Hardware Nintendo 3DS File showing as 500 GB but my SD card only has 32 GB

JmpRailway · Oct 17, 2019

Hello, sorry if my English is bad.

I was going to transfer all my data to a new SD card because my 3DS icons are missing, and when i check the Nintendo 3DS file it says it has 449 GB

but my current and new SD Card only has 32 GB, and my laptop doesn't nearly have that much storage.

If anyone knows anything about it, i would really appreciate it

Thank you

KleinesSinchen · Oct 17, 2019

Sounds like a case of file system corruption¹. Obviously a 32GB card can’t hold 449GB of real data. The missing icons on the 3DS are another piece of evidence for this.

Possibility #1 (completely destructive!):
Give up all your data on the SD, reformat it to FAT32 and check it for defects or fake Windows, Linux, OS X.

If you get any errors replace the SD.
If you get no errors (assuming you are using B9S and Luma custom firmware) put boot.firm and boot.3dsx [Github – Luma3DS v10.0.1] on the empty SD and repeat the finalizing setup.

Possibility #2 (possibly not/less destructive):
If you want to reduce the risk of data loss caused by recovery attempts: start by creating a low level/image copy of your SD (with a tool like dd_rescue). If you can successfully create an image, all attempts can be done on the copy without writing anything on the actual SD.

Try copying as much from the damaged file system one by one or with tools like Robocopy (Windows).
- If you care for specific save(s) get the title ID from http://www.3dsdb.com/ and try to copy the 00000001.sav file(s) for the title(s).
- Also try to copy the extdata folder. This contains the Home Menu settings as well as possibly extra game save data (depending on the games).
Special data recovery software
If the damage is “only” on file system and not hardware level, repair tools (chkdsk or fsck.vfat) might be able to get the file system back to a normal/working state. However, this might also make the problem worse and can lead to unrecoverable data loss.

_______________
¹ An example for ridiculously big files are deliberate ISO9660 file system violations/corruptions used as an early form of CD copy protection. Such CDs claim to contain multiple up to 1GB dummy files although a CD can only hold about 700MB of data.

JmpRailway · Oct 17, 2019

wow i wouldn't think it would be this serious, thanks for the suggestion

Oh and i looked through the Files and there were two folders in particular that held 440 something gb and the other has 110 gb, they both contained folders that were named as
ÿÏ[tðR
ÿt+»³M.k÷÷
etc..
they all have incorrect dates such as 2075/07/05 and when i want to open them it says "the file directory or volume label syntax is incorrect", and some says it is unavailable
.
In any case i will be backing up all files to my USB except those two folder, i would probably format the sd card, though i don't where to go after that

i was thinking, would it be possible to just delete those two folders? would it mess up anything?

I think the missing icons are separate problems since i had the corruptions for a long while now, and the icons started to disappear this morning, some icons such as the activity log, face raiders, twilight menu, and settings is still there while all the digital games and Homebrew apps are gone.

Thanks for your time

KleinesSinchen · Oct 17, 2019

Hard to tell why the icons disappeared today – and not earlier. Perhaps ongoing corruption and now it was too much. Equally hard to tell how it reacts when altering the file system (deleting ÿÏ[tðR garbage name folders and/or using chkdsk).

I would first try to salvage data (in particular 00000001.sav files with notes which file belongs to which game). Homebrew apps and games can be reinstalled – save data not if there are no unencrypted backups made with JKSM and/or Checkpoint (stored on a different medium than that corrupted SD).

Preinstalled software like Activity Log, System Settings… and DSiWare (TWiLight Menu++ is a DSiWare title) are stored on the console internal NAND – not the SD.

Joom · Oct 17, 2019

Why was this moved to the Switch section? One of the mods get drunk?

JmpRailway · Oct 18, 2019

Thankfully I made a nand backup some time ago and backed up my games a few days ago, should I also copy the title folder? The cmd .tmd and .app files alongside the folders containing it, by now I've copied the rest besides the title folder

After that I format my new sd card and repeat the finalising setup, and then copy all the backed up files to my new sd card ?

JmpRailway · Nov 1, 2019

Update:

I don't really know why but, I injected fbi to H&S and then went to checkpoint to backup my save datas. I crashed after multiselecting a bunch of games to backup, but when It rebooted, all my games and homebrew apps came back.

Deleted User · Nov 7, 2019

JmpRailway said:
Update:

I don't really know why but, I injected fbi to H&S and then went to checkpoint to backup my save datas. I crashed after multiselecting a bunch of games to backup, but when It rebooted, all my games and homebrew apps came back.

Your 3ds probability somehow rebuilt the SD card file system

Hardware Nintendo 3DS File showing as 500 GB but my SD card only has 32 GB

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