Hardware Internal N3DS MSD, 32GB or 64GB?

[d0k3]

I currently have the choice of two MSD cards, 32GB and 64GB, to use as internal card in my N3DS (FW 9.0.0). The price difference is not an issue and in theory both cards shoudl be equally good / fast.

I prefer having more memory to spare, of course. However, Nintendo recommends using MSDs no larger than 32GB. Also, every now and than someone complains about trouble with cards sized 64GB and above (this just being an example). The issues people have with 64GB (and above) card may be due to reasons other than the cards size (stuff went wrong when migrating from a smaller card, too much stuff installed, ....), but still there might be some issues specific to using cards larger than 32GB.

So, any longterm 64GB card users here? Or even anyone having experience with both, 32GB and 64GB? What would you recommend to choose?

 

[d0k3]

Aw, come on, just one lazy click on the poll and no replies! I know everyone is obsessing about PastaCFW right now, but this should be relevant even to you new PastaCFW users (or where do you want to store all that stuff that you can install now?).

Maybe some info to get a start? People on GameFAQS say that there's no trouble with 64GB cards at all.

There's even an interesting tidbit of information on Wikipedia:

exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table) is a Microsoft file system optimized for flash drives. It is proprietary and patented.
...
exFAT has been adopted by the SD Card Association as the default file system for SDXC cards larger than 32 GiB.

So, there you got it. Cards over 32GB in size come with exFAT by default because of the SD card association. exFAT is proprietary (owned by Microsoft), Nintendo doesn't want to pay the license fee and suspects their users not to be able to properly format the SD cards before using in a 3DS (they might be right, at least in part).

This may or may not the (only?) reason why cards 64GB or above in size are not supported.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I currently have the choice of two MSD cards, 32GB and 64GB, to use as internal card in my N3DS (FW 9.0.0). The price difference is not an issue and in theory both cards shoudl be equally good / fast.

I prefer having more memory to spare, of course. However, Nintendo recommends using MSDs no larger than 32GB. Also, every now and than someone complains about trouble with cards sized 64GB and above (this just being an example). The issues people have with 64GB (and above) card may be due to reasons other than the cards size (stuff went wrong when migrating from a smaller card, too much stuff installed, ....), but still there might be some issues specific to using cards larger than 32GB.

So, any longterm 64GB card users here? Or even anyone having experience with both, 32GB and 64GB? What would you recommend to choose?

That depends. Do you play mostly physical games? Do you have a flashcart?
If the answer to either of those questions is yes, then 16GB is plenty. Otherwise get the biggest card you can.

 

[d0k3]

That depends. Do you play mostly physical games? Do you have a flashcart?
If the answer to either of those questions is yes, then 16GB is plenty. Otherwise get the biggest card you can.

I can definitely use that space, so the more the better. Price is also not an issue. The only real concern is wether there will be problems with cards above 32GB (as Nintendo doesn't recommend those and some users seem to have them).

 

[hippy dave]

I would post a reply but I haven't used a 64gb card, so I'm not going to post a reply. Hope that helps.

 

[d0k3]

The answer is, most likely there are no problems cards 64GB and above, apart from file access being a little slower the bigger your card is. That's what the majority of information on the web says, and people that say otherwise are very few and inbetween (which means their problems might be related to something else). Nintendo doesn't recommend cards sized 64GB and above, because they come with exFAT and Nintendo deems proper formating to FAT32 too difficult for their user base. The speed problem can be remedied by using larger cluster sizes (32kb being the default).

This video nicely demonstrates the 32kB cluster speed problem:


This thread on NeoGAF is also helpful: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=885462

 

[Ichii Giki]

I have been using a 64GB MicroSD in my N3DS for a while now with no issues. I have been installing some BIG CIAs made from my carts (including Xenoblade 3D, 3.6GBs!), and there were no problems. The main problem I heard about large MicroSD cards was specifically with themes not loading properly on 128GB cards, but nothing specifically with 64GB cards, so it should be fine.

 

[Kenneth196]

I use a mSD 64GB card in mine as well (see my siggy for full set-up). I've had 0 issues using it. I think the largest game I have on there is MH4U. I have Xeno on my Gateway mSD (which is a 32GB). I got the 64GB since I would mainly install games as .cia (except for the occasional large, non-online game. Hence, Xenoblade) and so I wouldn't have to rely on Gateway to play any games (As long as I'm in Gateway mode anyway).

I'd say go with the 64GB. Even if ya don't use all of the space, you'll probably regret not getting it maybe. That's just me anyway. I like to be prepared if I know I'm going to have a console for a good while. Never hurts to have extra memory for future games!