DragonMMC replaces the stock MicroSD and NAND boards, and adds a slide switch to choose between up to 3 MicroSD cards/NAND modules. This slide switch protrudes slightly from the original MicroSD card slot, while a replacement kickstand houses 3 MicroSD card slots. Installation does not require soldering, but will require some disassembly of your Switch. All required tools will be included. Removal of the heat shield is currently required. Addons for the DMMC are planned, including fully internal Bluetooth audio streaming, and you can easily make your own thanks to the expansion connector and solderless USB passthrough. (Note that the DMMC itself has no USB capabilities and only passes the USB lines to the expansion connector.)

DragonMMC is modular, with 3 NAND module slots available. An adapter module for the OEM NAND is included. Extra NAND modules of 64GB and 256GB will be available on the web store. The modules are snap-in and do not require soldering. An MCU handles NAND module and MicroSD card detection, as well as safe switching. The slide switch can be moved at any time to change the desired NAND module and MicroSD card. A restart or power cycle of the console will be required to enact the changes. If the selected MicroSD slot or NAND module is empty, DragonMMC will look for the next populated slot and enable it instead.

DragonMMC will be based on the ESP32-PICO microcontroller. More info to come soon!

 

[DuoForce]

What do you mean by "it's own case"?

What I mean by that is the Dragon Injector switch case it comes in.

 

[MatinatorX]

Aaaah, I think you're talking about my other project. This thread is for my new project, the DragonMMC.

EDIT: I do appreciate the kind words though regardless, thank you!

 

[Kioku]

For the record and we cannot stress this enough

THIS HAS NO SET RELEASE DATE

Right, but when's it coming out?

In all seriousness, this is pretty neat.

 

[MasterJ360]

Im definitely interested in this. Will end up buying 2 for both of my Switch's

 

[Clydefrosch]

for a moment, i thought that maybe there'd be a way to combine sd cards for more space, but this is interesting too.

 

[mattytrog]

Good to see you again buddy. Out of curiosity, what modchips does SWITCHBOOT run on, and how many of them have I2C support?

Switchboot/fusee suite(recommended) can be made to run on more or less anything. Subject to space on flash and usb host mode obvs.

Good to speak to you! Been doing all sorts behind the scenes. GPIO fiddling and injecting signals/noise into lines and straps to get initial Mariko/lite support up and running. Messing with boot0 etc

But yeah I can port it to anything you like. Loving your design of board!

Shame emmc prices are so eyewatering for bigger ones.

 

[callmebob]

I destroyed the SD connector on the board of one of my Switches. Will this allow me to bypass that broken SD slot??

 

[MatinatorX]

Switchboot/fusee suite(recommended) can be made to run on more or less anything. Subject to space on flash and usb host mode obvs.

Good to speak to you! Been doing all sorts behind the scenes. GPIO fiddling and injecting signals/noise into lines and straps to get initial Mariko/lite support up and running. Messing with boot0 etc

But yeah I can port it to anything you like. Loving your design of board!

Shame emmc prices are so eyewatering for bigger ones.

Well now, looks like someone's anxious to have the first exploit out the door for Mariko. That's awesome mate. Any particular hardware I should add to DragonMMC besides external GPIOs?

You'll be happy to know the DragonMMC uses the same SAMD21E18 as the Trinket M0 then. There are 4 GPIOs, plus VCC_eMMC, GND, and I2C exposed via the pads or more cleanly via the FFC connector. The exact PMIC I'm using is the TI TPS22994 - thanks to the I2C support, it behaves like a latch and keeps it's state with only 22uA quiescent until the next power on, which means I can get crazy low standby power by sleeping the MCU. Datasheet here!

Thanks for the kind words! Working hard to make my PCBs look better. Jury is still out on if it's too gamer aesthetic or not...

Oh and regarding eMMC prices, I'm buying new Samsung chips (I don't trust used) in bulk to get better rates. So far I think I can offer 64GB modules ready to plug in to DragonMMC or ReLOAD for $35 USD. The 64GB chips are KLMCG4JENB-B041, and I'm trying to find KLMEG8UCTA-B041 for a good bulk rate.

I destroyed the SD connector on the board of one of my Switches. Will this allow me to bypass that broken SD slot??

Unfortunately not. The test points for the MicroSD slot are very small and don't include VCC_SD. The best I can do is give you the part number of the motherboard side connector if you want to try to replace it yourself or get a shop that can handle microsoldering to do it.

 

[pLaYeR^^]

Very interesting project! So you can use three additional micro sd cards and three additional NAND chips? Is it still possible to use the original eMMC?

 

[MatinatorX]

Very interesting project! So you can use three additional micro sd cards and three additional NAND chips? Is it still possible to use the original eMMC?

Yep! The original OEM NAND is supported through a module adapter as seen in the second image, and takes up one of the three available NAND slots.

The single slide switch functions to select both the active NAND module and the active MicroSD card, with the idea being each environment gets it's own external storage that's invisible to the others.

 

[pLaYeR^^]

Yep! The original OEM NAND is supported through a module adapter as seen in the second image, and takes up one of the three available NAND slots.

The single slide switch functions to select both the active NAND module and the active MicroSD card, with the idea being each environment gets it's own external storage that's invisible to the others.

Also nice to get more storage on my switch. Currently I am using one 512GB micro sd card but soon I am running out of space. Since 1TB cards are expensive, maybe this is a good solution?

 

[Dante2405]

Just to be sure i follow.

This does not hack the switch. You have to hack your switch, then install dragon MMC and then you get a switch button that allow you to go from a SD card to another with whatever you installed on. OFW, CFW, or linux.

Is that right?

 

[ChaosEternal]

Positively ingenious. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of this!

 

[MatinatorX]

Also nice to get more storage on my switch. Currently I am using one 512GB micro sd card but soon I am running out of space. Since 1TB cards are expensive, maybe this is a good solution?

Depends on your exact use case. I have no plans to combine MicroSD cards, but you could for example use only two NAND modules (OFW AND CFW) with 3 MicroSD cards. Due to the NAND detection, when selecting the third slot, DragonMMC will detect the absence of a NAND module in slot 3 and instead enable the NAND module in slot 2, but will still respect the selected MicroSD if it exists. So,m you could use MicroSD 1 for OFW, and MicroSD 2 and 3 for CFW, switching between them when you need to.

 

[NoNAND]

Will this be available for order on AliExpress?

 

[MatinatorX]

Just to be sure i follow.

This does not hack the switch. You have to hack your switch, then install dragon MMC and then you get a switch button that allow you to go from a SD card to another with whatever you installed on. OFW, CFW, or linux.

Is that right?

The definition of hacking your Switch is fairly broad so I'll break down exactly what this can do:
- Lets you choose between up to 3 NANDs
- Lets you choose between up to 3 MicroSD cards
- Can inject payloads stored on your MicroSD
* Cannot boot CFW on it's own, payload is required
* Cannot read the contents of your NAND or MicroSD, as it's only toggling power to them

As for the particulars on console modification, you'll probably want to reference a guide to learn more, such as https://nh-server.github.io/switch-guide/

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

Will this be available for order on AliExpress?

I live in Canada and make projects in my kitchen so... no, not unless someone clones it without permission.

 

[pLaYeR^^]

Depends on your exact use case. I have no plans to combine MicroSD cards, but you could for example use only two NAND modules (OFW AND CFW) with 3 MicroSD cards. Due to the NAND detection, when selecting the third slot, DragonMMC will detect the absence of a NAND module in slot 3 and instead enable the NAND module in slot 2, but will still respect the selected MicroSD if it exists. So,m you could use MicroSD 1 for OFW, and MicroSD 2 and 3 for CFW, switching between them when you need to.

Yeah, I meant two CFW setups with each 512 gb micro sd card.

 

[mattytrog]

Regarding repartitioning eMMCs, I am making modified versions of gptrestore.

The idea is to use the one corresponding to your chip size.

eg there will be versions for 16GB, 32(the standard one), 64, 128 and 256.

Just crunching the lz4 gpt prefix and suffix`s now. Might be done tonight, but more than likely tomorrow now.

 

[MatinatorX]

Yeah, I meant two CFW setups with each 512 gb micro sd card.

Oh yeah, completely doable. Since they're just blank modules you can do whatever you want with them. If you have no need for OFW you could even run three separate CFW environments if you wanted, each with a dedicated MicroSD card.

 

[Super.Nova]

You, sir or madam, deserve a standing ovation!
Bravo