Hacking Question How to clone and then expand sd card to a new larger sd card, exfat format with hidden emunand?

[LoggerMan]

So I've done this before on 3ds years ago but I can't remember the name of the tool i used to do it with. I have an exfat 200gb sd card with sx pro, hidden emunand partition. I bought a 512GB card and wish to transfer everything over to it, except the emunand is on the old card and is in a hidden partition. I know there are tools that let you clone the entire sd card to the larger one, and then expand the size of the storage partition to use the whole capacity. I have been searching all day and i tried Easeus Partition Master and To Do, but that just stalls while cloning. I tried win3dimager or whatever its called but no dice. I got Etcher, but that doesn't even seem to have an option to create the image in the first place, only write it.

I know my other option is to just create a new emunand, but the saves on that emunand are on a profile that was created on that emunand. Plus some other users have been using it, I can't copy all the saves one by one for each user, it'd take too long.

 

[thesjaakspoiler]

Maybe this tool can do that (but I'm not sure as I never used it) :
https://github.com/eliboa/NxNandManager

 

[pOOB73]

Try this tutorial: https://gbatemp.net/threads/moving-emummc-hidden-partition-to-a-larger-sd-card.545094/

Tutorials can be found and filtered here: https://gbatemp.net/tutorials/

 

[Kel_ven]

I have successfully used this guide (by Zaazu and originally for 3ds) and I have been able to export my hidden emunand from an old 64gb card to a new one. It uses EaseUS, tho, so maybe it will not work for you :/

 

[hippy dave]

Imagine deliberately using exfat for your SD card in this day and age.

 

[Dave_Chad]

Here's what i did in bullet points as such..

Create a backup of sd using Win32 Disk Imager.
Write image to new sdcard using Win32Disk Imager.
Boot to check all is ok... (Emunand boots etc)
Backed up data on exFAT partition.
Deleted partition.
Make new exFAT partition utilizing full space available.
Copy exFAT data backup back over.

Would be a lot easier if any tool allowed resizing of the exFAT partition on an sdcard.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

So I've done this before on 3ds years ago but I can't remember the name of the tool i used to do it with. I have an exfat 200gb sd card with sx pro, hidden emunand partition. I bought a 512GB card and wish to transfer everything over to it, except the emunand is on the old card and is in a hidden partition. I know there are tools that let you clone the entire sd card to the larger one, and then expand the size of the storage partition to use the whole capacity. I have been searching all day and i tried Easeus Partition Master and To Do, but that just stalls while cloning. I tried win3dimager or whatever its called but no dice. I got Etcher, but that doesn't even seem to have an option to create the image in the first place, only write it.

I know my other option is to just create a new emunand, but the saves on that emunand are on a profile that was created on that emunand. Plus some other users have been using it, I can't copy all the saves one by one for each user, it'd take too long.

I cloned it with EASEUS but if you have enough space for a full image you could image the card with something like Win32DiskImager, I did not though.
A faster way would be to back up the emuNAND with Hekate, set up the partitions from scratch on the new card (new FAT32/ExFAT partition leaving space for the emuNAND), copy all the files over to it, and restore the emuNAND backup, since then you're not cloning empty space, only space that is actually occupied.
You should take this chance to switch over to FAT32, as it's far more reliable.

 

[LoggerMan]

switch over to FAT32

I saw someone else say that. How is it more reliable? I'd need a special program to split my games larger than 4GB into multiple files. Is FAT32 less prone to crashing?

set up the partitions from scratch on the new card (new FAT32/ExFAT partition leaving space for the emuNAND),

How do I set up the partitions from scratch, using SX OS again? Or is there settings in Hekate. I saw someone mention something about hex editing a header and thought that sounded too advanced for me.

I'm also thinking of unhiding the emunand partition, or setting up a new card from scratch with an unhidden emunand, and just copy over the save files from the few games i care about, and let family member saves be damned. Because one day I will want to upgrade to a 1TB sd card, and I'll be in the same boat i am now. so I guess what I'm asking is, would you recommend aganst using emunand on the SD without it being in a hidden partition?

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I saw someone else say that. How is it more reliable? I'd need a special program to split my games larger than 4GB into multiple files. Is FAT32 less prone to crashing?



How do I set up the partitions from scratch, using SX OS again? Or is there settings in Hekate. I saw someone mention something about hex editing a header and thought that sounded too advanced for me.

I'm also thinking of unhiding the emunand partition, or setting up a new card from scratch with an unhidden emunand, and just copy over the save files from the few games i care about, and let family member saves be damned. Because one day I will want to upgrade to a 1TB sd card, and I'll be in the same boat i am now. so I guess what I'm asking is, would you recommend aganst using emunand on the SD without it being in a hidden partition?

You don't need to split your games if you install them over USB or network.
ExFAT is likely to corrupt itself if a crash occurs, causing loss of data. Far less likely with FAT32.

https://gbatemp.net/threads/setting-up-partitions-for-emummc-with-hekate5-0-nyx.542321/
Use 29856 as the emuNAND size as 29828 is too small in my experience.
You could do it with SX OS as well. If you use SX OS or you dual boot SX and Atmosphere, you should make the emuNAND with SX OS so it is in the right format to work with both. The format created by Hekate is only compatible with Atmosphere (and ReiNX I guess?)
Then just set it as the active emuNAND in Hekate.
You can't unhide the emuNAND. That is, it's encrypted, so it's not readable on a PC no matter what, unless you use HacDiskMount. But mounting the NAND on a PC supposedly corrupts it.

I'm guessing you will probably have to actually copy sysNAND to emuNAND again before it will let you restore the emuNAND backup. Which you can do from Hekate or SX OS, it just means it will waste a bit of time.

 

[LoggerMan]

Here's what i did in bullet points as such..

Create a backup of sd using Win32 Disk Imager.
Write image to new sdcard using Win32Disk Imager.
Boot to check all is ok... (Emunand boots etc)
Backed up data on exFAT partition.
Deleted partition.
Make new exFAT partition utilizing full space available.
Copy exFAT data backup back over.

Would be a lot easier if any tool allowed resizing of the exFAT partition on an sdcard.

This seems to have done the trick. I couldn't figure out how to delete the exfat partition without easeus partition master wanting to write to the hidden partition when creating another partition afterwards. So instead I converted it to fat32, expanded it, then I quit Easeus and in Windows I converted it to exfat, then copied the sd files back over.