warning/Intro
00:11 - Bumper
00:22 - Unboxing The Hardware
02:00 - Transplanting a Drive
04:45 - Booting Windows
06:50 - Resizing the drive to share EXT4 partition with Windows
08:45 - Starting with a fresh drive
10:05 - Uh oh! What's wrong?
10:30 - Fixing the permissions
11:10 - Adding drive to SteamOS
11:30 - Showing it won't survive a reboot
12:50 - Automounting script from Scawp
13:30 - IT WORKS!
13:50 - Final Thoughts