With the ASUS ROG Ally X, there are more than a few meaningful upgrades that have been implemented to improve the experience. One such example is the ability to use a traditional 2280 M.2 NVMe drive, as opposed to the 2230 form factor from the original Ally.

With this, you’re no longer limited to 2TB of storage if you want to upgrade the ROG Ally X SSD. Today, we’ll walk you through all of the steps, starting with a few things you’ll want to do before you even open up the back shell.

Step 1: Gather Everything and Prepare Your ROG Ally X

If you’re like us and enjoy tinkering with your various devices, there’s a good chance that you already have at least some of the required tools. However, it’s always good to have a checklist, so we’ve provided one below. Plus, we’ve included a few recommendations if you aren’t exactly sure what to look for.

What You’ll Need

• M.2 2280 NVMe SSD
  • Recommendations:
    • Silicon Power UD85 NVMe (2TB)
    • Samsung 990 EVO (1TB / 2TB)
    • WD_Black SN850X (1TB / 2TB / 4TB)
    • Samsung 990 PRO (1TB / 2TB / 4TB)
    • INLAND Performance Plus NVMe (8TB)
• NVMe SSD Enclosure
  • Recommendations:
    • UGREEN SSD Enclosure (10Gbps)
    • ASUS ROG STRIX NVMe Enclosure (10Gbps)
    • Sabrent USB 3.2 SSD Enclosure (10Gbps)
    • UGREEN M.2 NVMe Enclosure (40Gbps)
• iFixit Toolkit / Size 0 Philips Screwdriver
• Guitar pick (also found in iFixit Toolkit)
• SSD Cloning Software (i.e. Macrium Reflect Home)

Step 1.5: Turn Off Device Encryption

Before we get into the meat and potatoes, the first thing that you’ll want to do is turn off Device Encryption on the ROG Ally X. This is a “feature” enabled by default on pretty much any portable device, such as tablets, laptops, and gaming handhelds.

Its purpose is to provide additional layers of protection for the data on your device’s storage. While that’s a great idea, having this enabled can cause a bunch of headaches in the event that you don’t have the Bitlocker recovery key handy. So in order to help speed up the process of upgrading the ROG Ally X SSD, we recommend going ahead and turning this feature off. That being said, you can always go back and turn this back on after you’ve successfully upgraded the SSD.

1. Open the Settings app on your ROG Ally X.
2. Select Privacy & security in the sidebar.
3. Under the Security section, select Device encryption.
4. Tap the toggle next to Device encryption to the Off position.
5. Wait, patiently.

In some instances, turning off Device Encryption can take quite some time, as it took about 30-45 minutes with our own ROG Ally X.

Optional: Move (or Uninstall) Your Games to Speed Things Up

There’s a good chance that you went through and installed a bunch of games and apps as soon as you got the ROG Ally X. While that’s great and all, it’s actually a potential pain point if you want to upgrade the ROG Ally X SSD. That’s because the more storage that’s being used, the more data needs to be cloned.

Although this isn’t completely necessary, you might want to move your games and files to the microSD card. This can greatly speed up the entire process. For instance, I originally had about 950GB of data on the Ally X, but after removing games and files, I got it down below 200GB and the SSD was cloned in about 15-20 minutes. Otherwise, you’ll be waiting at least a few hours before you can even get to the point of replacing the SSD.

1. Open the Steam app on your ROG Ally X.
2. Navigate to your library.
3. Select the first game that needs to be moved.
4. From the listing, click the Gear button.
5. Click Properties…
   

   

   

   
   
6. In the left sidebar, click Installed Files.
7. Click the Move install folder button.
8. Make sure that your microSD card is selected.
9. Click Move.
10. Wait until the game has been moved before proceeding.

You’ll want to repeat the steps above for any other games in your Steam library. Once that’s finished, we recommend moving any other files to the microSD card or backing them up to the cloud. Then remove them from the internal SSD of your ROG Ally X before proceeding with the rest of the steps in this guide.

Step 3: Clone Your SSD

When it comes to actually getting your new SSD set up, there are a couple of different ways you can get your data transferred over. However, the method that we found to be most effective is through the help of Macrium Reflect Home. This is a free app that makes it incredibly easy to clone your existing SSD to the new one, without needing to worry about doing too much.

The only disclaimer I’ll point out is related to how much data is on your existing SSD. If your ROG Ally X is already packed to the gills, and the 1TB of storage is almost full, be ready to wait for a long time. The more data there is the more data that needs to be cloned and transferred. Thankfully, my home internet is fast enough that I just deleted all of the big games, and moved everything over to the microSD card before I got started. Obviously, your mileage may vary, so proceed with the option that works best for you.

1. If you haven’t already, install Macrium Reflect Home on your ROG Ally X.
   
2. Put the new SSD into the enclosure, and plug it in.
3. Open the Disk Management app.
4. Locate the new SSD at the bottom of the window.
5. If prompted with the “Initialize Disk” window, make sure the NVMe is checked, GPT is selected and click OK.
   

   

   

   

   
   
6. Open the Macrium Reflect Home app.
7. Make sure that you can see the attached NVMe at the bottom of the window.
8. Below the “Disk 1 GPT,” click the Clone this disk… button.
9. In the window that pops up, click Select a disk to clone to…
10. Select the attached NVMe.
11. Once selected, click the Copy Partitions button.
12. From the drop-down menu, click Shrink or extend to fill the target disk.
    

    

    

    

    
    
13. Click the Next > button.
14. Click the Next > button again.
15. From the Clone Summary page, click the Finish button.
16. When prompted, make sure that the Run this backup now option is checked then click OK.
17. If you see a warning about the drives being overwritten, click the checkbox to confirm, then click Continue.
18. Go grab a snack and drink.

Step 3: Out With the Old…

Once the cloning process is complete, it’s time to get down and dirty, busting open the ROG Ally X. Honestly, the next few sections are an absolute breeze, and the process isn’t as daunting as it might first appear. It’s definitely not as complicated as trying to swap the SSD on the MSI Claw or anything.

1. If you have one installed, remove the microSD card from your Ally X.
2. Safely eject the attached SSD enclosure.
3. Completely power down your ROG Ally X.
   • You can either press and hold the power button until it turns off, or within the Power Menu from the Start Menu.
4. Flip your ROG Ally X, placing it screen-down.
5. Using a Philips 0 screwdriver, remove the six screws across the back of the handheld.
   • Do NOT lose these screws.
   • We also recommend placing them in such a way so that you know which screw goes where.
     
6. Grab a guitar pick or piece of thin plastic.
7. Starting at the opening around the triggers, slowly and carefully separate the front and back shells.
8. DO NOT “RIP” OFF THE BACK COVER — THERE IS A RIBBON CABLE ATTACHING THE REAR BUTTONS.
9. Using a plastic pry tool, carefully remove the cable connected to the battery.
   
10. Remove the screw holding the current NVMe in place.
11. With a plastic pry tool, carefully remove the heat sink from the “old” SSD.

Step 4: …In with the New

Now that you’ve removed the old SSD, it’s time to get the new one installed, and everything put back together.

1. If you haven’t already, remove the “new” SSD from the enclosure.
2. Place the heat sink onto the “new” SSD.
3. Insert the SSD and reinstall the mounting screw.
4. Reinstall the battery cable.
5. Line up the front and back cover plates.
6. Gently push them together until you hear the clips snap back into place.
7. Reinstall the six screws that you previously removed.

Step 5: Fire ‘er Up

You might have made it this far, got too excited, and tried to just turn on your freshly upgraded ROG Ally X, only to notice that nothing happened. If this is the case, don’t fret. Grab the charger that came in the box and plug it into the Ally X.

Then, wait for an indicator light to appear at the top between the second USB-C port and the Volume Down button. Once you see the indicator light up, press and hold down on the Power Button until you see the boot screen.

Voila!

You’ve successfully upgraded the ROG Ally X with more storage, giving you even more space for games, apps, and anything else you want to install. Once you’ve successfully booted into Windows, open the File Explorer app just to double-check that the correct amount of storage is being shown.

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