Can no longer boot

[Ondrashek06]

So what did you do!? Did you copy your old "Nintendo 3DS" folder back to your SD card? Did you delete or rename the old "Nintendo 3DS" folder before you did that, like I suggested? Are we supposed to guess?!

Copied the whole SD card backup back to the card, and redone the Pretendo installation steps.

 

[Kwyjor]

Sir, you did not answer the question.

Did you delete or rename the old "Nintendo 3DS" folder before you did that, like I suggested?

 

[Ondrashek06]

Sir, you did not answer the question.

I overwrote the old one present on the SD card.

Post automatically merged: Nov 10, 2023

@linuxares I'm not deliberately withholding any information, I'm trying hard to finally solve this crap.

I could even provide you with the full SD contents along with a NAND backup if you wanted.
The problem is that I mostly skim over forum posts and my brain filters certain parts of questions out. It's not really my fault that I missed them. Sorry.

 

[Kwyjor]

I overwrote the old one present on the SD card.

You're not supposed to overwrite the old one, you're supposed to rename it or delete it! This is probably the cause of your current problem!

The problem is that I mostly skim over forum posts and my brain filters certain parts of questions out.

You should stop doing that.

 

[Ondrashek06]

You're not supposed to overwrite the old one, you're supposed to rename it or delete it! This is probably the cause of your current problem!


You should stop doing that.

So how do I recover my games and save data?

 

[Kwyjor]

So how do I recover my games and save data?

Y'know, if you're just going to "skim over forum posts" and then have the audacity to say "it's not really your fault", I'm not sure I'm much interested in helping you either.

For the fourth time, now: rename the "Nintendo 3DS" folder on your SD card, and then copy your old "Nintendo 3DS" folder to the SD card. If that works, you can delete the folder you renamed. (Or instead of renaming it, you can back it up and then delete it right away.)

 

[Ondrashek06]

Y'know, if you're just going to "skim over forum posts" and then have the audacity to say "it's not really your fault", I'm not sure I'm much interested in helping you either.

For the fourth time, now: rename the "Nintendo 3DS" folder on your SD card, and then copy your old "Nintendo 3DS" folder to the SD card. If that works, you can delete the folder you renamed. (Or instead of renaming it, you can back it up and then delete it right away.)

I do NOT have the old folder anymore, the backup was deleted to save SSD space.

Post automatically merged: Nov 11, 2023

UPDATE: ALL MY DATA IS BACK!!!

I just had to delete the ID1 folder it created inside Nintendo 3DS with way less files.

All is good now.

 

[xsdfr]

UPDATE: ALL MY DATA IS BACK!!!

I just had to delete the ID1 folder it created inside Nintendo 3DS with way less files.

All is good now.

I believe that means that you have lost all of your installed games & save data. pro tip: don't delete backups.

to put it simply, .cia files are just containers for apps/games and installing them behaves the same as downloading apps/games from the eShop, meaning that they install to the "Nintendo 3DS" folder on your SD card (except for DSiWare, which installs to the NAND). saves and themes are also stored in the "Nintendo 3DS" folder.

this means that you've just lost all of your installed apps/games, saves and themes. you can redownload apps, games and themes, but, coming from someone who has lost a few hundred hours due to SD card failure, I hope you've backed up your saves and, if not, I hope you will start to do so in the future.

anyways, your problem is fixed. if you do miraculously find your previous "Nintendo 3DS" folder, you should be able to just copy it over to your SD card without a hitch.

edit: just to elaborate, your DSiWare and possibly GBA VC (unsure, please correct me if I'm wrong) saves should be safe, as they're stored on the NAND.

edit 2: congrats on restoring your data. just remember to ALWAYS make backups and to NEVER delete them.