Hacking is it safe to install/uninstall the gateway exploit?

phanteon

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Hi.

since i wont be able to play a link between worlds in the gateway not in the 3ds with v4.5. i wanted to play some zelda stuff meanwhile. so i was thinking in phantom hourglass and spirit tracks.

but. is it safe to install/uninstall the gateway exploit repeatedly when i want to play DS and 3DS roms?
i ask because as far as i know the exloit works corrupting some part of the 3ds nand dedicated to run DS games, so it came to my mind that if i repeat that process X number of times the console might be harmed someway...

what do you thing?

ps: sorry for my english, is not my native language
ps2: i have the GW bluecard and R4 SDHC new to play ds games
 

Foxi4

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In complete theory, re-writing the NAND X times will eventually corrupt it as it has a set amount of re-writes it can sustain. In practice, a NAND block begins to show wear and tear after anywhere between 5000 and 100 000 rewrites, and here's where wear leveling kicks in. In other words, you're thousands upon thousands of rewrites away from even chipping the NAND, let alone breaking it.

Example values from Wikipedia:
  • SLC NAND flash is typically rated at about 100k cycles (Samsung OneNAND KFW4G16Q2M)
  • MLC NAND flash is typically rated at about 5k – 10k cycles for medium-capacity applications (Samsung K9G8G08U0M) and 1k – 3k cycles for high-capacity applications
  • TLC NAND flash is typically rated at about 1k cycles (Samsung 840)
The chip in the 3DS is a Toshiba eMMC one AFAIR, each of its blocks is capable of approx. 10 000 to even 50 000 rewrites.
 
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Pong20302000

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In complete theory, re-writing the NAND X times will eventually corrupt it as it has a set amount of re-writes it can sustain. In practice, a NAND block begins to show wear and tear after anywhere between 5000 and 100 000 rewrites, and here's where wear leveling kicks in. In other words, you're thousands upon thousands of rewrites away from even chipping the NAND, let alone breaking it.

Example values from Wikipedia:
  • SLC NAND flash is typically rated at about 100k cycles (Samsung OneNAND KFW4G16Q2M)
  • MLC NAND flash is typically rated at about 5k – 10k cycles for medium-capacity applications (Samsung K9G8G08U0M) and 1k – 3k cycles for high-capacity applications
  • TLC NAND flash is typically rated at about 1k cycles (Samsung 840)

Gateway hack doesnt affect the nand
the DS hack in question is just the DS Settings file
 
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Foxi4

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Gateway hack doesnt affect the nand
the DS hack in question is just the DS Settings file
Please don't speak when you don't know what you're talking about. Each and every kind of chip-based storage mediums can only be re-written a number of times before physically breaking. This number is very, very high, but it exists.

Naturally the DS settings don't take a whole lot of space and with wear leveling it'd take forever before the block is damaged, but nevertheless, such a possibility exists... after a ridiculous amount of rewrites.
 

Pong20302000

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Please don't speak when you don't know what you're talking about. Each and every kind of chip-based storage mediums can only be re-written a number of times before physically breaking. This number is very, very high, but it exists.

Naturally the DS settings don't take a whole lot of space and with wear leveling it'd take forever before the block is damaged, but nevertheless, such a possibility exists... after a ridiculous amount of rewrites.

when you say nand you confuse people
dont confuse memebrs
 

Foxi4

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when you say nand you confuse people
dont confuse memebrs
Fine, even if I call it NVRAM, it's still going to have a fixed number of re-writes before it starts to deteriorate just like every chip in existence. :)

Just to be 100% clear, by NAND I meant the flash memory used as Non-Volatile Random Access Memory, AKA NVRAM, AKA the flash memory where the DS Profile settings are stored - the physical chip, not the firmware and whatnot.
 

Foxi4

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tl;dr Yes, it's doing the chip some damage but this damage is so microscopic in scale that it practically doesn't matter. It'll take years before you wear the chip down.
 

lambstone

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tl;dr Yes, it's doing the chip some damage but this damage is so microscopic in scale that it practically doesn't matter. It'll take years before you wear the chip down.


That is true but also unnecessary fear mongering.

Every time you turn on the lights you diminish it's lifespan. Your 3DS? Every time you you open it you're damaging the hinge.

All these points are valid but unnecessary as nobody deliberately and repeatedly do theses mundane actions consecutively so essentially it makes no difference.
 

Foxi4

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That is true but also unnecessary fear mongering.

Every time you turn on the lights you diminish it's lifespan. Your 3DS? Every time you you open it you're damaging the hinge.

All these points are valid but unnecessary as nobody deliberately and repeatedly do theses mundane actions consecutively so essentially it makes no difference.

The question was whether the chip is in any way harmed by constant re-writing of its contents so I answered "yes" because it is. I also said that the gradual wear and tear is minimal and nothing to worry about. :)
 
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Sicklyboy

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That is true but also unnecessary fear mongering.

Every time you turn on the lights you diminish it's lifespan. Your 3DS? Every time you you open it you're damaging the hinge.

All these points are valid but unnecessary as nobody deliberately and repeatedly do theses mundane actions consecutively so essentially it makes no difference.
That's all true, so is it worth not mentioning? OP asked if the chip will become damaged by rerunning the gw installer multiple times. Although the damage is beyond negligible, it does technically wear the chip down, just as constantly flickering your lights on and off will wear them down. He asked for an answer, not a sugar coating.
 
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phanteon

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6a6ypu2u.jpg
is it possible to know anything about this game by The cartridge serial number. Do you think it's going to work in GW?
 

tHciNc

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Prob not as it will most likely use new savegame keyY
and was probably built on SDK 5.x and come with 6.x update
And what is The B in the BZLP, arent all other games A or E ??
 

enarky

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This isn't even academic, your 3DS writes onto the NAND chip all the time, it'll wear out through normal usage long before you can even make a dent through continued Exploit installation.

Sorry, but saying "hurrdurr, he asked if it'll damage the console and I'm just answering it" with such a stupid answer is retarded.
 
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The Real Jdbye

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Yes it will wear out eventually. No you're not likely to wear it out in its lifetime. Let's say you play a DS game 3 times a day on average. Assuming the flash memory wears out after 10000 writes, it would still take over 27 years to wear it out. If you played a DS game 9 times a day it would still take over 9 years. How often are you likely to play a DS game?
And that's not even taking load balancing into account. The load balancing would average it out and most likely increase the NAND lifetime tenfold compared to if the DS profile was just being written to the same spot every time.
And as someone mentioned the NAND is likely capable of far more than that. So it's unlikely you will ever be able to wear it out.


6a6ypu2u.jpg
is it possible to know anything about this game by The cartridge serial number. Do you think it's going to work in GW?
I'm jelly. That's not really related to your topic though.
But, to answer your question, no, the serial number has no relevance whatsoever and it would be stupid to think it does. It's a serial number. Serial numbers are unique identifiers for a product, or a specific copy of a product. No more, no less.
In the case of 3DS games, that code is simply the 3DS specific serial part (CTR) the game specific serial part (BZLP) and the region specific serial part (EUR), I am not sure what the first part is related to but it is certainly of no use as far as your question is concerned.
 

Apache Thunder

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You probably have a better chance of dieing from an age related illness before you end up wearing out the part of the NAND chip that stores the DS profile settings...

If somehow you do manage to do it...well that just proves you are INSANELY OBSESSED over playing your 3DS and need to see a therapist due to your inhuman amount of 3DS Play time. But even then that doesn't account for why you had to reboot the 3DS and reinstall the exploit 50,000 + times....

Honestly if you played the 3DS Long enough for the NAND to wear out, it won't be the Gateway that does it. It will simply be as a result of game saves and things unrelated to the Gateway. :P
 
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