How to switch SD cards without losing installed games + save data on partition emuNAND? (SD card upgrade)

PinkCelebi

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I have a v1 Switch on 13.2.0 running Atmosphere 1.2.5 booted using Hekate 5.8.0. Old card is 256GB, new one is 512GB (both are legit SD cards). Running emuNAND on a partition, not files.

I’ve tried following the guide from NH Switch Guide (https://nh-server.github.io/switch-guide/extras/transfer_sd/) and Rentry (https://rentry.co/EmuNANDNewSDcard) but none of them have worked.

I can’t use the Hekate method because my old SD card only has 5GB free out of 256GB.

I can’t use the EmuTool program because EmuTool won’t let me choose the 256GB SD card plugged into my computer (the card shows up in file explorer, but not in the tool).

NandManager gets me the farthest, but when I run through everything > boot into Hekate > boot into Atmosphere on my Switch from the 512GB card, it acts like none of my games are installed and prompts to redownload from eShop, even though I have a few 2+ GB files in the card. Save data and settings seem intact though.

Here’s what my SD cards look like in MiniTool Partition Wizard:
https://i.imgur.com/yONatzN.jpg
(512GB is Disk 6, 256GB is Disk 9)


Any ideas on how to get the new SD to work with all my old data intact?
 
Last edited by PinkCelebi,

binkinator

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I have a v1 Switch on 13.2.0 running Atmosphere 1.2.5 booted using Hekate 5.8.0. Old card is 256GB, new one is 512GB (both are legit SD cards). Running emuNAND on a partition, not files.

I’ve tried following the guide from NH Switch Guide (https://nh-server.github.io/switch-guide/extras/transfer_sd/) and Rentry (https://rentry.co/EmuNANDNewSDcard) but none of them have worked.

I can’t use the Hekate method because my old SD card only has 5GB free out of 256GB.

I can’t use the EmuTool program because EmuTool won’t let me choose the 256GB SD card plugged into my computer (the card shows up in file explorer, but not in the tool).

NandManager gets me the farthest, but when I run through everything > boot into Hekate > boot into Atmosphere on my Switch from the 512GB card, it acts like none of my games are installed and prompts to redownload from eShop, even though I have a few 2+ GB files in the card. Save data and settings seem intact though.

Here’s what my SD cards look like in MiniTool Partition Wizard:
https://i.imgur.com/yONatzN.jpg
(512GB is Disk 6, 256GB is Disk 9)


Any ideas on how to get the new SD to work with all my old data intact?
Just went through a similar issue here:

https://gbatemp.net/threads/changing-sd-card-no-more-games-on-that.615859/

bottom line: check your paths in your emummc.ini file. You will have a new (blank) one and an old (full) one. Need to repoint to your old stash and you should be good to go.
 
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PinkCelebi

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Just went through a similar issue here:

https://gbatemp.net/threads/changing-sd-card-no-more-games-on-that.615859/

bottom line: check your paths in your emummc.ini file. You will have a new (blank) one and an old (full) one. Need to repoint to your old stash and you should be good to go.
Didn’t work unfortunately. Replaced the text from the new emummc.ini with the text from the old emummc.ini, and now I get “A Fatal error occurred when running Fusée. Invalid GPT Signature” whenever I try to launch Atmosphere from Hekate.
 

binkinator

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Didn’t work unfortunately. Replaced the text from the new emummc.ini with the text from the old emummc.ini, and now I get “A Fatal error occurred when running Fusée. Invalid GPT Signature” whenever I try to launch Atmosphere from Hekate.
Please share the contents of you emummc.ini file and a screenshot of that directory.
 
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PinkCelebi

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Please share the contents of you emummc.ini file and a screenshot of that directory.
emummc.ini:
[emummc]
enabled=1
sector=0x1a338000
path=emuMMC/RAW1
id=0x31574152
nintendo_path=emuMMC/RAW1/Nintendo

Inside my emuMMC folder:
ER00, emummc.ini
Going inside ER00 > Nintendo, raw_based > Album, Contents, Save

I’m guessing I need to change emuMMC/RAW1 to emuMMC/ER00?

Use emutool (https://gbatemp.net/threads/emutool...r-sd-switch-emu-type-on-sxos-and-more.550756/) to backup you old sd card emuNAND to your pc. Then use the backup as a file based emuNAND on the new sd card or use emutool to restore the backup to New SD card

The files on the standard partition can be copied the normal way.

Easy piece
How? Choose which options? Could you go step by step, because the EmuTool program’s instructions are extremely vague and not very helpful.

The program won’t let me choose the SD card all my Switch data is on, so the only thing I can do is choose a folder on the right side. How to make a backup if the program doesn’t want to read the SD card to make said backup?
 

impeeza

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emummc.ini:
[emummc]
enabled=1
sector=0x1a338000
path=emuMMC/RAW1
id=0x31574152
nintendo_path=emuMMC/RAW1/Nintendo

Inside my emuMMC folder:
ER00, emummc.ini
Going inside ER00 > Nintendo, raw_based > Album, Contents, Save

I’m guessing I need to change emuMMC/RAW1 to emuMMC/ER00?


How? Choose which options? Could you go step by step, because the EmuTool program’s instructions are extremely vague and not very helpful.

The program won’t let me choose the SD card all my Switch data is on, so the only thing I can do is choose a folder on the right side. How to make a backup if the program doesn’t want to read the SD card to make said backup?

OK, you first select the source, type and device, by example, Atmosphère hidden partition on a SD Card:

1658677867104.png

Once you have selected the source, you select the target, by example, Atmosphère file on a local path (don't worry SD Card is local path):
1658677061444.png


The process start and you end with a folder like:
1658678072940.png

and on the root (emuMMC) you get a emummc.ini file:
1658677297430.png


So, if you copy the emuMMC folder to the root of you NEW SD card, and then move the old SD:/emuMMC/RAW1/Nintendo folder to the folder SD:/emuMMC/SD00/Nintendo you will have a new emmuNAND file based.

The emummc.ini file setup the emuNAND source, for a RAW partition Based the key elements are:
sector=0x1a338000 (the sector where the raw partiton starts)
path=emuMMC/SD00 (the path of emuMMC)
nintendo_path=emuMMC/SD00/Nintendo (path of the emulated NINTENDO folder)

And the new generated emmummc.ini file have:

sector=0x0 (no partition, use file on:)
path=emuMMC/SD00 (The new path, note before was "RAW" now is "SD00")
nintendo_path=emuMMC/RAW1/Nintendo (you need the original NINTENDO folder on this path, so you move it as stated before)

thank you so much to @TheyKilledKenny for this great tool on windows, makes the "RAW to file" conversion process or backup of your RAW partition so easy.

@binkinator, what do you think about this steps and the actual content of the emummc.ini file of PinkCelebi?
 
Last edited by impeeza,

PinkCelebi

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Thanks for the visual guide @impeeza, very helpful. But I’m unable to get past the first step.

I select “Atmosphere hidden partition”, click to select a drive and nothing shows up. I select “show all drives”, only my C drive with 3 partitions show up.

Picture: https://i.imgur.com/zizMCQZ.jpg

The 3 partitions aren’t labeled, only identifiers are their sizes and sectors. So is one of these sectors my Switch’s SD card? If so, how do I identify which is the Switch one so I don’t erase something important? If it isn’t, how do I get my other USB drives to show up in EmuTool?

(Right now, the plan is to make a back up using EmuTool, and fallback on that if I’m unable to get my current setup working & need to set up my new SD card from scratch)
 

impeeza

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Thanks for the visual guide @impeeza, very helpful. But I’m unable to get past the first step.

I select “Atmosphere hidden partition”, click to select a drive and nothing shows up. I select “show all drives”, only my C drive with 3 partitions show up.

Picture: https://i.imgur.com/zizMCQZ.jpg

The 3 partitions aren’t labeled, only identifiers are their sizes and sectors. So is one of these sectors my Switch’s SD card? If so, how do I identify which is the Switch one so I don’t erase something important? If it isn’t, how do I get my other USB drives to show up in EmuTool?

(Right now, the plan is to make a back up using EmuTool, and fallback on that if I’m unable to get my current setup working & need to set up my new SD card from scratch)
Ok, that's is a reported bug, on the thread, if you have a disk bigger than 2TB on your systems a internal overflow occurs, use the latest version of github repository: https://github.com/TheyKilledKenny/Emutool/releases

remember to click the black triangel to display all your drives, and then on the list, select your SD Card:
1658683374773.png
 
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PinkCelebi

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Ok, that's is a reported bug, on the thread, if you have a disk bigger than 2TB on your systems a internal overflow occurs, use the latest version of github repository: https://github.com/TheyKilledKenny/Emutool/releases

remember to click the black triangel to display all your drives, and then on the list, select your SD Card:
View attachment 319336
I guess it doesn’t like my 4TB hard drive :rofl2:

I tried the EmuTool 0.2.9 links from Rentry’s guide and your post, but it just gives me the same result - only C drive with 3 partitions are shown if “Shown all drives” is checked, nothing is shown otherwise. Does the overflow still exist in 0.2.9?
image.jpg
 

PinkCelebi

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yes I didk have the same problem with my external USB 4TB WD disk, unpluggin it do the trick.
Thanks. With “Show all drives” ticked, Drives C, E, and D, and H (512GB card) show up after ejecting my 4TB hard drive. So I guess 0.2.9 doesn’t fix the overflow bug :/

But it still doesn’t show the 256GB SD card (M). M shows up fine in file explorer, how can I get it to appear in the tool?
image.jpg
 

PinkCelebi

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think this conversation should be migrated to https://gbatemp.net/threads/emutool...r-sd-switch-emu-type-on-sxos-and-more.550756/ so more people can help you on the process. by now can you try disconnecting all not needed drives?
Thanks, but I’ve decided not to go the EmuTool route, since it doesn’t seem to want to read my SD card at all, no matter what. I can’t find anything in the thread and the tool’s last update was in 2020, so I think I’m SOL until the 0.3.0 update. I just don’t want to risk corrupting my SD and hard drives from too much ejecting/connecting too much.

Any ideas on my emuMMC file and folder structure @binkinator?
 
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binkinator

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Thanks, but I’ve decided not to go the EmuTool route, since it doesn’t seem to want to read my SD card at all, no matter what. I can’t find anything in the thread and the tool’s last update was in 2020, so I think I’m SOL until the 0.3.0 update. I just don’t want to risk corrupting my SD and hard drives from too much ejecting/connecting too much.

Any ideas on my emuMMC file and folder structure @binkinator?

you need the emummc.ini to match where your old data sits. you can repoint the emummc.ini or move the data to where it points now. Nothing too tricky really.


e: there are two other ways to do the same thing in the reentry guide

 

PinkCelebi

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you need the emummc.ini to match where your old data sits. you can repoint the emummc.ini or move the data to where it points now. Nothing too tricky really.


e: there are two other ways to do the same thing in the reentry guide


Thank you, I ended up using the new emuMMC.ini (with sectors 0x2 and id 0x0000) and changing the paths to ER00 and it worked!

For future reference, I:

Used NxNandManager to get FULLNAND.bin from the 256GB card and backed that up, copied all SD card files to an external drive

Erased the 512GB card with MiniTool Partition Wizard, then created a new FAT32-formatted partition (as per Rentry’s guide)

Opened NxNandManager, clicked “Tools” then “Emunand Creation Tool”. Made sure “SD partition” was selected, clicked “Select target disk” and chose the 512GB SD card, then clicked “Create emuNAND”

When finished, went to the backed-up SD card files from 256GB card. Copied them to 512GB SD card. “Yes” if asked to merge, “No” if asked to overwrite.

When done, moved files from RAW1 to ER00. Changed emummc.ini to path=emuMMC/ER00 and nintendo_path=emuMMC/ER00/Nintendo

Plugged in jig, plugged Switch into my phone with the Rekado app while holding Vol up, booted using Hekate 5.8.0. Launch Atmosphere, the logo flashes a few times, and the Switch boots with all my data is intact.

Hope that helps someone in the future.
 

binkinator

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Thank you, I ended up using the new emuMMC.ini (with sectors 0x2 and id 0x0000) and changing the paths to ER00 and it worked!

For future reference, I:

Used NxNandManager to get FULLNAND.bin from the 256GB card and backed that up, copied all SD card files to an external drive

Erased the 512GB card with MiniTool Partition Wizard, then created a new FAT32-formatted partition (as per Rentry’s guide)

Opened NxNandManager, clicked “Tools” then “Emunand Creation Tool”. Made sure “SD partition” was selected, clicked “Select target disk” and chose the 512GB SD card, then clicked “Create emuNAND”

When finished, went to the backed-up SD card files from 256GB card. Copied them to 512GB SD card. “Yes” if asked to merge, “No” if asked to overwrite.

When done, moved files from RAW1 to ER00. Changed emummc.ini to path=emuMMC/ER00 and nintendo_path=emuMMC/ER00/Nintendo

Plugged in jig, plugged Switch into my phone with the Rekado app while holding Vol up, booted using Hekate 5.8.0. Launch Atmosphere, the logo flashes a few times, and the Switch boots with all my data is intact.

Hope that helps someone in the future.

Nice job man! Glad you’re sorted!

Thanks for leaving a trail for others to follow!
 

TonyNESgri

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Please guys, is it possible to convert emuNAND files to SD partition ? If yes, how ? (for an SD card upgrade)
 

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