Hey guys,

I was looking for a tutorial to transfer a working emuNAND to a new SD card, and only found fragmented tutorials which required following other tutorials to work, or one which used a partition transfer tool rather than EmuNAND tools. So I decided to write up a quick tutorial to detail how I transferred my N3DS 10.4 emuNAND to a new SD card.

There are two methods for doing this: using EmuNAND tool on a PC to backup/restore the EmuNAND, or using EmuNAND9 on the 3DS to do it. The EmuNAND9 method is more convenient but requires you to have enough space on your SD card for the EmuNAND dump. I have therefore included both methods in this guide. You need to follow part 1 to prepare the new SD card, then either part 2a or part 2b depending on how much space you have on your SD card.

Precautions

• Make sysnand and emunand backups before starting
• Make sure you know how to check whether you are on sysnand or emunand
• Make sure you think about what you're doing instead of blindly following this guide. If things go wrong, you need to know what you're doing so you don't cause problems

You will need:

• 3DS with access to Homebrew and emuNAND already set up
• Minipasta installed to your old SD card
• EmuNAND9 installed to your old SD card
• If your original SD card has less than 2GB of available space, you will also need EmuNAND Tool on your PC

Part 1: Prepare the new SD card for emuNAND

Spoiler: Part 1: Prepare the new SD card for emuNAND

1. Back up the contents of both SD cards to your computer
2. Boot your 3DS to sysnand from the old SD card (if you have menuhax autobooting to CFW remember to bypass it to get to sysnand)
3. Boot into the Homebrew Launcher
4. Boot minipasta (again remember to bypass menuhax if it's set to autoboot to CFW)
5. Boot back into the Homebrew Launcher
6. Run EMUNAND9
7. Choose "SD Format Options..."
8. Choose "Format SD..."
9. Choose "... for EmuNAND (default)"
10. When prompted, switch to the new SD card
11. Follow the instructions to proceed with the format and wait for it to finish

Part 2a: If your old SD card has at least 2GB of available space

Spoiler: Part 2a: If your old SD card has at least 2GB of available space

1. Wait for the new emuNAND to finish formatting
2. Take out the new SD card and replace the old SD card
3. Press B three times to return to the main EmuNAND9 menu
4. Choose "EmuNAND Manager Options"
5. Press SELECT to unmount the SD card and B to remount it. This will ensure EmuNAND9 can see your EmuNAND after swapping SD cards
6. Choose "Dump EmuNAND to EmuNAND.bin"
7. While the EmuNAND is being dumped, you can put the new SD card into your computer and restore the backup of all your SD card files. Eject it when it's done
8. When the EmuNAND dump is finished, press B to return to the EmuNAND manager options
9. Press SELECT to unmount the SD card
10. Put the old SD card in your computer, open the EmuNAND9 folder on the SD card, and copy the EmuNAND.bin file somewhere safe on your computer. Eject the old SD card
11. Put the new SD card in your computer and copy EmuNAND.bin from your computer to the EmuNAND9 folder on the new SD card, then eject the new SD card
12. Put the new SD card back in your 3DS and press B to return to the EmuNAND Manager Options
13. Choose "Clone EmuNAND.bin to EmuNAND"
14. Wait for the clone to finish
15. Power off your 3DS
16. Power back on your 3DS

Part 2b: If your old SD card has less than 2GB of available space

Spoiler: Part 2b: If your old SD card has less than 2GB of available space

1. Wait for the format to complete and power off your 3DS
2. Put the OLD SD card into your computer and wait for it to be detected
3. Run EmuNAND tool and click the option to "Extract emuNAND"
4. Choose a safe location on your computer to save the emuNAND backup and wait for it to complete
5. Eject your old SD card, put in the new SD card, and wait for it to be detected
6. Re-run EmuNAND tool and this time choose "Inject NAND to emuNAND"
7. If you see a message saying that NAND.bin does not exist and asking if you want to create it, press No
8. Browse to the emuNAND backup you created in step 15 and select it
9. If you get an error saying invalid or unknown NAND size, use emuNAND tool 1.01. The error will still appear but you can ignore it in this version
10. Wait for the NAND file to be written
11. Copy the backup of your old SD card to the new SD card
12. Eject the SD card from your computer and put it back in your 3DS
13. Power on your 3DS

Whichever method you used, after powering your 3DS back on you should be able to boot back into your EmuNAND on the new SD card.

Comments, questions and corrections are welcome

 

[sengitan]

What version of emunand tool are you using?

help me, how to swap SD card on luma 3ds?

 

[Blaine20]

im so glad i backupd my emunand 9.2 updated to 11.0.0 reinstalled emunand its a 256gb memory card and using freakyhax on sky3ds to test out mini pasta so far it hasnt booted back into homebrew ill keep an eye out as i know it takes a long time to load

 

[thelement]

Sorry for the bump.

Was able to copy over my emunand to a new SD card but am facing a new problem now- I can't load the homebrew channel once I'm in emunand. This puts me at problem because now I'm in emunand but can't load any homebrew (I was hoping to install come CIA's). When I scan the QR code for browserhax, it says "cannot play movie" and ninjhax isn't supported with emunand on 11. How can I get load the HBL?

 

[eeveeaion]

question ：^^
if i have 2 sd card with 16 gb (one with emunand, one without emunand), since i have transfering my emunand from old sd card to a new one (following this tutorial), can i still use my old sd card to play cia game without doing transfering again after all . as i manage to put different game in my old and new sd card so that i wont have to buy a new sd card with 32 gb .

 

[BlackDog61]

Just wanted to say thanks!
Used method 2a and it worked like a charm.

 

[Lipster]

I did this .. 32gb card from a 4gb .. but I only can use the same amount as the cloned space from first emunand .. can i fix this easy without creating a new emuand formated card ? i have all tools above ( so I have a huge unallocated space in front of the emunand block in easy partion)