Hacking Question Can I restore/backup my NAND WITHOUT Hekate?

[skullkeeper94]

I recall there being a tool that can mount the switch NAND and whatnot to a PC. Couldn't I just use THAT to back it up/restore, then use Hekate to restore the boot#'s? I'm too poor for a microSD card thats anywhere near above 16gb, let alone 32gb.

 

[TR_mahmutpek]

I think rajkosto' s tools can do that but not sure. There should be a tutorial on thar.

 

[Pipistrele]

customfw.xyz has a comprehensive guide on making raw copy of your NAND via PC using HDD Raw Copy Tool ( https://switch.customfw.xyz/backup-nand ). The only problem is that it's written in Russian, but I think that you can find similar guides in English if you lurk hard enough.

 

[BeniBel]

Not wanting to sound like a jerk, but you can get a micro sd card anywhere in the range of 10-30 euros. If that's too much it might not have been wise investing money into a switch to begin with.

Besides that you might want to invest in one either way, as the 32gb onboard memory won't allow for many games.

 

[RHOPKINS13]

I'm sure you can do it with HacDiskMount and memloader, but I don't really see any good guides for it. I'd recommend sticking with Hekate. You can always use the microSD for game storage later, and the money is worth it for peace of mind, knowing you've made a NAND backup with a tried-and-true method.

 

[Hayato213]

I recall there being a tool that can mount the switch NAND and whatnot to a PC. Couldn't I just use THAT to back it up/restore, then use Hekate to restore the boot#'s? I'm too poor for a microSD card thats anywhere near above 16gb, let alone 32gb.

You got to be kidding me if you can afford a switch don't go around saying you can't affording a micro SD, 64GB is only 12 bucks.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I recall there being a tool that can mount the switch NAND and whatnot to a PC. Couldn't I just use THAT to back it up/restore, then use Hekate to restore the boot#'s? I'm too poor for a microSD card thats anywhere near above 16gb, let alone 32gb.

I think you can do it with HacDiskMount, just be careful you don't actually mount the NAND because that will supposedly brick it.
BTW, Hekate will automatically split the NAND dump into as many parts as needed.
You are going to have to invest in a big SD card anyway as there is not much you can do on a hacked Switch without one. A single game can fill up the entire internal storage. Some games are even too big to fit in internal storage.

 

[skullkeeper94]

You got to be kidding me if you can afford a switch don't go around saying you can't affording a micro SD, 64GB is only 12 bucks.

It was a gift ;o

I think you can do it with HacDiskMount, just be careful you don't actually mount the NAND because that will supposedly brick it.
BTW, Hekate will automatically split the NAND dump into as many parts as needed.
You are going to have to invest in a big SD card anyway as there is not much you can do on a hacked Switch without one. A single game can fill up the entire internal storage. Some games are even too big to fit in internal storage.

Wiiiill do! Christmas time, fingers crossed

 

[issayloki]

I recall there being a tool that can mount the switch NAND and whatnot to a PC. Couldn't I just use THAT to back it up/restore, then use Hekate to restore the boot#'s? I'm too poor for a microSD card thats anywhere near above 16gb, let alone 32gb.

Hi
You can try PC program call NXNANDMANAGER.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

It was a gift ;o


Wiiiill do! Christmas time, fingers crossed

I would say 200-256GB is the absolute minimum but the bigger the better, my 200GB filled up really quickly despite me owning cartridges of a lot of games (which I didn't install to the SD card), I'm now on a 512GB which still has between 150-200GB free so that should last me a while.

 

[pcwizard7]

HacDiskMount

Allows to open Switch eMMC RawNand dumps (and physical devices) and lets you perform operations on the individual partitions within, such as dump/restore from file, or mount them as a drive letter in Windows (with transparent crypto performed provided you have your BIS keys).

Running all programs from this page requires that you have the Visual C++ 2017 x64 Redistributable installed.

Download

NxNandManager

What can this program do ?

• Backup or restore any Switch's NAND (file or drive) => full sysNAND, full emuNAND, boot partitions or user partitions.
• Encrypt or decrypt native encrypted partition (PRODINFO, PRODINFOF, SAFE, SYTEM & USER) using BIS keys.
• Resize your NAND (USER partition only).
• Retrieve and display useful information about NAND file/drive (Firmware version, device ID, exFat driver, S/N, etc.) using BIS keys
• Splitted dumps are fully supported (backup & restore). However the program cannot split an existing dump nor can it split the output file in any case.
• Option to wipe console unique ids and certificates (a.k.a Incognito) from PRODINFO
• Enable/Disable auto RCM (BOOT0)

Download

 

[skullkeeper94]

Beautiful pcwizard, I'll look into it since idk if a NAND backup can be re-split.

I propose a new question: can I safely move the sysCFW saves to sysNAND? I read up and found 'What I found on GBATemp' but wanted to know if it would be me shooting myself in the leg or not

 

[pcwizard7]

I d look at the guide where to backup saves from a nand backup would give you a clue on how it might be possible to do so otherwise maybe using the HOS local save transfer might work as well