Hacking 3DS files missing and won't boot up

[JacobB]

Hi everyone,
I apologize if this is a dumb question or if I should be posting somewhere else. I was transferring some files from my 3ds to my computer and everything was going fine until I tried to boot up with luma CFW and I got an error message (posted below). When I plug my SD card into my computer there's nothing there but some random files. It seems like there's still files on my sd card as I see the space is still filled. I can still access GodMode9 but wasn't sure what to do from there. If possible I would love to recover some of my files but if I can't I wouldn't mind erasing and starting over. I apologize for not uploading the crash dump, I can't access the save location it appears. Please let me know if you need any more information! Thank you so much.

 

[Kwyjor]

I apologize if this is a dumb question or if I should be posting somewhere else.

If you're that worried about asking a dumb question, then wouldn't it be wise to spend two minutes searching and thus alleviate your concerns..? That crash is extremely common: it means your 3DS is not able to read Luma (boot.firm) from your SD card, and is instead trying to boot from an outdated version of Luma stored internally.

If you have a different SD card reader available for your PC, try that first. You might be able to recover data using standard PC recovery software; EASUS is popular, and Testdisk is another option.

If you have to start over with a fresh SD card, then just follow http://3ds.guide/restoring-cfw . Once you have your SD card set up, you should update the version of Luma on your NAND by following https://3ds.hacks.guide/finalizing-setup#section-vi---ctrnand-luma3ds ; that will enable your 3DS to boot without an SD card in the future.

If you get a new SD card (or just format your current one), make sure you test the empty card with https://3ds.hacks.guide/h2testw-(windows) before you start using it.