@_silencer_ It is quite understandable you want continue using what you have paid for (and what you are used to). I use outdated things all the time despite people laughing at me and no matter what they say.
The problem is not you wanting to continue using the Gateway card, the problem is Gateway. They stopped supporting the card years ago and it is not compatible with recent firmware versions. The downgrade process with Sysupdater is dangerous (and unnecessary). If the downgrade fails, only an ntrboot card or hardmod can safe your 3DS.
To answer you question: CTRTransfer with GodMode9 is much safer because
- You would install B9S and be able to make a SYSNAND backup before doing anything else as a fallback solution.
- If anything goes wrong you can probably still boot GodMode9/Decrypt9 and try again/something different/restore the backup.
Appreciate the response, but there is a hacked firmware in the wild which supports Gateway EmuNAND up to 11.7. This is good enough for me and Nintendo is hardly releasing anymore games for the 3DS as it is.