HELP!!!! 3ds sd card corrupted and all files became garbage and can't recover!

[ItsCorn]

I need help, when my 3ds apps weren't opening but used to open before, (as in my case with cars 2 which worked before but now doesn't open anymore) i used testdisk to fix the filesystem and after it fixed, i inserted the sd card on 3ds and turned it on, but now it says creating home menu data and now all my games and apps are gone! I still have twilight menu though. And im still able to go on luma config menu and godmode9 but now all files in sd card are corrupted! I messed up big time... is there anyway i can recover the 3ds?

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Use another(!) SD card and restore the latest available backup you created from the SD data.
Only trust an SD after checking it with h2testw or F3.

The name of the SD in GodMode9 looks corrupted. Same for the files(?) in TestDIsk. How should the 3DS find its data?

TWL++ is present because it is DSiWare and installed to NAND.

 

[ItsCorn]

Use another(!) SD card and restore the latest available backup you created from the SD data.
Only trust an SD after checking it with h2testw or F3.

The name of the SD in GodMode9 looks corrupted. Same for the files(?) in TestDIsk. How should the 3DS find its data?

TWL++ is present because it is DSiWare and installed to NAND.

I don't seem to have a backup, but i do have another sd card (128gb sandisk card). So now what? Do i have to reinstall cfw? If so, how?

Post automatically merged: Dec 11, 2023

Fyi, luma was booted by the nand and gm9 too.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

https://3ds.hacks.guide/restoring-updating-cfw

Should be enough to get started on an empty, FAT32 formatted SD

Such corruptions happens far too often. Backups are important.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[ItsCorn]

Solved now, i had to format my card, then do the finalizing setup steps to restore cfw. I lost my games, but im gonna reinstall them with hshop.

 

[anotherthing]

I know it's hindsight, but you should back up your SD card in your 3DS at least once every two months. The data on that card will only work on that particular 3DS, but it's much easier to do it periodically than to have to start from scratch when a card decides to die.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

Solved now, i had to format my card, then do the finalizing setup steps to restore cfw. I lost my games, but im gonna reinstall them with…

Formatting a corrupted SD might solve the problem for now.
If you are lucky it was a single incident. If not it will randomly happen again even when the SD passes the h2testw/F3 test for now. Sadly many people even skip this essential test for verifying the card is okay *now*.

 

[Kwyjor]

It's not clear from your screenshot if Testdisk was able to recover any files of any recognizable size.

If it was able to recover files, but not retain any folder names or recognizable file names, then you might still be able to recover your save data if you really want to. (Everything else can just be re-downloaded, of course.)