Homebrew Erased SD Card with GodMode9

[eas66]

So, after a series of stupid instances while trying to remove the ban (unrelated), my SD card locked up. It was trapped in read-only. I tried absolutely all the usual tricks, nothing worked.

I noticed a .Trash folder on the root of my SD and I thought that something in there might be causing the problem. So, I booted into gm9 because it was the only thing that could write to the card. I opened up the SD, highlighted the .Trash folder and selected delete.

No big deal, I've deleted things like this before but I noticed it was taking an awful long time and I couldn't seem to stop it. So, I shut down the 3DS to get out of the frozen screen.

Upon reopening my SD on my computer I found two things: I could write to the card again, and all my data had been erased. Everything was deleted (including my Nintendo 3DS folder).

At first I thought I could just restore the backup I had made earlier that evening but of course, the backup never actually completed properly and most of the data was missing.

Since then, I've worked with someone on discord to return my 3DS to a functioning state with all my games seemingly on the home menu. However, I found out that none of the games actually boot (I get an SD card removal error) unless I reinstall them.

In the settings, all my ext data is fine, but in the general save data, I have 14 pages of blank "?" games.

My question is am I done for? I've been running file recovery on my SD card all day to no avail, and I'm basically reaching for any small ray of hope. I have nearly 40 games and over 1200 hours of play on the line and I'd be extremely upset, to put it mildly, if I were to lose it all.

Thanks in advance.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

 

[Giodude]

So, after a series of stupid instances while trying to remove the ban (unrelated), my SD card locked up. It was trapped in read-only. I tried absolutely all the usual tricks, nothing worked.

I noticed a .Trash folder on the root of my SD and I thought that something in there might be causing the problem. So, I booted into gm9 because it was the only thing that could write to the card. I opened up the SD, highlighted the .Trash folder and selected delete.

No big deal, I've deleted things like this before but I noticed it was taking an awful long time and I couldn't seem to stop it. So, I shut down the 3DS to get out of the frozen screen.

Upon reopening my SD on my computer I found two things: I could write to the card again, and all my data had been erased. Everything was deleted (including my Nintendo 3DS folder).

At first I thought I could just restore the backup I had made earlier that evening but of course, the backup never actually completed properly and most of the data was missing.

Since then, I've worked with someone on discord to return my 3DS to a functioning state with all my games seemingly on the home menu. However, I found out that none of the games actually boot (I get an SD card removal error) unless I reinstall them.

In the settings, all my ext data is fine, but in the general save data, I have 14 pages of blank "?" games.

My question is am I done for? I've been running file recovery on my SD card all day to no avail, and I'm basically reaching for any small ray of hope. I have nearly 40 games and over 1200 hours of play on the line and I'd be extremely upset, to put it mildly, if I were to lose it all.

Thanks in advance.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

I mean... There's not much to say. You can try using any data recovery software to see if anything is salvageable, but if that doesn't work, deleting everything without a backup simply leads to losing everything. Could have happened from a fake or damaged sd card, be and I would be wary about using it in the future.

EDIT: Seems I skipped a bit, it was alot to read. Do me a favor. Go to system settings. Do all the games have a little X over them?

 

[Purple_Heart]

i think your messed up (i could be wrong)

 

[eas66]

I mean... There's not much to say. You can try using any data recovery software to see if anything is salvageable, but if that doesn't work, deleting everything without a backup simply leads to losing everything. Could have happened from a fake or damaged sd card, be and I would be wary about using it in the future.

EDIT: Seems I skipped a bit, it was alot to read. Do me a favor. Go to system settings. Do all the games have a little X over them?

I'm mid file recovery at the moment, but from what I remember from earlier about 3 or 4 of the games featured an icon(greyed out with a little x in the bottom left?), the name of the game, and the number of blocks it occupied. Everything else was a "?" Icon (no x), a blank name, and 0 blocks.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

 

[Giodude]

I'm mid file recovery at the moment, but from what I remember from earlier about 3 or 4 of the games featured an icon(greyed out with a little x in the bottom left?), the name of the game, and the number of blocks it occupied. Everything else was a "?" Icon (no x), a blank name, and 0 blocks.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

If it has a little X, try finding the CIA of the application and installing it. If your save didn't corrupt it should still be there. Not sure about the ? Labeled games but try one of those as well.

 

[OrGoN3]

So, after a series of stupid instances while trying to remove the ban (unrelated), my SD card locked up. It was trapped in read-only. I tried absolutely all the usual tricks, nothing worked.

I noticed a .Trash folder on the root of my SD and I thought that something in there might be causing the problem. So, I booted into gm9 because it was the only thing that could write to the card. I opened up the SD, highlighted the .Trash folder and selected delete.

No big deal, I've deleted things like this before but I noticed it was taking an awful long time and I couldn't seem to stop it. So, I shut down the 3DS to get out of the frozen screen.

Upon reopening my SD on my computer I found two things: I could write to the card again, and all my data had been erased. Everything was deleted (including my Nintendo 3DS folder).

At first I thought I could just restore the backup I had made earlier that evening but of course, the backup never actually completed properly and most of the data was missing.

Since then, I've worked with someone on discord to return my 3DS to a functioning state with all my games seemingly on the home menu. However, I found out that none of the games actually boot (I get an SD card removal error) unless I reinstall them.

In the settings, all my ext data is fine, but in the general save data, I have 14 pages of blank "?" games.

My question is am I done for? I've been running file recovery on my SD card all day to no avail, and I'm basically reaching for any small ray of hope. I have nearly 40 games and over 1200 hours of play on the line and I'd be extremely upset, to put it mildly, if I were to lose it all.

Thanks in advance.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

Sounds like the card was corrupted to begin with. So your data may not have been recoverable from the start. You can attempt a data recovery tool, like Recuva (https://www.piriform.com/recuva). However, you must realize how flash data works. Chances are the data is gone. Flash drives are not like magnetic hard drives: once you delete something, it typically gets completely erased thanks to TRIM.

 

[eas66]

Sounds like the card was corrupted to begin with. So your data may not have been recoverable from the start. You can attempt a data recovery tool, like Recuva (https://www.piriform.com/recuva). However, you must realize how flash data works. Chances are the data is gone. Flash drives are not like magnetic hard drives: once you delete something, it typically gets completely erased thanks to TRIM.

I'm hopeful. I'm on my 4th recovery software and every one finds different files, some from the very first day I used that SD card in my 3ds.

I know my chances are slim but with so much on the line, I'm going to give it my best shot.

It would be strange if the SD was corrupted, though. I bought it 6 months ago and it isn't a fake. I splurged on a Samsung to make sure it'd last. Guess not.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

 

[OrGoN3]

I'm hopeful. I'm on my 4th recovery software and every one finds different files, some from the very first day I used that SD card in my 3ds.

I know my chances are slim but with so much on the line, I'm going to give it my best shot.

It would be strange if the SD was corrupted, though. I bought it 6 months ago and it isn't a fake. I splurged on a Samsung to make sure it'd last. Guess not.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

Then you would be shocked to learn just how many SD cards become corrupt, or even started out with bad sectors. Did you test your SD card when you first got it with h2testw to ensure no bad sectors?

Just realize, and be careful, that if the recovery software is recovering ONTO your SD card, you may be diminishing your success, as it may write over something it hasn't recovered yet.

Also, before you use that SD card again, after you finish recovering what you need, reformat it and do a test with h2testw. It'll write a whole bunch of garbage data to your SD card, so be sure you are finished recovering first.

SD cards can go bad in an instant. NAND flash is terrible and we really shouldn't be using it. We only use it because it's so cheap to mass produce, and SD cards use checksums to verify data written, which is why they write so much slower than Compact Flash cards.

 

[eas66]

If it has a little X, try finding the CIA of the application and installing it. If your save didn't corrupt it should still be there. Not sure about the ? Labeled games but try one of those as well.

I didn't try one of the games with the x yet, I'll do that later. But, I did try one that was probably a "?" save. I booted the game and it asked to make a save, overwriting anything that was there before.

I expected that, so I tried to replace the new save with the little bit of data I had, but that save data didn't exist in my backup. I'm starting to think only the games with the "x" are in the "titles" folder. Yet most all of my games are in the "extdata" folder for sure.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

 

[OrGoN3]

I didn't try one of the games with the x yet, I'll do that later. But, I did try one that was probably a "?" save. I booted the game and it asked to make a save, overwriting anything that was there before.

I expected that, so I tried to replace the new save with the little bit of data I had, but that save data didn't exist in my backup. I'm starting to think only the games with the "x" are in the "titles" folder. Yet most all of my games are in the "extdata" folder for sure.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

Are you sure you are recovering the correct files then? They should be in their proper folders....

 

[eas66]

Then you would be shocked to learn just how many SD cards become corrupt, or even started out with bad sectors. Did you test your SD card when you first got it with h2testw to ensure no bad sectors?

Just realize, and be careful, that if the recovery software is recovering ONTO your SD card, you may be diminishing your success, as it may write over something it hasn't recovered yet.

Also, before you use that SD card again, after you finish recovering what you need, reformat it and do a test with h2testw. It'll write a whole bunch of garbage data to your SD card, so be sure you are finished recovering first.

SD cards can go bad in an instant. NAND flash is terrible and we really shouldn't be using it. We only use it because it's so cheap to mass produce, and SD cards use checksums to verify data written, which is why they write so much slower than Compact Flash cards.

Will do! That's extremely helpful information! I've never heard of h2testw before and I've been doing this since the original Nintendo DS... You'd think I might have by now... But I'm absolutely checking all future cards, for sure.


And to answer your question, yes I'm trying to recover the correct files. The ones mentioned in the "titles" and "extdata" folders are from my partial backup, not the restoration.

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

Alright, just to update, I most recently used DMDE 3.4.0 Free Edition to recover the files. This is the first and only software to find files in the Nintendo 3DS folder including what looks like ALL of my lost save data! So, for anyone else in a weird scenario, this software rocks.

I'm going to try to recover all that I can from this scan, which could end up taking me quite a long while. As soon as I get everything together, I'm going to try reintegrating the saves into my Nintendo 3ds Folder (after a reformat and h2testw check to be safe) and I'll report back with my findings.

Guys, I might just be coming back from the dead tonight!

 

[LaPingas]

Just from the start I can guess that your card was corrupted. Nothing to save here. You need a fresh new start

 

[OrGoN3]

Just from the start I can guess that your card was corrupted. Nothing to save here. You need a fresh new start

Except all of his saves....

 

[LaPingas]

Except all of his saves....

I doubt he will be able to backup them

 

[OrGoN3]

I doubt he will be able to backup them

Then you clearly haven't read the thread, just the OP and last post. Either way, none of this helps OP. OP will report back for us probably tomorrow. Restoring software takes forever to run.

 

[LaPingas]

Then you clearly haven't read the thread, just the OP and last post. Either way, none of this helps OP. OP will report back for us probably tomorrow. Restoring software takes forever to run.

Well the thread was long to begin with o.o just tryna help/say what I think.
why is it so hard to accept what I think
Whatever results tomorrow I guess ;-;

 

[OrGoN3]

Well the thread was long to begin with o.o just tryna help/say what I think.
why is it so hard to accept what I think
Whatever results tomorrow I guess ;-;

Read the friggin thread! OP has already had success restoring from his corrupted card. That's why it's so hard to accept what you're thinking: It's wrong. OP Has proved you wrong prior to you posting what you posted.

As someone who helps others on this site, please read the entire thread first. If you think a thread consisting of one single page is a lot, I mean, I don't even know what to say to that.

 

[Joom]

Protip: Don't delete the .Trash directory. This is created by UNIX systems, and is the trash bin. Instead, empty your trash before ejecting your SD. If you don't the stuff that you thought you deleted is actually still on the card in the .Trash directory.

 

[eas66]

Alright, for anyone who is curious, here is an update:

First, I want to thank everyone who offered suggestions. To those who said I was done for: you were completely wrong.
To recap, I had erased everything on my SD card, lost the backup I had made, and didn't have access to a recent enough save that restoring would be worth it. For anyone else in this situation, all is NOT lost, though recovery is going to be a huge commitment. So, I'll detail how I managed to recover close to 1200 hours of game saves from close to 40 games with nothing but an empty SD card.

1.) First, I needed to recover all my files that had been erased. I tried several recovery programs, but DMDE was the only one that recovered more than photos and text files. Highly recommend. But do be aware that the free version only allows you to recover files, no folders. This means if you was to keep the directories, you'll need to recreate them yourself. It took me a very long time. The entire process was about 3 whole days.

2.) After as many of the files were as recovered as possible, I sifted through all the folders collecting every .sav I could find. Some of them were in their correct folders ( /Nintendo 3DS/.../.../titles/000040000/[TITLE ID]/data/00000001.sav ), but others were just loose files or in randomly named folders. All the saves that were in their correct folders were easy to restore. Once my SD card was back up and running as though I had only wiped the saves from my Nintendo 3DS folder and not my entire SD card's worth of data, I started all my games once just to create the proper folders in the Nintendo 3DS folder. Then, I simply copied the .sav from the data folder in my recovered files to the matching folder in the Nintendo 3DS folder. Those were the easy ones.

3.) Sadly, that was only like 3 games, so my remaining saves were somewhere in the hundreds of loose and randomly named .sav files I managed to recover. Restoring these took a horribly long time.

a.) First, I put all the .sav files into a separate folders according to their size.

b.) Next, I sorted them by date and time modified.

c.) Then, I deleted any duplicate files based on the date.

d.) Then, I opened my SD card and looked at the size of the .sav file that had just been created after running the games once. For example, one game may have had a 512Kb .sav file. For those games, I copied the entire folder of 512Kb saves into the game's main folder (The one with the "content" and "data" folders, though this isn't necessary). I did this for all the remaining games so I didn't need to remove and replace my SD card for every game.

e.) Next, I opened up JKSM, and made a backup of the current .sav just to have a "blank" unused save file.

f.) Then, I opened fbi, deleted that .sav file, renamed one of the files I had just copied over to 00000001.sav, moved that renamed file to the data folder, opened JKSM, and attempted to make another backup of the save. If the backup failed giving me some error, I just repeated this step.

g.) However, if the backup was successful, I opened the game just to check and lo and behold, my saves were restored!

Of course, this took me a ton of time to accomplish, and it was very tedious, so I wouldn't recommend it unless you're really desperate. But, I'm here to say that yes, you CAN recover everything from an erased SD card (given you run the recovery ASAP, of course).


**Also, I ran H2testw on my SD and it is perfectly fine, so I have no explanation for the random lock-ups. No corruption to be seen.