Why Your Old SD Card Won’t Work With Switch 2
The Switch 2 comes with 256GB of internal storage, which is quite a lot compared to the previous console, which originally only had 32GB. However, if you need more storage to download heavy games , you may have noticed that the Switch 2 does not support older SD cards. The new console only supports SD Express cards.
This means that if you have data from an old Switch console on an SD card, you won’t be able to simply plug it into the Switch 2 and start playing. This will result in an error similar to the one shown above. If you want to transfer data from an old card to a new console, it’s best to follow the data transfer procedure outlined in the new Switch 2 console settings.
Unfortunately, this also means you’ll need a new SD Express card for the Switch 2. If you’re not familiar with this particular type of card or don’t know why it’s important, let’s take a closer look.
What are SD Express cards?
At first glance, SD Express cards may look like any other microSD card you’ve seen before, but their capabilities vary significantly. MicroSD cards typically have a fairly wide range of speeds, so classifying them can be tricky . In short, while super-fast SD cards often have read/write speeds up to 300 MB/s, they’re usually significantly slower. For example, the Nintendo microSD card I used in my Switch OLED console reads data at only about 90 MB/s.
SD Express cards (marked EX) use PCIe and NVMe interfaces, similar to those used in solid-state hard drives. This means they can theoretically reach speeds of up to 985 MB/s, and in practice, they’re pretty close. For example, the Lexar Play PRO card reads at up to 900 MB/s and writes at 600 MB/s. Such high speeds can come at a price: 256 GB microSD Express cards start at $60 .
Higher speeds provide two main benefits: faster downloads and shorter loading times. Downloading a new game to your console can be limited by a number of factors, from your internet speed to the load on your download servers and, of course, your storage speed. Using faster SD cards means that downloading a new game can take less time.
Once the game loads, however, loading times become a real hit. If you regularly double-check every loading screen, you know that waiting for data to load after fast-traveling or entering a new map is incredibly annoying. For games saved on an SD card, faster speeds mean less waiting.
Why does Switch 2 need SD Express cards?
It’s tempting to ask why Nintendo is rushing this update, but when you compare it to other consoles, it’s honestly surprising it’s taken so long. For example, on the Xbox Series X, dedicated memory cards are little more than a proprietary add-on on top of a regular SSD. As for the PS5? You can just pop in a real M.2 SSD .
Even on comparable portable platforms like the Steam Deck, the standard for expanding storage was to use internal SSDs, which often required complex DIY upgrades . Sure, it’s doable for the average tech-savvy Lifehacker reader, but perhaps too much of a stretch for the general public.
SD Express cards are, at least for now, probably the best compromise between the increasingly slow speeds of traditional microSD cards and the need for complex SSD storage. And even SD Express cards may seem too slow in a few years: compared to other cards, they’re already a bit slower than the Switch 2’s internal storage (though, surprisingly, faster than the official cartridges).
Which SD Express Cards Should You Buy?
There aren’t many SD Express card options on the market right now, and the prices for the highest capacity cards are sky-high. I’d venture to guess that if you just spent $500 on a Switch 2 bundle, you probably won’t be interested in spending $220 on a 1TB SD Express card. Luckily, there are some good options at more reasonable prices.
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The Lexar Play PRO microSD Express 256GB card starts at $60 and is one of the most affordable options. It claims read speeds of 900MB/s and write speeds of 600MB/s, which are among the fastest I’ve seen. Lexar also offers 512GB and 1TB options, but they’re more expensive and sometimes out of stock.
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The SanDisk microSD Express 256GB card costs about $68 and offers 880MB/s read and 650MB/s write speeds. In practice, the difference probably won’t be too big compared to the Lexar card. It’s a bit more expensive, but it may be easier to find in stock.
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The Samsung microSD Express from Nintendo has Nintendo’s official seal of approval, but its speed is not specified. It’s likely to be faster than regular SD cards, but without specs, we can’t say by how much. If Nintendo’s official seal of approval is reassuring, it starts at $60.
Over time, more options will likely become available, and the prices of SD Express memory cards will ( hopefully ) come down. Right now, expanding the storage on the new Switch 2 is more expensive than on the old model. But at least it will be much faster. And with 256GB already built in, you may not need it.