Hacking When and how to backup switch

[ReannaN]

Hi again!

Sorry for all the questions-

I am going to be installing CFW etc onto my switch but beforehand I would like to backup in case anything goes wrong, so that I can always restore the switch to before I installed CFW.
Would I need to make a backup of the switch beforehand (before booting into RCM, inserting payload etc) or after a I have set this up? Is there a guide to do this or is this included in the guide from sdsetup?

Thank you

 

[MUDD_BR]

The guide should help you:

https://guide.sdsetup.com/gettingstarted/safetyprecautions

 

[RHOPKINS13]

Part of creating that backup involves booting into RCM. You have to boot Hekate (or the SX OS Bootloader) and make your backup from there.

Also, before making this backup, go into Airplane Mode on your Switch and/or delete any wifi networks you have. Using CFW while online puts your Switch at risk for a ban, and once it's banned nothing can unban it.

MAKE SURE THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE FIRST THING YOU DO! This will give you what is called a CLEAN Nand Backup. You can restore this backup to return your Switch to it's pre-modded state. One thing to note is that if you do any system updates, they can burn what are called eFuses and there is no way to "unburn" them, so be mindful of that.

It's recommended to keep your Switch offline. If you want to play your Switch games online, restore your "clean" nand backup, and then you can go back online without using CFW.

But then, if you want to use CFW again, you need to make a new "clean" NAND backup. Otherwise, you could get banned for an inconsistency with your Switch logs.

Right now, the only safe way of staying unbanned is a complicated process of making and restoring NAND backups. Open source emunand is coming really soon though - https://gbatemp.net/threads/open-source-emunand-very-soon.537969 - So you may want to just wait until that is released. That will let you keep all CFW activities on a separate, emulated NAND on your microSD card, so that you can easily reboot to OFW and play online without worrying about making and restoring NAND backups.

 

[ReannaN]

Thanks for the replies!

So basically first I need to follow the sdsetup guide from the beginning all the way through and once I have atmosphere on it, I can then follow the safety precautions and create backups? However because I’m backing up when I have atmo etc on the switch, make the backup unusable anyway? As if I was ever to restore the switch, it would still have all those files on it?

Regarding the release of emu and- can I do this after installing CFW etc or it has to be done on a completely “clean” switch?

 

[Taorn]

Thanks for the replies!

So basically first I need to follow the sdsetup guide from the beginning all the way through and once I have atmosphere on it, I can then follow the safety precautions and create backups? However because I’m backing up when I have atmo etc on the switch, make the backup unusable anyway? As if I was ever to restore the switch, it would still have all those files on it?

Regarding the release of emu and- can I do this after installing CFW etc or it has to be done on a completely “clean” switch?

You should follow the precautions *before* you install any CFW. This first backup is supposed to preserve your clean Switch nand before any modification.

 

[ReannaN]

You should follow the precautions *before* you install any CFW. This first backup is supposed to preserve your clean Switch nand before any modification.

Sorry, I think I’m being thick but on the guide it tells you the steps to do it all and then used that software to create the backup?

 

[Draxzelex]

Sorry, I think I’m being thick but on the guide it tells you the steps to do it all and then used that software to create the backup?

Please stop making new threads for simple questions. You've already made 5 threads in the past 2 days. If you need to ask so many different questions, then post in the Noobs Paradise instead as its specifically designed for people such as yourself who have lots of questions but are unfamiliar with the scene. Otherwise, just make one thread with all of your questions because constantly opening up new threads is only going to confuse yourself as you get bombarded with conflicting answers from multiple people.

 

[pinbi7]

Its pretty easy and straight foward to make backups when you're in hekate