Switch save data and games recovery

[korn16ftl3]

so here is the story and the run down of what I'm trying to accomplish. I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

I haven't used or played my v1 hacked switch in years, its just been sitting in the dock in sleep mode. recently i got a bug and decided i wanted to play some games that i had on the switch and went to boot it up into atmosphere without any success. all i got was the atmosphere logo then the proceeding nintendo switch splash screens and then a black screen when trying to boot to CFW. so i attempted to boot into OFW with the same results. after this i removed everything from the switch (joycons, SD card, and cartridge) and the system booted without issues. i then began to insert each device one at a time until the problem reoccurred at this point the startup stalled after putting the SD card back into the slot. this leads me to believe that I'm having a problem with my SD card for some apparent reason.

My next issue is to retrieve all data i can get from my SD card and emunand (partition type NOT file type) that i can so that i can try to format and reset up my SD card and/or replace it to try to resolve the problem.

currently I am only able to boot into hekate and not atmosphere. I was able to make a backup of my emunand using hekate as well as an OFW backup (cfw and ofw 16.0.0).

All of my games were installed to the emunand sd card and im positive are in the emuMMC folder as this is the largest folder size on my SD card. i can see all of my game saves and such using NX nand manager and my prod.keys so this shouldnt be a hard thing to get. but what im really struggling with is how to I extract all of my games that I had installed that are in the emuMMC folder as i do not see them while browsing my emunand backup with NX nand manager and with the reson being the games are obviously installed in the emuMMC folder and not part of the emunand its self.

problems at hand:
1) need to extract all of my games from the emuMMC folder on my sd card with a partition type emunand system.

2) I am unable to boot into CFW or atmospere to do this so this must all be done on the PC end using everything that i have currently

other notes:
1) I am able to load things like the lockpick_RCM and such and I have dumped all of my keys and things like that.

2) hekate wont let me mount my partiton type emuannd from the tools option either but does allow me to mount the SD card for my PC

Thanks in advance for any help that can help me retrieve my data so i can just do a fresh setup and get things going again.

 

[BigOnYa]

Problem is all your games are encrypted and will only work on your personal Switch. I believe even if you are able to back them up to pc, wipe/redo Switch EmuNand, then copy the game files back to Switch, games prob won't work. Your best bet is to try get your current CFW/EmuNand fixed, or worse case backup all your game saves atleast, wipe/redo Switch CFW, create new EmuNand, then reinstall the games 1 by 1. Good luck.

 

[korn16ftl3]

Problem is all your games are encrypted and will only work on your personal Switch. I believe even if you are able to back them up to pc, wipe/redo Switch EmuNand, then copy the game files back to Switch, games prob won't work. Your best bet is to try get your current CFW/EmuNand fixed, or worse case backup all your game saves atleast, wipe/redo Switch CFW, create new EmuNand, then reinstall the games 1 by 1. Good luck.

Aren’t all of those keys also saved in the key dumps from lockpick tho?

All of my games were installed over usb either via NSP or XCI format as well.

I mean someone had to use a way to dump them to begin with in the first place so it can’t be impossible

Is it possible to load nxdumptool from hekate and dump them somehow by chance? I haven’t completely lost my homebrew ability as of yet just access to atmosphere and my emunand.

Side note:
I’m almost positive this is a failing SD card issue. I went to copy all the files from my 512GB sd card to an external drive via PC and it say “more than one day” to copy the data. This SD cards read times have gotten extremely slow for whatever reason and I know it’s a legit card issue bought it from sandisk on Amazon.

 

[BigOnYa]

Aren’t all of those keys also saved in the key dumps from lockpick tho?

All of my games were installed over usb either via NSP or XCI format as well.

I mean someone had to use a way to dump them to begin with in the first place so it can’t be impossible

Yes they were dumped with a program like NSDumpTool (NSP/XCI), but once you install that dump to your Switch, it creates a unique "ticket" that is tied to your Switch only, it can't be copied pasted from one Switch to another in that form, must be installed separately on each device with that dump (NSP/XCI). If you create a new EmuNand, those "tickets" created on your original EmuNand, will not work on your new created EmuNand. Games will need to be re-installed again using that dump file (NSP/XCI).
@Hayato213 , @bth , @impeeza Is this correct? They would know more about the exact EmuNand side of things than I, just wait for one of them to reply.

 

[korn16ftl3]

Yes they were dumped with a program like NSDumpTool (NSP/XCI), but once you install that dump to your Switch, it creates a unique "ticket" that is tied to your Switch only, it can't be copied pasted from one Switch to another in that form, must be installed separately on each device with that dump (NSP/XCI). If you create a new EmuNand, those "tickets" created on your original EmuNand, will not work on your new created EmuNand. Games will need to be re-installed again using that dump file (NSP/XCI).
@Hayato213 , @bth , @impeeza Is this correct? They would know more about the exact EmuNand side of things than I, just wait for one of them to reply.

Ok but one would imagine if you create an emunand from your sysnand that everything would be the same? I mean every time I create an emunand from my sysnand all my games installed to my sysnad come over with it and are playable.

I’m not exactly sure on all of this either I’m just speculating based on what I do know and experience. Trying to understand the inner workings behind all of this so that I can figure out a way to move everything if at all possible with my situation.

 

[BigOnYa]

Ok but one would imagine if you create an emunand from your shamans that everything would be the same? I mean every time I create an emunand from my sysnand all my games installed to my sysnad come over with it and are playable.

I’m not exactly sure on all of this either I’m just speculating based on what I do know and experience. Trying to understand the inner workings behind all of this so that I can figure out a way to move everything if at all possible with my situation.

You can try use this to backup files/titles then restore later, but I'm not positive if will work. I'd still wait for a definitive answer from one those other users, they'd know better than me:
https://www.gamebrew.org/wiki/NxNandManager_Switch

 

[korn16ftl3]

You can try use this to backup files/titles then restore later, but I'm not positive if will work. I'd still wait for a definitive answer from one those other users, they'd know better than me:
https://www.gamebrew.org/wiki/NxNandManager_Switch
View attachment 550920

I might give this a crack regardless I have everything backed up so I can always revert.

I do agree tho a more definitive answer would be very helpful in trying to resolve this.

Post automatically merged: Jan 14, 2026

Yep…definitely an sd card issue. It’s taking WAY to long to copy files from a 512gb sd card to an external usb 3.0 drive. In about 5 hours it will have been copying files for 24hrs and it’s only about 20% complete and still says more than a day for the eta

I guess at least the sd card still works and I have a chance to recover everything

 

[korn16ftl3]

So quick update on the status of my situation. My computer FINALLY finished copying all the files from the sd card to my external device

I couldn’t get much from nx nandmanager for some reason even after loading the prod.keys and title.keys files into it it wouldn't detect my FW version…but it does show my game saves. When browsing around it don’t show my installed games with titles either (like the image you showed me).

I formatted the fat32 partition leaving the emunand partition alone and began copying files back to the sd card.

So far the copy process is much much quicker estimated at 17hrs rather than days. Hopefully this clears up whatever mess I’m dealing with. Worst case scenario at least I can still get my game saves I guess.

Post automatically merged: Jan 16, 2026

Additional info:

Would like to add this also looks like a good option to try as well as it appears to format my emunand partition which also might be borked and give me a fresh start as well as allow me to keep everything. If simply formatting my fat32 partition and writing files back did not solve my problem I will give this a shot and see what I end up with as well.

Post automatically merged: Jan 17, 2026

Further update:

I found a sealed new 512gb sd card same brand and such laying around. I’m going to try recreating this sd card on a new and fresh sd card.

It’s been so long since I’ve done this I have to figure out how to get hekate to boot from a fresh sd card again and reinstall atmosphere and things like that

Not going to be fun especially since I’m on fw 16.0.0 still and I’m pretty sure I have to use the older versions of hekate and atmosphere that are for that fw.

Post automatically merged: Jan 17, 2026

Status update:

Got my old emunand to reboot copied over some of the hekate ini files from the old sd card files and used a new atmosphere install so now I’m confused as to what exactly is causing my old sd card not to work correctly.

Very well could be the sd card itself self tho I’m not exactly sure.

I’m now copying my emuMMC folder over to the new SD card and seeing what happens with this.

I will still need to get the dispatches and such to work I’m assuming?

For now I’m going to copy a few things over at a time to the new sd card and install to see if anything breaks then if it does I know where to start looking for my problems and what exactly went wrong with my OG sd card.

I’m wondering if something broke in the old atmosphere folder or something since it didn’t want to launch completely but for the moment I’ve got things kind of up and working. Still need to try to get these games to work and since my old emunand loaded and was restored I know all my saves are present.

Will update as I keep mucking threw this odd mess.

 

[korn16ftl3]

After adding my emuMMC folder I received the error in the photo.

Any idea how to fix that? I know my emuMMC partition is not corrupted as I was able to boot into it before I moved my emuMMC folder (containing my games) onto the sd card.

Post automatically merged: Jan 17, 2026

Hmm is this a problem with my ofw being on fw 16.0.0?

Also noticed I can’t load the cartridge that is in the game slot. It says an update is required for some reason and won’t let me launch the software without it.

Post automatically merged: Jan 18, 2026

I’m looking through my emuEmmc folder and see a file called raw_based. Is there a way to read this files contents somehow? It has no extension and has 3 characters of gibberish if I open it in notepad.

Also something worth noting I think I got that emuEmmc error because after checking the .ini in the folder and comparing it to the new one on my new sd card it appears as tho each one points to different sectors on the sd card for something.

I’m now trying to copy everything in the emuEmmc folder ACCEPT that ini to see what happens. It should point everything to the correct locations.

If the above fails I will once again set up the sd card to boot to my old emunad and then copy ONLY the Nintendo folder within the emuEmmc folder and see how that turns out.

I’ve got to be close to solving this because all my games and titles are stored in that emuEmmc folder somewhere and somehow I’m just missing something small here that’s borking the whole process.

I will post back my results shortly.

Post automatically merged: Jan 18, 2026

So I’m having a Google around trying to learn more about the emuMMC folder when paired with theemunand partition scheme and found the following Reddit thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SwitchPira...chnical_explanation_of_sd_card_partition_and/

Is that thread correct in stating that the RAW1 folder is also responsible for the path reference for the emunand partition as well?

I read the ini file within the emuMMC folder and it seems to have the sector (path) reference for the emunand partition as well.

What all files within the emuMMC folder at the root of the sd card are for referencing the emunad partition?

This is important and likely where the transfer of my games (contained within the emuMMC Nintendo folder) is likely going wrong. I’m assuming I’m getting my crashes because I’m pointing to the old sector locations on my old sd card rather than what the new eminent partition is creating on the new sd card.

Still working at this thinking the best/only solution to resolve my problem and where I’m likely going wrong is to copy ONLY the Nintendo folder from whithin my old emuMMC folder to the same location within the new emuMMC folder within the new sd card and skip all the other files that might be directing to paths and sectors.

I’m really curious as to what all files actually direct my emuMMC partition to the emuMMC folder because those files specifically need to be left alone on the new sd card in order to direct the emunand partition correctly to the data.

Another question that comes to mind is how exactly is the emuMMC folder created?

It dosnt exist when you first set everything up. I don’t think I seen it until after the first time I launched into my emunand partition with atmosphere. So if atmosphere creates this folder perhaps a simple delete of everything within the emuMMC folder ACCEPT the Nintendo folder and the folder it is in then rewrite my emunad backup to the emunad partition and a relaunch will create everything for me pointing to the correct directories?

(Yes I realize I’m pretty much the only one responding to my own posts but I’m determined to figure out if this is possible or not and I fully intend on logging what I’ve tried and everything else along the way to help someone else that may be having the same problems that I am having of if I find a solution to this)

Post automatically merged: Jan 18, 2026

Interesting results from a quick google, looks like I might need to try a different approach some how such as the migrate option or something? I’m not exactly sure yet but I will do some sorting of my own unless someone provides a little guidance.

“Rewriting the EmuNAND partition in Hekate
does not automatically overwrite the emuMMCfolder on your FAT32 partition, but it makes the old emuMMC folder (and its contents) inactive and invalid.
Here are the details regarding how Hekate handles this:

• Partition vs. Folder: If you are using a Partition-based EmuNAND, the actual NAND data exists in a hidden raw partition, not in the sdmc:/emummc/ folder.
• Rewriting (Restoring) the Partition: When you use "Restore eMMC" with "SD emuMMC Raw Partition" set to ON, Hekate flashes a new raw NAND image onto that hidden partition. It does not touch the files in your FAT32 directory.
• The Folder's Role: The emuMMC folder on your FAT32 partition contains configuration files (emummc.ini) and sometimes the Nintendo folder (if using file-based). If you overwrite the raw partition, you must ensure the emummc.ini matches the new partition, or the switch will not boot.
• Danger of "Create emuMMC": If you use the "Create emuMMC" feature, Hekate will wipe the previous EmuNAND data in that hidden partition to create a new one.

Key Takeaway: If you are trying to "update" your partition, you should backup your raw partition in Hekate first. Rewriting the raw partition will replace the old system, but the sdmc:/emummc/ folder usually remains, requiring a "Fix RAW" or "Migrate" step in Hekate to point to the new data.“

My Google results about using the “fix raw” with hekate:

“Steps to Use Fix RAW (Troubleshooting emuMMC):

1. Boot into Hekate: Power on your Switch and boot into the Hekate payload.
2. Navigate to emuMMC: From the Hekate main menu, select the emuMMC option.
3. Select Migrate emuMMC: Inside the emuMMC menu, find and select the Migrate emuMMC option.
4. Choose "Fix RAW": Look for the "Fix RAW"button (or similar option like "Fix EMUNAND") and select it.
5. Check for Activation: After running, exit back to the emuMMC menu; it should now show that your emuMMC is activated if the process succeeded.“

 

[korn16ftl3]

So I finally got somewhere with this.

I used a different computer than usual (I was getting sick of transfer speed from my laptop and the integrated micro sd card reader and my external hdd) and I opened up my emuMMC folder opened the raw folder on my new switch sd card and deleted everything that was in it and simply pasted the same files I just deleted from my sd card backup copy into the new switch sd card. Loaded to hekate and launched my cfw emunad and everything loaded up as it should with the game cartridge logo as it belongs above my cart game as well as all clouds telling me I need to redownload the game were also gone.

This part is now fixed and I seem to have saved everything. Now to install sig and/or sys-patches. I’ve made a new thread regarding this ( https://gbatemp.net/threads/hekate-and-atmosphere-question.679023/ ) as I need to do a little more research before moving on to this phase.

I’m unsure if I can run the latest atmosphere and hekate on my older 16.0.3 emunand or not as I’m not seeing sys-patches for atmosphere 1.5.3.