ROG Ally may encounter thermal issues related to MicroSD card operation. The handheld device, which was released last month, appears to have a design flaw that could cause the device's MicroSD card reader to stop working under certain conditions, Asus said in a statement.

"Internal testing has confirmed that the SD card reader may malfunction under certain heat stress conditions," an Asus representative said on the Republic of Gamers Discord (via Tom's Hardware).

If you don't have a ROG Ally, or even if you do, you may have missed what this MicroSD issue is. Basically, it is that some MicroSD cards installed in the MicroSD slot on the handheld PC at the top of the device malfunction due to heat emitted from its components. The problem tends to manifest itself in the form of MicroSD cards that cannot be mounted or read by the device; some users have been able to restore the cards with the PC, but others have reported that the cards have been toast since this problem occurred.

A user named Telios on the ROG Ally Subreddit Discord, which has a thread dedicated to SD cards, describes the problem: "I'd say mine ruined the reader.

Another user, BackwaterHero, says he managed to recover the card using a USB reader: "I used an SD card reader via USB, updated, formatted, renamed to exfat. Everything appears and works again"

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Several users on Reddit have reported that turning on Core Isolation in the Windows security settings actually made the MicroSD card work again in their devices. This suggests a software issue, even though Asus has confirmed a thermal issue.

The most obvious solution to this problem is to use the internal SSD or upgrade the internal SSD to expand the handheld's storage instead of purchasing a MicroSD card. Though, for those already suffering from the problem, this is hardly a solution.

Asus has stated that measures are underway to "mitigate the problem" in the form of an update to tweak the fan curve to "improve reliability," something that YouTuber CPPC TEK himself attempted. They have since reported no problems with the MicroSD card, but it is difficult to see this as conclusive evidence of a fix, as the issue is not guaranteed to happen on all devices.

If this issue cannot be resolved, Asus may have to modify the design in future models. Until then, Asus is offering support to those who have had problems with their MicroSD cards.

It is possible, though, that you own the device and have not encountered the problem. As far as we currently know, not all ROG Allys are affected, and not all users are using the MicroSD slot. If it is currently working fine or you are not using the slot, you may want to hold off on any storage upgrade plans unless you want to completely replace the internal 2230 SSD with a larger one; for an SSD that is compatible with the Steam Deck, we reviewed earlier this year Anything will do, including the Sabrent Rocket 2230 NVMe drive.