Hacking [Help] Need help restoring emunand, never made a backup, have a 1GB file

spencecool

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So my SD card corrupted, but I was able to restore the files from it. I was going to restore emunand, but there was one problem: I didn't have an emunand backup .bin

I have a 1 GB .3ds file recovered from the corrupted sd card. I never used any .3ds files, so I'm guessing this MAY be the emunand partition(?)

Is there anything I can do with the 1 GB .3ds file, or am I fucked?
 

Quantumcat

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So my SD card corrupted, but I was able to restore the files from it. I was going to restore emunand, but there was one problem: I didn't have an emunand backup .bin

I have a 1 GB .3ds file recovered from the corrupted sd card. I never used any .3ds files, so I'm guessing this MAY be the emunand partition(?)

Is there anything I can do with the 1 GB .3ds file, or am I fucked?
I don't think you can do anything with that .3ds file. You probably dumped a game cartridge at some point, or accidentally downloaded a 3ds format game instead of cia.

You can try making an image of your card and restoring it to another card but more than likely you've lost your emuNAND.
 

spencecool

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I don't think you can do anything with that .3ds file. You probably dumped a game cartridge at some point, or accidentally downloaded a 3ds format game instead of cia.

You can try making an image of your card and restoring it to another card but more than likely you've lost your emuNAND.

I've made an image of the card, but it's only 28 GB, so I'm sure it's just the free-use space partition, and doesn't include the emunand partition.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I don't think you can do anything with that .3ds file. You probably dumped a game cartridge at some point, or accidentally downloaded a 3ds format game instead of cia.

You can try making an image of your card and restoring it to another card but more than likely you've lost your emuNAND.

I've never done either of these, I'm absolutely sure of that, I checked my download history, and have never done that.
 

VictorMoreno015

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Theoretically the EmuNAND partition shouldn't be touched. You should be able to extract the EmuNAND from it with this tool here
https://gbatemp.net/threads/emunand-tool-release-and-support-thread.359239/
Its a old tool for when people still used Gateways as the only way to access CFW but it still works just fine. If it doesn't extract it then you are most likely fucked
 

GerbilSoft

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3DS game cards have a similar header as NAND dumps (NCSD), so it's entirely possible that you're looking at an EmuNAND backup. What's the exact size of the file?

(That having been said, the backup may be corrupted. If it is an EmuNAND backup, you can restore it as EmuNAND, but it might crash randomly.)
 

Boured

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This is why you make a backup, even if it's not recent at least have one in online storage somewhere. I have one in a .zip file on my MEGA in case of emergency. Even then you should make regular backups. If you do no find a backup sorry to say but your emunand is gone. I also recommend you install A9LH so you don't even need an Emunand so that could prevent such a problem from happening in the future.
 
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spencecool

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Theoretically the EmuNAND partition shouldn't be touched. You should be able to extract the EmuNAND from it with this tool here
https://gbatemp.net/threads/emunand-tool-release-and-support-thread.359239/
Its a old tool for when people still used Gateways as the only way to access CFW but it still works just fine. If it doesn't extract it then you are most likely fucked

Unfortunately, the when I formatted the card, it did a full wipe (including partitions). The NAND backup I had was what I thought, an emunand backup, but in reality, it was a sysnand backup.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

3DS game cards have a similar header as NAND dumps (NCSD), so it's entirely possible that you're looking at an EmuNAND backup. What's the exact size of the file?

(That having been said, the backup may be corrupted. If it is an EmuNAND backup, you can restore it as EmuNAND, but it might crash randomly.)
33187168-33187168_000.3ds_Properties_2016-12-25_21-54-04.png


My old emunand partition was exactly 1 GB.
 
Last edited by spencecool,

GerbilSoft

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That's not likely to be an EmuNAND backup. (It's exactly 1 GB; EmuNAND is 943 MB, 954 MB, 1.21 GB, or 1.84 GB.)

The game's product code is stored at 0x1150, so you can use a hex editor to identify the actual game.

EDIT: If it was exactly 1 GB, then it's possible that it's EmuNAND. (EmuNAND9 doesn't do that I don't think.)

If you have a hex editor available: What are the 8 bytes at offset 0x118?
 
Last edited by GerbilSoft, , Reason: +0x118

spencecool

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This is why you make a backup, even if it's not recent at least have one in online storage somewhere. I have one in a .zip file on my MEGA in case of emergency. Even then you should make regular backups. If you do no find a backup sorry to say but your emunand is gone. I also recommend you install A9LH so you don't even need an Emunand so that could prevent such a problem from happening in the future.

I do use A9LH, but I use emunand with it, because I have many sysnand games I don't want to lose.
 

spencecool

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If you don't want to lose your sysNAND stuff ---- why are you using emuNAND again?

I started using emunand before A9LH

If I moved my emunand over to sysnand, I would lose my sysnand games and saves (main part, animal crossing, smash, and pokemon saves).

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

That's not likely to be an EmuNAND backup. (It's exactly 1 GB; EmuNAND is 943 MB, 954 MB, 1.21 GB, or 1.84 GB.)

The game's product code is stored at 0x1150, so you can use a hex editor to identify the actual game.

EDIT: If it was exactly 1 GB, then it's possible that it's EmuNAND. (EmuNAND9 doesn't do that I don't think.)

If you have a hex editor available: What are the 8 bytes at offset 0x118?
HxD_-_%5BCUsersSpencerDesktop3dsbackupRecovere_2016-12-25_22-07-30.png

More so, I compared:
A normal sysnand backup
This file
and an actual 3ds game file

I found the product code at 0x1150 in the game file, but not in the sysnand backup or this .3ds file.
 

GerbilSoft

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0x118: 01 02 02 02 02 00 00 00

That's an Old 3DS NAND dump. (New 3DS would have 01 02 02 02 03 00 00 00; a game card dump would be all 00 here.) This is probably your EmuNAND.
 

GerbilSoft

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Should I attempt to restore via Emunand9?
You can. (You'll probably need to rename it.)

*ONLY* restore this as EmuNAND (or RedNAND), not SysNAND. That will ensure nothing will break if it turns out to be broken. You should also use Decrypt9WIP's NAND validator before restoring it.
 
Last edited by GerbilSoft, , Reason: +RedNAND

Quantumcat

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I started using emunand before A9LH

If I moved my emunand over to sysnand, I would lose my sysnand games and saves (main part, animal crossing, smash, and pokemon saves).
Why don't you install a9lh, backup all the saves from your emuNAND, and inject them in your sysNAND, then get rid of emuNAND?
Or, if your emuNAND has all the data you want, then backup the saves from your sysNAND, then restore your emuNAND onto your sysNAND and recover the saves. No need to have an emuNAND.
 

spencecool

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Why don't you install a9lh, backup all the saves from your emuNAND, and inject them in your sysNAND, then get rid of emuNAND?
Or, if your emuNAND has all the data you want, then backup the saves from your sysNAND, then restore your emuNAND onto your sysNAND and recover the saves. No need to have an emuNAND.

I thought pokemon/smash/animal crossing saves couldn't be restored across systems/nands.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

You can. (You'll probably need to rename it.)

*ONLY* restore this as EmuNAND (or RedNAND), not SysNAND. That will ensure nothing will break if it turns out to be broken. You should also use Decrypt9WIP's NAND validator before restoring it.
I renamed it to NANDmin.bin, and it didn't pass the validator. Should I try to restore regardless?
 
Last edited by spencecool,

Quantumcat

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I thought pokemon/smash/animal crossing saves couldn't be restored across systems/nands.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


Do I need to format EmuNAND before I restore, or does a partition get created during the restoration?
Assuming you want to keep the data on your emuNAND:
1. Use JKSM to backup your saves on sysNAND and copy them to your PC for safe keeping
2. Follow https://3ds.guide/move-emunand
3. Reinstall any of the games you don't have and restore the saves with JKSM
 

spencecool

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Assuming you want to keep the data on your emuNAND:
1. Use JKSM to backup your saves on sysNAND and copy them to your PC for safe keeping
2. Follow https://3ds.guide/move-emunand
3. Reinstall any of the games you don't have and restore the saves with JKSM
JKSM can restore saves that can't normally be restored via legitimate means (Ninty's cartridge to digital converter on the eshop, system transfer, etc.)?
 

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