ROM Hack RELEASE EmuTool - Move partition Emu on another SD, Switch Emu type on SXOS and more

impeeza · Nov 24, 2024

azraelslair said:
My CFW is currently in Atmosphere emuMMC SD File format. I am upgrading to a 1.5 TB microSD and I want to convert my current emuMMC SD File to SD Raw Partition using EmuTool, Is this the right tool for this?

Yes it is, but, Why do you want to do that? what thing you think will earn by doing that?

azraelslair said:
I tried using it but for some reason, it can't detect my microSD card's hidden partition. The raw partition is working since I was able to create an SD Raw Partition and other application like NxNandManager is able to see it.

Did you created the hidden raw partition using Hekate?

azraelslair said:
Can you help me convert my emuMMC SD File to an emuMMC SD Raw Partition? Thank you in advance.

It's easy, but again, Why?

Post automatically merged: Nov 24, 2024

I feel I already did this set of instructions, but here we go again:

Start with your BLANK SD Card, format it on FAT32 you can use MiniTool Partition wizard or fat32 format (https://gbatemp.net/download/gui-format.33869/)

Then copy ONLY Hekate and payload (hekate_ctcaer_X.X.X.bin renamed payload.bin) to the root of your new card:

Then boot your console, if is a V1 inject hekate_ctcaer_6.2.2.bin, if your console have a modchip it will load the payload.bin file at your SD root.

DO NOT FORGET TO PRESS VOL- JUST INMEDIATELY THE CONSOLE START, this way you can load NYX (the Hekate's GUI)

On the main screen select the «TOOLS» tab:

Now select SD Partition & USB, Partition SD Card

pres OK

now move the slider to get the size of 1 EmuNAND of 29 FULL (or 57 if you have a OLED)

and then tap «Next Step»

READ and accept the warning

Now when finished a new scheme of partitions will be on your card:

The unallocated space at start is reserved by SD specifications (for store cells life), now a raw partition is created at END of the SD Card, this space can be used by EmuTool for restore a set of files on to it.

Now you can restore all your files on the new created FAT32 volume.
Then you can use EmuTool to copy a set of file based EmuNAND files to the recent created RAW Partition

Also you can use NYX's tools for setup the EmuNAND once you restore everything.

I know this instructions are long but are the safest and better way I know.

azraelslair · Nov 24, 2024

Thank you impeeza. I tried to respond to your message but gbatemp won't let me.

Actually I did all the said instruction its just somehow EmuTool wasn't able to see my microSD card nor my partition for some reason. As mentioned before, I know other application are able to see the partition. Maybe I am wrong.

To answer your question why I am trying to convert my SD File to SD Raw Partition was because I read before its harder to get ban using a Raw Partition. They're saying the company maybe able to read the contents of your microSD card and you can potentially get ban, but with a hidden partition it maybe less likely. I am not sure if this is true but its better to be safe than sorry.

I'm just curious why EmuTool can't see the hidden partition on my microSD card. Thank you again for your response!

impeeza · Nov 24, 2024

azraelslair said:
but gbatemp won't let me.

azraelslair said:
I read before its harder to get ban using a Raw Partition

False, bans had absolutely nothing to do with File or Raw based (so far), They have no valid reason to ban you for having files on your SD card, that could be a potential lawsuit.

Also Atmosphère informs to the system if you are using a EmuNAND or SysNAND so effectively do not matters. (look on the version section of system settings)

azraelslair said:
I'm just curious why EmuTool can't see the hidden partition on my microSD card. Thank you again for your response!

May be the version of EmuTool you are using, old versions had a trouble finding «big» disks. try latest one.

azraelslair · Nov 24, 2024

I see. Thank you for the clarification. Ye

impeeza said:
Also Atmosphère informs to the system if you are using a EmuNAND or SysNAND so effectively do not matters. (look on the version section of system settings)

You're right. The system version will indicate if CFW is active. At least in Atmosphere which I am using right now.

impeeza said:
May be the version of EmuTool you are using, old versions had a trouble finding «big» disks. try latest one.

I am using the version in this thread and tried the one on github. Both didn't work. Is it perhaps I have a 1.5 TB microSD card?

In nothing works, perhaps I'll just keep my SD File Type emuMMC or start from scratch with an SD Raw Partition.

dragonz · Aug 25, 2025

Can EmuTool convert RAW to file-based and store it temporarily on a USB drive?
Alsom, should I switch to file based or what is recommended?

impeeza · Aug 25, 2025

dragonz said:
Can EmuTool convert RAW to file-based and store it temporarily on a USB drive?
Alsom, should I switch to file based or what is recommended?

Yes it can.

you can read RAW and convert it to a folder with file based emunand, you can store that folder on any place you like.

today File based emunand is the way to go, it is easy to backup and today there are only few milisecs of speed difference between RAW and File based. so many years ago was a big difference on perfomance but was corrected.

dragonz · Aug 25, 2025

impeeza said:
Yes it can.

you can read RAW and convert it to a folder with file based emunand, you can store that folder on any place you like.

today File based emunand is the way to go, it is easy to backup and today there are only few milisecs of speed difference between RAW and File based. so many years ago was a big difference on perfomance but was corrected.

Thanks again for your help earlier—your explanation really cleared things up!

Here’s a quick summary of where I’m at:

My Switch is running Atmosphère CFW with emuMMC
emuMMC is currently set up as a RAW partition (SD RAW1 - MOUNTED in Hekate)
I cloned my old 124GB SD card to a new 500GB one using AOMEI
Everything works, but the system still sees the SD as 124GB—the rest is allocated but unusable since the Switch can’t read beyond the RAW partition

Based on your advice, I’ve decided to switch to file-based emuMMC. I’ll use EmuTool to convert the RAW emuMMC to file-based and temporarily store it on a USB drive.

Here’s my plan:

Back up my primary files
- This includes homebrew, emulators, DBI, and anything else important.
Reformat the 500GB SD card to FAT32
- I’ll use a tool like GUIFormat or MiniTool Partition Wizard to format the entire SD card as FAT32, since Windows doesn’t support FAT32 formatting above 32GB natively.
Copy everything back
- I’ll move the converted file-based emuMMC folder from the USB drive on the newly formatted SD card.
- I’ll also restore my primary files (homebrew, emulators, etc.) to the SD card.

After that… I honestly have no clue what my next steps should be

If you don’t mind taking a look at my roadmap, I’d really appreciate your thoughts on whether it looks solid and what I might need to consider going forward.

Thanks again for all your guidance!

impeeza · Aug 25, 2025

dragonz said:
I’ll use a tool like GUIFormat or MiniTool Partition Wizard to format the entire SD card as FAT32, since Windows doesn’t support FAT32 formatting above 32GB natively.

yes that is the correct concept, but I will do preffer to use Hekate to format and partition the card, Hekate will take care of the free space needed at the start of the card for bad sectors management.

Also once you recover everything to the card, you can use Hekate to be sure your EmuNAND file based as the default one.

I have a guide on https://gbatemp.net/threads/emutool...on-sxos-and-more.550756/page-24#post-10547028

dragonz · Aug 25, 2025

impeeza said:
yes that is the correct concept, but I will do preffer to use Hekate to format and partition the card, Hekate will take care of the free space needed at the start of the card for bad sectors management.

Also once you recover everything to the card, you can use Hekate to be sure your EmuNAND file based as the default on- e.

I have a guide on https://gbatemp.net/go threads/emutool-move-partition-emu-on-another-sd-switch-emu-type-on-sxos-and-more.550756/page-24#post-10547028

Thank you! If I mess something up while setting up the new SD card with Hekate, can I still safely go back to using my original 128GB card where everything was working fine? Or is there a risk that changes I make—like new configurations in Hekate—could somehow affect or corrupt the old card too?

Post automatically merged: Aug 26, 2025

@impeeza

I successfully created a file-based emuMMC and set it up using Hekate, but I encountered this error...

"Atmosphere still launches successfully, but my homebrew apps and Sega Saturn games no longer appear. Even my physical game cartridge—Mario Wonder, which is currently inserted—won’t launch.

my SD01 is where my new file based emuMMC lives now ...

As long as I can get my homebrew apps and Sega Saturn games to show up on the main screen, I think I'm good to go ahead and delete the hidden emuMMC partitions on drives F:, H:, and E:. After that, I plan to expand the size of drive G:. By the way, I was able to launch DBI, JKSV, and other homebrew apps by pressing either R1 or R2—I can't remember which.

my current version on my file based emuMMC is ... 19.0.1|AMS 1.8.0|E

my emuMMC (parition and hidden one) is ... 18.1.0|AMS 1.8.0|E

If I go into hetake and choose my raw1 emuMMC to be the default - everything works again and I don't get the Failed to apply 'nosigchk'! and all my homebrew show up again in my main screen and everything runs smoothly as before.

My main goal is to get everything running smoothly from my G: drive, just like it was before. Once that's sorted, I plan to delete the partitions on drives F:, H:, and E:, and then expand the storage on G:. I’d really appreciate your help with this.

impeeza · Aug 26, 2025

dragonz said:
I successfully created a file-based emuMMC and set it up using Hekate, but I encountered this error...

remove the nosig lines from the HEKATE_IPL.INI file and do not forget to install SYS_Patch Sysmodule.

dragonz said:
Even my physical game cartridge

Remove the NOGC from HEKATE_IPL.INI file or Atmosphère files, that disable the GameCartdrige.

dragonz · Aug 26, 2025

impeeza said:
remove the nosig lines from the HEKATE_IPL.INI file and do not forget to install SYS_Patch Sysmodule.

Remove the NOGC from HEKATE_IPL.INI file or Atmosphère files, that disable the GameCartdrige.

Thank you for your prompt response

I thought my problem was my current file based emuMMC is ... 19.0.1|AMS 1.8.0|E and that I needed the sigpatched for 19.0.1 ?

Anyways -

So delete the line highlighted ?

and do you know where I can find SYS_PAtch sysmodule - the link below is dead now...

https://github.com/ITotalJustice/sys-patch

I could not find the NOGC on the HEKATE_IPL.INI file and I don't know exactly
where to find them in the Atmosphère files, that disable the Game Cartridge.

carlos1984 · Sep 18, 2025

is there any way to move saves from the sdcard of a unbootable switch to a freashly modded switch.

I have the sdcard with the emummc on it and the orignal backuyp I made when I first moded the damaged switch.

VivreDNA · Mar 7, 2026

impeeza said:
Yes it is, but, Why do you want to do that? what thing you think will earn by doing that?

Did you created the hidden raw partition using Hekate?

It's easy, but again, Why?

Post automatically merged: Nov 24, 2024

I feel I already did this set of instructions, but here we go again:

Start with your BLANK SD Card, format it on FAT32 you can use MiniTool Partition wizard or fat32 format (https://gbatemp.net/download/gui-format.33869/)

Then copy ONLY Hekate and payload (hekate_ctcaer_X.X.X.bin renamed payload.bin) to the root of your new card:

View attachment 472667

Then boot your console, if is a V1 inject hekate_ctcaer_6.2.2.bin, if your console have a modchip it will load the payload.bin file at your SD root.

DO NOT FORGET TO PRESS VOL- JUST INMEDIATELY THE CONSOLE START, this way you can load NYX (the Hekate's GUI)

On the main screen select the «TOOLS» tab:

View attachment 472668

Now select SD Partition & USB, Partition SD Card
View attachment 472669

pres OK
View attachment 472670

now move the slider to get the size of 1 EmuNAND of 29 FULL (or 57 if you have a OLED)
View attachment 472672
and then tap «Next Step»

READ and accept the warning
View attachment 472674

Now when finished a new scheme of partitions will be on your card:

View attachment 472666

The unallocated space at start is reserved by SD specifications (for store cells life), now a raw partition is created at END of the SD Card, this space can be used by EmuTool for restore a set of files on to it.

Now you can restore all your files on the new created FAT32 volume.

Then you can use EmuTool to copy a set of file based EmuNAND files to the recent created RAW Partition

View attachment 473781

Also you can use NYX's tools for setup the EmuNAND once you restore everything.

I know this instructions are long but are the safest and better way I know.

Hi sir, I already backup my emuMMC sdfile folder to PC, then already do partition as well, but after i try to select emummc folder on my pc for the source and chose hidden partition for target and select microsd that already partitioned via Hekate, but it is said missing BOOT0 and BOOT1. is there any missing step i do?

I want to move my sdfile emummc to raw partition. thank you.

Edited : I miss select the folder for source. before i select emuMMC folder, I should select "eMMC" one, now is copying to my raw partition. Thanks once again

impeeza · Mar 10, 2026

VivreDNA said:
Hi sir, I already backup my emuMMC sdfile folder to PC, then already do partition as well, but after i try to select emummc folder on my pc for the source and chose hidden partition for target and select microsd that already partitioned via Hekate, but it is said missing BOOT0 and BOOT1. is there any missing step i do?

I want to move my sdfile emummc to raw partition. thank you.

Edited : I miss select the folder for source. before i select emuMMC folder, I should select "eMMC" one, now is copying to my raw partition. Thanks once again
View attachment 560895

I recommend to stay on on a File based EmuNAND, there is no real reason today to use Partition based one, too many years ago where a big difference of performance between FIle and Partition EmuNAND, but today are practically the same.

On the backup folder you must have this files:

the files with names as numbers 00-07 are the EmuNAND user partition, the BOOT0 and BOOT1 files are those partitions.

ROM Hack RELEASE EmuTool - Move partition Emu on another SD, Switch Emu type on SXOS and more

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