It does appear that you CAN write the recovery image directly to the sd card without extracting it but it feel like it takes long than extracting it first then installing it. id only do it if you have limited space on your drive.

steam os recovery image: https://store.steampowered.com/steamo...

konsole commands to install Balena Etcher on the deck:
sudo steamos-readonly disable
sudo pacman-key --init
sudo pacman-key --populate archlinux
sudo pacman -S balena-etcher

join our discord!   / discord  
Follow us:
on twitter @  / coil_whine  
on instagram @  / coil.whine  
on tiktok @coil_whine_youtube

#steamdeck #steamos3 #steamos