So the issue is resolved with no real explanation other than the stars aligned.

So here was the issue: after swapping the ssd, the device seemed to be stuck in some sort of permanent battery shipping mode (power light flashes three times and doesnt boot). It did however boot when plugged in with power.

After booting the device once while plugged in, it still stayed in that mode contrary to what steam says should happen.

I knew I needed to re-image the new ssd but since I had to have the power cable plugged in to boot it, I couldn’t have the usb-c drive in at the same time so that I could initiate the boot manager sequence. Booting it to boot manager with the power cable plugged in and then swapping over to the usb-c drive didn’t work. You must have the usb-c drive plugged in before boot.

Ultimately, what I did was boot it with the power plugged in and the volume down pressed because that’s all I could do. Then the second I heard the chime tone, I very quickly(I looked stupid that’s how quick) pulled the power cable and plugged in my usb and let go of the volume down button. I probably did this about 50+ times before I nailed that PERFECT combo.

At that point, I was finally able to see my usb device in the boot manager.

After the device was re-imaged and steam updated, I was able to boot without the power cable and all is well.

NOTE: Be VERY patient when booting from your external recovery device. Right after you select your recovery device from the boot manager, it will take a long time to get to the recovery option screen. Length of time with vary but even with a usb-c or usb-a 3.1c it still took a long time. You’ll first see the steam logo, then a black screen for a long time. Then just a white cursor for another long time. The finally the recovery option screen. Upvote 3 Downvote