Hacking Question Switch will only read SD card if formatted through itself;Windows formatting=unreadable, FatFS error

cremvursti

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Trying to set up emummc with SD partition but can't because when I format my SD card (through MiniTool Partition Wizzard) the card just becomes unreadable (if I pop it on the original firmware it prompts me to format it to be able to read it). If booted in Hekate I just get FatFS Error 13: Make sure that a FAT partition exists.

Curiously enough if, after formatting through the Switch, I pop it in my computer and format it without wiping the partition it works just fine. The issue arises when I actually delete the partition and try to recreate it alongside with the 30GB partition required for emummc. After I delete the partition created by the Switch it simply stops working.

Furthest I got was by reformating from exFAT to FAT32, which allowed me to split the card into two partitions, but here what actually happens is that the 2nd partition doesn't stay formated, it remains as a bunch of unallocated space instead of a partition, and it won't allow me to create a new partition without deleting the other existing one first.

So from what I reckon something happens when the actual partition is created. The thing is, I've tried this with a lot of tools: MiniTool, EaseUS, guiformat, DiskGenius, SD Card Formatter, AOMEI... nothing works. I've also tried to use DISKPART (clean and create partition primary) with no avail.

I'm pretty much at my wits' end here and I don't really know what to do, so if someone has any idea please let me know. If I get no help I'll probably try via Linux, though I'd rather not since I barely have a clue to work outside of Windows, but I guess it's either this or nothing.
 

pcwizard7

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try making your fat32 partition for your sd files first then when creating the second partition for emummc select do not format and then it is unformatted partition and then use hekate to create the emunand
 

cremvursti

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Maybe I explained it a bit poorly, but I can't do this. As I've said, if I create the partitions on PC my Switch won't read it (neither in CFW, where I get FatFS error 13, nor in the OFW, where it prompt me to format the card because it can't be used). Since there seems no way around this at the moment (I've tried on a different PC as well with no avail), I tried to go around this limitation by formatting the card through my switch, then converting it to FAT32 and after that splitting it in two partitions. The problem here is that instead of this resulting in two FAT32 partitions, I only get one, and the other one gets transformed in Unallocated Space. If I try to create a partition with this space MiniTool returns an error that says I can't create a partition unless I delete the already existing ones first. If I delete the partition created by the Switch then I'm back where I started, with an SD card that is unreadable for the Switch.

As I've said, I'll try to format it through a Linux distro installed on an USB stick, maybe that will help. Another thing that I'll try is to use a different card reader, maybe there's something wrong with the one I have.

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

I think I got it working and, as I presumed, it's most likely because of my card reader. I used the UMS tool provided by TegraRcmGUI in order for my SD card to show up on my PC while being plugged into my Switch. From there I was able to just format it normally through MiniTool, created two partitions and that's it.

This was a real head scratcher and I wish I knew about the UMS tool about 24h ago, would've saved me quite a lot of time. With so many people having a PC I wonder why the tool isn't more in-your-face, since most of the PC cases don't really come with an SD card reader, like most laptops do, which leads to a lot of people using all kind of adapters.
 

pcwizard7

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I think I got it working and, as I presumed, it's most likely because of my card reader. I used the UMS tool provided by TegraRcmGUI in order for my SD card to show up on my PC while being plugged into my Switch. From there I was able to just format it normally through MiniTool, created two partitions and that's it.

This was a real head scratcher and I wish I knew about the UMS tool about 24h ago, would've saved me quite a lot of time. With so many people having a PC I wonder why the tool isn't more in-your-face, since most of the PC cases don't really come with an SD card reader, like most laptops do, which leads to a lot of people using all kind of adapters.


Yea windows bultin disk management doesn’t handle multi partition on sd cards or USB sticks. I use a third party software called paragon hard drive manger 15 pro but linux would work too

Reason why the mini tool in tegarcmgui isn’t in ur face is in wrong hands can brick ur switch since u can access the nand directly
 

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