Hardware Do 3DS game cartridges use MASKROM?

[blueagent004]

The mask ROM chips are manufactured by Macronix and have an access speed of 150 ns. The cards contain flash memory.

There's two major types of "Flash Memory" (NOR & NAND)
3DS Cartridges use a combination of the two based on function.

For the storage of the game, it's NOR, for the storage of the save data, it's NAND.

Both are part of the "Flash Memory" family and both are made by Macronix.

does anyone know if 3DS game cartridges use mask-rom or flash-memory?


thanks for letting me know.

 

[proflayton123]

iirc some cards are type 1 and others type 2 -- one of which saves to the sd card and the other to the rom chip its self I hope this helped xD

 

[blueagent004]

thanks for the reply, i just found out that 3ds carts don't use maskrom at all, but NOR flash memory, so i guess the games will be susceptible to data-rot after all, which is a shame.

 

[bendevnull]

thanks for the reply, i just found out that 3ds carts don't use maskrom at all, but NOR flash memory, so i guess the games will be susceptible to data-rot after all, which is a shame.

Give it 20 - 30 years in a damp area then yes, it will be susceptible to data rot. Keep it safe and you won't have to worry about data rot for some time.

 

[driverdis]

Give it 20 - 30 years in a damp area then yes, it will be susceptible to data rot. Keep it safe and you won't have to worry about data rot for some time.

Damp areas do not change but rot, it is not literal rotting. Keeping it shielded from EMI is the best option. Over time, exposure to radiation from the sun, solar flares, and other sources can even mess up maskrom. Some older carts and arcade machines have had the maskrom fail from bit rot over time.

 

[blueagent004]

Over time, exposure to radiation from the sun, solar flares, and other sources can even mess up maskrom. Some older carts and arcade machines have had the maskrom fail from bit rot over time.

thanks for the informative reply! oh well, nothing really lasts forever i guess.

 

[Deleted User]

thanks for the informative reply! i didn't know that maskrom chips were susceptible to bitrot as well, but it looks like its a real thing after all. oh well, nothing really lasts forever i guess.

well there is something you can do. Its called dumping the 3ds cart (and then if the cart dies and the resources are there you could make your own cart)

 

[SoslanVanWieren]

does this mean you can flash another game one a 3ds cart?

 

[The Real Jdbye]

iirc some cards are type 1 and others type 2 -- one of which saves to the sd card and the other to the rom chip its self I hope this helped xD

Correction, Card1 saves to a separate save chip, not to the SD card (with a couple exceptions)

does this mean you can flash another game one a 3ds cart?

Theoretically maybe with Card2 but I'm not sure if you can do it from the software side.

 

[lone_wolf323]

does this mean you can flash another game one a 3ds cart?

No, carts are ROM's. read only memory. There aint no way of flashing or writing information to a game cart.

 

[bendevnull]

No, carts are ROM's. read only memory. There aint no way of flashing or writing information to a game cart.

There are ways of flashing ROM. Just not easy ways. You'd need to desolder and flash the chip with a hardware flasher. However, the 3DS Cart's ROM chip might not be reflashable