Misc Is exFAT still problematic?

[BaamAlex]

or is it just a CFW thing?

Nope. Even unmodded systems are affected.

do they expect the CFW guys to fix it for them or something?

SciresM has even been talked about it, however the FS module is one of the largest and that would be an extreme amount of work for something that can simply be solved by reformatting the SD card.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Tbc the problem with exFAT also happens on all un-modded Switch or is it just a CFW thing?
If it also happens on OFW I wonder why Nintendo didn't fix the driver already, do they expect the CFW guys to fix it for them or something?

As I said earlier in the thread it can happen from any crash, crashes/bugs are just more frequent with homebrew.

I bricked a 128gb samsung sd card using exfat on my switch my data on the card corrupted and i tried to format it with minitool with windows and like three other formatting tools and they all gave errors and would not format.

Try another reader, readers can be picky and I had cards in the past that appeared to be dead on 3 different readers (they were all crappy Chinese ones I got free with flashcarts and such) but worked with the 4th and once formatted worked with all the others again.

False information. You have no idea what you are talking about. Fat32 is used more for piracy than exfat just because of the simple fact that everyone continuously recommends fat32. Exfat is used more for official firmware because it's what Nintendo recommends. You have it backasswards

I think he means that there is no official use case or need for exFAT because installed games are automatically split anyway so you would never notice the difference until your card is corrupted, so the only real use case for exFAT is to install unsplit xcis/nsps (or launching xcis on SX) and I admit that it does make installing nsps/xcis easier (well if you aren't using USB/network installs, which you should be because it's the easiest) though he didn't explain what he meant well.
There are other uses for exFAT such as if you run Switchroot Android or a media player in HOS (if there is one) and want to store large video files on the SD, Wii (possibly even PS2?) isos for emulators.
But these are pretty niche uses since the Switch's screen is not much bigger than the smartphone you already carry so it's not that great for media consumption and Wii games barely run and there isn't a PS2 emulator you could consider playable.
I guess the #1 reason I see for people using exFAT on this site, in all the posts I've read, is to install unsplit xcis/nsps or xci loading (often because they have not realized USB/network installs are much easier, and not that much slower, or they just like the simplicity of copy pasting files on the SD, no need to download a separate program to send nsps and xcis to the Switch over USB/network) so he would not be wrong, if that's really what he meant (I am just guessing)
But this is a piracy site after all so it doesn't say anything about OFW users. But I'm guessing OFW users probably don't care if they use FAT32 or exFAT since they won't notice the difference, most of them will probably not bother formatting and just plug their new SD card straight into the Switch. The people actually asking for better exFAT support are probably mostly pirates because nobody else has a need for exFAT or they just don't care.

 

[mspy]

Could it be that Nintendo is just cheaping out?
According to wikipedia exFAT was proprietary until 28 August 2019, when Microsoft published its specification. Microsoft owns patents on several elements of its design.
That could be the reason why the Switch shipped with poor exFAT support and hasn't been fixed since...

Wonder if there is any viable alternative that Nintendo could have gone with instead of exFAT that supports large files and such...

 

[BaamAlex]

Could it be that Nintendo is just cheaping out?
According to wikipedia exFAT was proprietary until 28 August 2019, when Microsoft published its specification. Microsoft owns patents on several elements of its design.
That could be the reason why the Switch shipped with poor exFAT support and hasn't been fixed since...

Wonder if there is any viable alternative that Nintendo could have gone with instead of exFAT that supports large files and such...

microSD cards over 32 GB (SDXC) are shipped with the exFAT file system by default. exFAT was developed by Microsoft and therefore everyone who uses this file system has to pay license fees - unfortunately, exFAT is mandatory in the SDXC standard, ergo companies have no other choice. This is also the reason why Nintendo adds exFAT support "on-demand" via update as soon as an exFAT-formatted microSD is inserted - otherwise they would have to pay license fees to Microsoft for every Switch sold. But if that's the reason why the driver is so broken...i dunno.

 

[mspy]

microSD cards over 32 GB (SDXC) are shipped with the exFAT file system by default. exFAT was developed by Microsoft and therefore everyone who uses this file system has to pay license fees - unfortunately, exFAT is mandatory in the SDXC standard, ergo companies have no other choice. This is also the reason why Nintendo adds exFAT support "on-demand" via update as soon as an exFAT-formatted microSD is inserted - otherwise they would have to pay license fees to Microsoft for every Switch sold. But if that's the reason why the driver is so broken...i dunno.

exFAT is mandatory to be shipped with the card but you can just reformat it to another format later on, no?
Nintendo could just detect the card once inserted on the Switch and say 'hey we are now gonna reformat this card to another X format', question is if there is even a viable alternative format?

Reading from the wiki it appears that there is indeed a legal mess with Microsoft suing left and right.
I don't understand why Nintendo's "on-demand" exFAT support via update would make them avoid paying any royalties.

 

[viper3344]

For one atmosphere does not support it as it causes problems

WTF are you talking about? I have 12 cards ALL exfat. Havent had a problem ever and I have been using ATMO for awhile now. Also it most certanly does support exfat with zero issues I have encountered.

 

[viper3344]

exfat is trash on the switch, so much proof out there. literally no benefit to running exfat over fat32. and before someone says "DrAg FiLeS LaRgER tHaN 4gigs" if your installing games by dragging the file to sd card, youre doing it wrong to begin with.

I prefer my single large SUPER XCI's and the ability to swap cards via usb without having to reboot. Cant do that on fat32. Been using exfat on over 12 cards since the first SXOS with absolutely ZERO issues. Same with atmo. I install them from an exfat microSD with zero issues and 400 gigs installed thus far under atmo. XCI with exfat is superior to NSP in every way

 

[Chaosta]

XCI with exfat is superior to NSP in every way

um no its not lol. idk why people think xci is better than nsp. they both accomplish the same thing... if the game plays who cares what format its in.. and I find it very hard to believe you've had 0 issues because its a literal fact that the exfat driver for the switch does and will cause corruption eventually. no denying that. also not sure what you're refering to when you say "swap cards via usb without having to reboot"

 

[viper3344]

um no its not lol. idk why people think xci is better than nsp. they both accomplish the same thing... if the game plays who cares what format its in.. and I find it very hard to believe you've had 0 issues because its a literal fact that the exfat driver for the switch does and will cause corruption eventually. no denying that. also not sure what you're refering to when you say "swap cards via usb without having to reboot"

If you have multiple sd cards or drives with XCIs, via USB you can swap without a reboot of the switch. Just unplug and replug the new one. Also saves time as you don’t need to install anything. Just combine everything into a single XCI. There are multiple advantages of XCI over NSP.

Also like I said, been using exfat since launch with what is now 13 512gb quality sd cards. Zero issues. I don’t do any crazy fancy home brew that reads and writes to the card constantly and that’s where “some” rare reports come from. In terms of regular nsp and XCI usage I haven’t seen a single thread where exfat has been an issue. Only issue is people using garbage or knockoff fake sd cards that blame it on exfat

 

[Draxzelex]

exFAT is mandatory to be shipped with the card but you can just reformat it to another format later on, no?
Nintendo could just detect the card once inserted on the Switch and say 'hey we are now gonna reformat this card to another X format', question is if there is even a viable alternative format?

Reading from the wiki it appears that there is indeed a legal mess with Microsoft suing left and right.
I don't understand why Nintendo's "on-demand" exFAT support via update would make them avoid paying any royalties.

Well not everybody will be using exFAT so worst case scenario if they're only paying royalties for people who download the update, they still save money.